How to Create a Flat Design Rolled Sushi Icon Set in Adobe Illustrator

The
increasing popularity of rolled sushi has resulted in the spread of this
dish around the world. Nowadays, there are so many variations and fillings that we can all find something to our taste.

In this tutorial we’ll create
our own rolls and combine them into a set of colorful icons. We’ll create a
base with some simple shapes and transformations and then use it to create as
many variations as we can by replacing separate details, like in a constructor.
Let’s start!

1. Create a Basic Rolled Sushi Form With Nori

Step 1

First of
all, let’s form the basic part of our future roll. Either take the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw an even
square by holding down the Shift key
and dragging, or double click on the Rectangle
Tool (M) in the Tools panel and make a 30 x 30
px square from the pop-up menu. Now double-click the Rotate Tool (R) and set a 45
degree Angle for our square.

Step 2

Switch to
the Selection Tool (V) and select
the shape. Grab one of the circled Live
Corners markers inside our square and drag it closer to the center,
rounding the corners. This feature is available only in CC version of Adobe
Illustrator. For earlier versions, useEffect
> Stylize > Round Corners with a bigger Radius value to make the shape almost round.

Step 3

Keeping the
shape selected, go to Object > Path
> Offset Path and set the Offset
value to 5 px, creating a bigger
shape beneath the initial one.

Select the
first shape again and create another Offset
Path, but this time with -7 px
Offset value, creating a smaller square inside the initial one.

Step 4

Apply the
dark-blue color (#404E69) to the larger shape. This will be the
outer part of our roll, the nori wrapping. Fill the middle part with
light yellow (#FCFDDD) for the rice and, finally, color the middle part with vivid green (#93C13A) for the avocado filling.

Step 5

Let’s add
some details to our roll. Take the Ellipse
Tool (L) and form a squashed ellipse, depicting a grain of rice. Make a
darker Stroke (#F1F2D4), set the Weight to 0.3 pt in the Stroke
panel, and Align Stroke to Outside. Duplicate
the grain several times and spread the copies over the middle part of our roll.
Make the Fill color of some of the grains lighter.

Step 6

Let’s work
on the inner part of the roll. Take the Knife
Tool (you can find it in the same dropdown menu as the Eraser Tool (Shift-E) in the Tools panel) and draw a curved line
across the green shape, dividing it into two halves. Make the left part slightly
lighter.

Step 7

Now that we
have the top view of our roll, let’s add an isometric effect to it in order
to make the item three-dimensional. Select all parts of our roll and Group (Control-G) them.

Keep a copy
of this group, as we’ll need some of its elements later. Select the created
group and go to Effect > Distort
& Transform > Free Distort. Use the Free Distort options window to make the bottom part of the image
wider than the top part, creating the perspective.

Object > Expand Appearance to apply the effect and squash the
shape a little bit more by taking the Selection
Tool (V) and dragging the upper edge of the shape down.

Step 8

Now we need
to create the “body” of our rolled sushi. Hold downAlt and Shiftand
drag the top shape down, creating a copy of the top shape of our roll.
Select the bottom group and use the Unite function of Pathfinder panel to turn
it into a single shape. Fill the shape with a darker color than the nori part
and Send the shape to Back (Shift-Control-[ or right
mouse click > Arrange > Send to Back).

Step 9

Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a shape,
connecting the side points of the top and bottom parts of our roll. I use red here just to make it more visible in the screenshots. Unite the created shape with the bottom part, creating the “body”
base of the roll.

Step 10

Copy the body part and Paste it in Front (Control-C
> Control-F). Take the Eraser
Tool (Shift-E) and, holding down the Alt
key, erase the left part of the shape. Make the remaining half darker, forming a gentle, flat-style shadow.

Step 11

Arm yourself with the
Pencil Tool (N) and draw a thin and
slightly curved shape. Make several copies and place them on the nori part of
our roll, creating texture.

2. Create a Basic Rolled Sushi Form With Salmon

Step 1

This time
we’ll render a rounded roll. Create an even circle with the Ellipse Tool (L), either by holding down the Shift key and dragging, or by
double-clicking the Ellipse Tool (L)icon in the Tools panel and making a 30 x 30 px ellipse.

Use Object > Path > Offset Path with 5 px Offset value to create a bigger
circle around the initial shape.

Step 2

Create a
smaller shape inside with -7 px Offset
value.

Step 3

Let’s add
some color to our sushi! Fill the outer shape with a gentle orange tone (#F2805B)
for the salmon wrapping, make the middle shape light yellow (#FCFDDD) for the rice
and, finally, fill the inner part with white (#FFFFFF) for the cream-cheesefilling, wrapped in nori (dark blue#404E69). Add some separate pieces of
rice, as we did previously, to make the top of our roll more detailed.

Step 4

Use the Effect > Distort & Transform >
Free Distort function to make the shape squashed and Object > Expand Appearance to apply the effect.

Step 5

Start
forming the “body” of our salmon roll. Use the copy of the top part of the
roll to create its bottom. Then take the Rectangle
Tool (M) and connect the two parts together, by creating a rectangle between
them.

Finish up by Uniting the
bottom part and the rectangle in the Pathfinder
panel, turning them into a single shape. Make the body part slightly darker
than the salmon wrapping of the top part in order to separate these shapes from
each other.

Step 6

Let’s add
some details to make the salmon part of our roll more true-to-life. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a narrow pink
stripe and rotate it to 45 degreeangle, either by rotating the shape manually with the Selection Tool (V) or using the Rotate Tool (R).

Step 7

Place the
created stripe above the roll, as shown in the screenshot below, then hold the Alt key and move the shape to the
right, creating a copy. Press Control-Dseveral times to repeat your last action, thus creating more
copies.

Step 8

Group (Control-G) the stripes and apply Effect > Warp > Arc with 15%
Vertical Bend value, making the stripes slightly arched.

Step 9

Duplicate
the basic “body” shape of our roll and Bring
it Forward (Control-]), placing it
above the stripes. Select both the stripes and the created copy, right
click and Make Clipping Mask,
thus hiding the unwanted pieces inside the mask.

Step 10

Use the Reflect Tool (O) to flip the stripes
over the Vertical Axis. Create
another copy of the roll body shape and delete one of its halves with the Eraser Tool (Shift-E). Switch the
remaining half to Multiply Blending Mode
and place it above the stripes, creating a gentle flat shadow.

3.Use the Base to Make
Various Types of Rolls

Step 1

Now we have
these two shapes, which will serve as a basis for our future icon set. We’ll be
using their parts in a construction set, creating different variations.
Let’s try it out!

Duplicate
the salmon roll and remove the Clipping Mask containing the stripes. Now take
the Direct Selection Tool (A) and
select the bottom anchor points by clicking and dragging the mouse cursor over the
desired area. Finally, hold the Shift
key and drag the selected points down, making the shape taller.

Step 2

Delete the
center part on top of our roll and change the salmon colors to dark-blue nori
tints. Add texture strokes on the body of the roll.

Step 3

Let’s
create caviar for the topping of the roll. Make four circlesof about10 x 10px size with the Ellipse Tool (L). Add tiny details to some
of the caviar pieces. Leave the other circles blank in order not to make the
combination of these elements look too noisy.

Step 4

Place the
caviar on top of the roll and start adding more copies. Rearrange the pieces,
placing the dark elements next to the light ones, creating contrast.

Step 5

Add more
copies, covering the top of our rolled sushi and creating a thick layer of
caviar.

Step 6

Let’s move
on and create an avocado roll, using the salmon roll base again. Delete the
stripes and change the salmon colors to bright tints of green (you can pick the
colors from the screenshot below, using the Eyedropper Tool (I)). Split the topping with the Knife Tool and change the colors to
bright yellow.

Step 7

For our
next sushi, let’s use the squared roll base that we created at the beginning
of this tutorial. Recolor the body part into light yellow, creating a base made of rice. Use the filling from the previous roll, creating a round yellow
center on the top part. Take separate grains of rice from the top sushi shape that we created at the beginning, and place the rice on the body shape, making
the roll more textured.

Step 8

Combine the
elements of the square and round rolls to create an entirely new type of this
tasty dish.

Make up as
many variations as you need. Here are six types of rolls that we’ve created,
using the basic shapes.

Step 9

Now we will gather
the created sushi into a set of icons. First of all, let’s make the icon base,
using the Ellipse Tool (L) and
creating a 120 x 120 px even circle.
Make four circles and fill them with the same bright colors that we used for our
rolls—green, pinky-orange, light yellow and bright yellow.

Step 10

Place our
rolls on the icon circles, combining the contrasting colors. Duplicate
some rolls, creating pairs to make the set more rhythmic and varied.

Yatta! Our
Rolled Sushi Set of Icons Is Finished!

Great job,
guys and girls! You can hardly stop when you combine elements, making more and more new rolls! Let's end up with 16 icons.

As a result, we’ve created a big colorful set of yummy rolls and learned how to
transform basic shapes, making the objects isometric, and used a simple basis to
create a wide range of different roll types. I hope you’ve found some useful
tips and tricks to master your skills. Good luck!