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How to Create a Quirky Twitter Bird in Corel Draw

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Learn here how to create a this bird using a few techniques in Corel Draw. Successful completion of this tutorial requires an intermediate knowledge of Corel Draw. We think it’s easy as there is no need for Art school sketches that are usually needed in the first step. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.

Step 1

Create new document, whatever size. A4 is fine. Draw the shape of the bird’s body using the Free Hand Tool and make it nice with the Shape Tool. This part requires a bit of creativity :)

Step 2

Color the shape blue. Then Copy the shape and paste in the same place. Now using the Up Arrow key, move the second shape 4 pixels up. And then change the color of the second shape to a lighter blue. For better a effect use the Radial Gradient Fill Tool with a lighter to darker blue. Still the first shape should be darker to get that dark line at the bottom.

Step 3

Copy the shape and place it in the white area. Copy it again and paste it. Then make it a bit larger and put it over the smaller one (green on pink example). Using the Back Minus Front option Cut the shape off. Then change it to blue (or use the gradient that we did in last step). And place it on our main shape.

Step 4

Do the same again but cut a smaller, thiner part. Those steps are needed to add some light effects, which make it more 3D.

Step 5

This step uses only one simple option: Intersect (marked by red box, shown below). Just as in the steps above, select two object and Intersect. You will get the shape that both object share.

This technique is an easy way to get shapes that you want in many other situations. In the picture below, notice that we used circles on the main shape, then the eye, then the eyeball, etc. Be sure to apply a radial fill to the eye as shown above.

Step 6

Do the same thing again. This time create the bottom part of the bird (that’s the way birds are built, a white patch makes the bird look more real).

Step 7

Coming back to using the Back Minus Front option. Cut off the shape of the first eyelash. Than copy, paste, resize, and rotate to put them together. Now copy the whole thing and paste in place, change to a darker blue, rotate a bit, and move it to the back. Lastly, group it and place it on the bird.

Step 8

To draw the legs and nose you need to use the Free Hand Tool and make it nice with the Shape Tool. In this step, we want to show you how using the same color, but in different brightness, adds more depth and dimensionality.

Step 9

This must be the easiest step because you do do not have to be exact. Just draw away and create some jagged shapes for the eye. The more uneven the better.

Step 10

Now let’s make the wings. In the image below, you can see again how we cut the shape out of the circle using different circles. Then we rounded the corners a bit using the Shape Tool. Also, we added some light effect, just like in Step 4.

Place the wing on the bird. Also, Copy and Paste In Place the same wing, but change color to gray, move to the back, and move to the left a bit. That gives the effect of the second wing on the other side of the bird (you can see tiny gray part near the legs).

Step 11

We’re almost done. The hat is a simple thing drawn using the Freehand Tool to create the shapes shown below. They each were given different brightness, fills, and a radial gradients was placed on the white stripe to add 3D.

Conclusion

Place the hat on the bird. Add a dark blue ellipse under the hat (some kind of shadow of the hat). And our Quirky looking twitter bird in vectors is done!

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  • Jonathan

    I’m sorry.. but.. low standards. very disappointed w/ this tutorial

    • donjuan

      yep me 2… thought u put up some more premium tuts…this stuff is pretty good for beginners…even they could do this after a day…
      and corel draw is a nogo in the designscene lol… ;)

      but anyway… u are on psdtuts. so u made something right. right?

      lu all ;)

  • pinstripes

    who uses corel draw?

    • http://www.animhut.com sriganesh

      i agree with this ine. but friend many places even in some designing compnaies they use Cdr and mainly for printing :mad:

    • http://www.ambitiouslove.net Lisa

      My first graphic design jobs (a screen printing company then a trophy/plaque shop) only used Corel Draw when all I knew was the Adobe Suite. It doesn’t hurt to make yourself familiar with different graphics programs… you never know when you’ll have to use them! :)

  • http://blog.fazai38.com Fazai38

    Erm… I like the final outcome..

    But, the process is not that fun!!!

    Guess, you need to get a simpler steps to achieve this.

  • http://simon.vansintjan.org Simon Vansintjan

    Seems to be a twitter bird kinda day.

  • Roald

    Not as good as the twitter bird tut on psdtuts, sorry. :/

  • w

    I’m sorry.. but.. low standards. very disappointed w/ this tutorial

  • Cale

    Are we sure that the intended description of this twitter bird was Quirky and not something else? Poor call on Vector-tuts to post this.

  • Niek

    The black part of the eye, doesn’t line with the outline of the eye. There is space between. However funny looking bird :)

  • http://vbastellif.artician.com Vanderlei Bastelli Filho

    working with yourself using Illustrator is very nice and competitive against all people, but some places work only with corel draw, here im my city i don´t know any place who work with illustrator to print, and a lot of design studios and publicity agencies, must work with corel, so if you want to be good in design or creation in publicity you must know how to use, illustrator and corel draw.

    nice tut i liked a lot, its nice to see some corel draw work

    • nugie_nol

      i agree, some companies only use corel draw

      besides it’s not the software that count but the skill of the designer

  • http://www.aaronmillerillustration.com Aaron Miller

    Um… Corel Draw?!

  • unadventurer

    regardless of the program, i’m just bothered that someone was actually PAID for this “tutorial”. The illustration is horrible and the tutorial is more or less a “i draw this, then i draw this”

    GAH!

  • http://www.irawankusuma.wordpress.com iNK

    i love this tutorial it’s helap 4 everyone who need some lesson to use Cdr.
    even it’s 4 a beginners, including me… guy’s u dont be arrogant 4 some thing easyer.

    REDmillion Thank’s to you !!

  • jaredef

    not a bad tut, a tut for beginners, this is a very good lesson in object manipulation theory.

  • http://www.kaixer.net kaixer.net

    cool, now I want to try to make vector in CorelDraw

  • madafoka

    Even though some of the steps required to do this illustration were not explained in detail (which makes it almost impossible for someone with little or no knowledge of coreldraw to follow), I feel that I actually learned quite a bit in this tutorial and find it quite nice. So don’t be discouraged by the comments of some party poopers, who do nothing but throw crap at other people’s work but dont have the balls to do something constructive (like what they think a tutorial should be – if they can even make one), and keep up the good work.
    Cheers!

  • http://www.prestonracette.com Preston Racette

    Nice tut! Keep it up!

  • Elarcom

    I like it and am using Corel Draw. I love Corel Draw.

  • freedom

    Love it, and knowing that Cdr is quite easy to manipulate i think this could come in handy.

  • http://anastasiia-ku.com ychty

    I prefer CorelDraw to Ilustrator, and I think that the tutorial is nice.
    Every program has users of different levels. Each level needs some tuts!
    Well done, the author:)

  • http://www.redmillion.ie REDmillion
    Author

    Thanks for all the good comments.

    About who uses Corel:

    Corel Draw is widely used in Europe aspecially in Eastern part of it.
    Believe my when I say: I can do the same things in Corel Draw, that you Ilustrator “experts” can do in Ilustartor. The difference is that I can do them faster because I’m good in it.
    Illustrator is brilliant, but that’s not the point. You like what you know more.
    For me personally there is no point learning Ilustrator when I can do the same things in Corel in half the time. And people saying bad things about Corel are simply closed minded or have no other choice, mostly because the company they work for reqiure Ilustrator proficiency in AI or the boss says good bye.
    I don’t have a boss so I can use whatever program I prefer.

    About the quality of the tutorial:.

    I believe that this tutorial opened many people’s minds that you don;t really have to draw everything by hand. The shapes are out there you just need to crop here and there:)
    Take a look at my video here: and you’ll know what I mean:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HmTMlZGBaA
    How to draw a stupid looking Twitter Bird in Vectors using CIRCLES ONLY!

    • volka

      “You like what you know more.”-these are great words!I live in Eastern Europe, and Corel Draw is used everywhere! Im here for the first time. Im trying to learn how does it work. It so unusual. I already hate it. The same situation was with Ai, but I love it so much now^^
      Thanks for tutorial:)

  • http://newcarwallpapers.net/ Mali

    cool, now I want to try to make vector in CorelDraw .)