Quick Tip: How to Create a Love Heart Greeting Card for Valentine’s Day
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Illustrator CS3
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Estimated Completion Time: 30 Minutes
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
On Valentine’s Day, a holiday of people who are in love, everyone gives greeting cards to each other. This day is a good opportunity to show your feelings with an unusual gift. I’ll tell you how to create a vector-card for this holiday of love. This artwork was created by my student Eugene Nikandrov.
Step 1
Take the Pen Tool (P) and create a schematic half of the heart with 3 anchor points. Pay attention, the path is open. For your convenience, I recommend you enable the Smart Guides (View > Smart Guides).
Group the received object (Object > Group (Command + G)).
Keep the group selected and go the Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform in the dialog box and set the settings shown on the picture below.
As a result, we get a mirroring of the object.
Step 2
All the changes made with the object will be reflected in its copy. Now select and convert corner anchor points to smooth.
Driving handles of smooth points, create a heart shape.
Now create highlights. Take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a half of the highlight. Drag it to the group, to which the effect of transformation was applied.
Edit the form using the Direct Selection Tool (A). Create side and central highlights using the technique described above.
Step 3
Select the group and go to the Object > Expand Appearance. As result, we got the object of the second half of the heart.
Ungroup all objects twice with the Object > Ungroup (Command + G).
With the Direct Selection Tool (A) or the Lasso Tool (Q) select the lowest point position where the left and the right halves join, and go the Object > Path > Join (Command + J).
Using this technique, join all the points of contact.
Step 4
Let’s start working with a heart shape. For training purposes I turn off the visibility in the panel of layers for all objects we are not working with. Using the Mesh Tool (U) create the Gradient Mesh.
Color the gradient mesh nodes in two colors: pink and dark red (I use RGB color mode (File > Document Color Mode > RGB color)).
Set the Screen Blending Mode for the heart-shape in the Transparency panel.
Step 5
Fill in the form of the flare with a linear gradient, which consists of gray and black colors. Keep the objects selected, set the Screen Blending Mode in the Transparency panel.
Apply the described techniques to other highlights.
Select and group all the objects of the heart (Command + G).
Step 6
Create a background with the Rectangle Tool (M). Fill it with radial gradient, which consists of the shades of dark red color.
Step 7
Set the heart on the background and duplicate it, change the size of copies and turn them while to create the composition.
On Valentine’s Day, a holiday of people who are in love, everyone gives greeting cards to each other. This day is a good opportunity to show your feelings with an unusual gift. I’ll tell you how to create a vector-card for this holiday of love. This artwork was created by my student Eugene Nikandrov.
Step 8
Create glow around the hearts. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a circle, fill it with radical gradient which consists of the shades of dark red.
Duplicate the received object and change its shape to crate a glow.
Step 9
With the help Type Tool (T) write your greetings.
Conclusion
I hope that you have enjoyed this tutorial. Have a happy holiday!
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By Iaroslav Lazunov
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Simples! Nice one thank you
Just a simple reminder to start ordering your flowers now!!!
I have a problem in step 2.
I dont get it round, can you please help
Select a point with the help Direct Selection Tool (A) and click on convert button. See here (http://vectorboom.com/VsikayVsichina/323232.png)
Step 5 doesn’t work the way you show it and is too difficult to figure out what you’re doing. I usually don’t have trouble following tuts, btw.
Judy, You should fill objects with B&W linear gradient and apply Screen blending mode.
I did and it wouldn’t blend. Only came out too white.
Judy, I should set RGB color mode (File > Document Color Mode > RGB Color)
I think she’s got you there. I am getting the same result. A gradient of gray, black, gray on Screen mode at 100% is not giving the same result as in your illustration. If you use white, red, white, Screen mode at 40%, you get something close to your result.
Dittos
Cute one! Thanks…
Great tutorial with very cute results !!!
Wonderful tutorial, Iaroslav. Rounding the corners and reflecting the triangle to get a heart is going to be useful for a lot of things. I learned gradient meshes for the first time, with some extra help from Adobe Community Help, how to create a 3d look with them, played with gradients, and reviewed symbols. In step 5, I found the only real way to recreate your soft fade out at the tips of the side shapes was to set the transparency of black in the gradient to zero, and to change the angle of the gradient a bit. Took some playing around, and was a good review.
Looks nice…….<3
Thanks much showing red. i am just a beginner to learn and enjoy illustrator.
In step 1, I followed the transform to reflect. but nothing changed….. help me.
Looks very CoOoL Lovely…
Really liked the transform effect to create the heart. You learn something new everyday
In step 3 illustration 3 I receive a message that the two points cannot be joined.
Simples! Nice one thank you :)
THANK YOU VERY MUCH ^^
I’m using Cs5 illustrator, I don’t know if that’s the source of my problems or not but there’s a huge gap between the two halves and I can’t join them together
Which transparency you use in step 8? How do you get a soft glow?