Cake Based on Phoenix Illustration

Check out this awesome cake made by Elena based on my Phoenix illustration. According to Elena, it took her about a week, 5 hours each day, to finish it. I’m amazed with the details and colors she input on the work. It depicts the features of the Chinese phoenix. The cake was for a local cake competition. More photos available here.

Christmas Hat Illustration CS6 Tutorial

This tutorial will show you how to create a furry Christmas hat with Illustrator roughen effect.
Download Source File
Required: Illustrator 9+

1. Hat

Start your hat by drawing 2 basic paths and filling them with Linear gradient (red to darker-red).

2. Shadow

Make a path (shadow path) like the image on the left. Select the top part of the hat, Copy & Paste in Front (Ctrl+F). Now, select the copied path and the shadow path, hold down Alt key and select Intersect shape areas in Pathfinder pallate.
Your path should looks like the image on the left. Repeat this step to make another shadow path for the bottom part of the hat. Then fill these 2 shadow paths with Linear gradient (red to darker-red), in your Transparency pallate, select Multiply.

3. Fur

With your Pen Tool, roughly draw a path like the image on the left and fill it with grey color. Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen

Roughen Options

In your Roughen window, enter the following setting: Size=8%, Detail=95/in, select Corner points. You may click on the Preview check box to preview your result.
Make a copy of the grey path by holding down Alt + drag (you may use Copy & Paste if you like) and fill it with white. Scale it down a bit and bring it up slightly above the grey path. Select the top part of the hat and its shadow, bring them to front by Object > Arrange > Bring to Front (Ctrl+Shift+]).
Use the Ellipse Tool to make the circle and repeat the previous step to make the furry ball.

Final

Your final illustration should looks like the image shown below.

Have Fun

Now, have fun with your Christmas hat!

I am going to show you that is quick and easy way to convert a picture in illustration vector effect. Here we go!

Step 1: First I will start with an image.



Step 2: Duplicate the Background layer.



Step 3: Now apply the Cutout filter (Filter => Artistic => Cutout). On the left side the amount of detail in the vector can be controlled by adjusting the Number of Levels, Edge Simplicity and Edge Fidelity sliders. For this example I am using 5 levels, with the Edge Simplicity set to 3 and Edge Fidelity set to 3. Click OK.



Step 4: You can trace the areas of color divided by the Cutout filter with the Poster Edges Filter. For this example the Edge Thickness is set to 2, Edge Intensity to 1 and Posterization to 4. Click OK.



Step 5: The color can be changed subtly with a Photo Filter adjustment layer.



Step 6: And finally, to add to the colored effect, a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer will help take away the natural highlights/shadows even more.



Step 7: Here is my final vector image: