How to Create a Set of Flat Animal Icons in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial we’ll create six different
animal portraits from one and the same circle! Let’s have fun making a set of
trendy flat elements using basic shapes, the Shape Builder Tool, the Pathfinder panel and some other useful functions of Adobe Illustrator!

1. Create an Elegant Siamese Cat

Step 1

Start forming the cat’s face from an even
circle of 60 x 60 px size, made with
the Ellipse Tool (L). Fill the
circle with a sandy beige color.

Step 2

Select both side anchor points with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag them
down, changing the shape of the face.

Step 3

Now let’s form the cat’s ear. Take the Polygon Tool and make a three-sided shape
of about 17 x 15 px size. Go to Effect > Warp > Bulge and set the
Vertical Bend value to 40%.

Object > Expand Appearance of
the shape to apply the effect. Select the upper anchor point with the Direct Select Tool (A) and make the
corner smooth by clicking the Convert
corners to smooth button in the upper context panel. Shorten the anchor
handles of this anchor point and drag the anchor point up, making the ear more
pointed.

Step 4

Copy the shape and Paste it in Front (Control-C > Control-F).
Make the copy smaller and fill it with chocolate-brown color. Rotate the ear
and place it at the left side of the head, Sending
it to Back (Control-Shift-[),
beneath the head shape. Use the Reflect
Tool (O) by double-clicking its icon
in the Tools panel to flip the ear
over the Vertical Axis and to create
a copy, placing it at the opposite side of thehead.

Step 5

Let’s make the top part of the head flat.
Select the head shape, take the Eraser
Tool (Shift-E) and draw a narrow stripe across the head by holding down
the Alt key. Now we’ve sliced the
shape into two parts. Select the unneeded piece and delete it.

Step 6

Make a small pink triangle nose with the Polygon Tool. Select the nose and pull
the circle indicators of the Live Corners to make the shape rounded. If this
function is unavailable in your version of Adobe Illustrator, use Effect > Stylize > Round Corners
which does exactly the same.

Step 7

Make another ellipse and place it inside
the face, so that it touches the lower point of the nose. Align the ellipse to
the nose, using the nose as a Key Object.
To do so, select both shapes and click the nose while holding down Alt. You will see a thick stroke around
the nose, indicating the Key Object.
Head to the Align panel and click Horizontal Align Center.

Then take the Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C) and move the anchor handles of the bottom anchor point down to
about 45 degrees. Use the Guides to move the handles to the equal distance (you can add the Guide line
by dragging it down to your Artboard from the Rulers (Control-R)).

Fill the face “mask” with the same brown
color as we have on the ears, picking the color with the Eyedropper Tool (I). Add a smaller, lighter-brown ellipse
beneath the mask, depicting the lower jaw.

Step 8

Now let’s add the eyes! Make an ellipse,
select its right anchor point and convert it to a sharp corner from the Convert menu in the control panel
above. Fill the ellipse with a bright blue color and add another ellipse above
for the iris.

Here we need to delete the piece of the iris that overlaps the
edge of the eye. Select both ellipses, and use the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M) to erase the upper part of the iris by
holding down the Alt key and
clicking the unwanted piece.

Rotate the eye a bit and create a mirrored
copy using the Reflect Tool (O).

Step 9

Make two light-brown ellipses for the brows
of our cat, and add two tiny white circles in the eyes for the highlights.

Create a lighter-pink ellipse, placing it
above the upper part of the nose, and use the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M) holding down Alt to delete the unneeded part, thus making the nose more
detailed.

Step 10

And let’s create a trendy flat shadow,
covering one half of the cat’s head. Group
(Control-G) all parts of the cat together, Copy the group and Paste
it in Front (Control-C > Control-F).
Keeping the copy selected, Unite its
parts in thePathfinder panel, merging
them into a single shape. Switch the Blending
Mode of the silhouette to Multiply,
making it semi-transparent.

Finally, select the silhouette, take the Eraser Tool (Shift-E) and, holding down
Alt, drag your mouse over the left
half of the cat’s head, covering it with a white rectangularselection. Release
the mouse button to delete the covered piece.

And here we have it! Our flat cat is ready.
Let’s move on to the next element.

2. Draw a Cheerful Puppy

Step 1

As previously, we start forming a portrait
from a 60 x 60 px circle. Move the
side anchor points down a bit, making the shape bulgy, and erase its top part
with the Eraser Tool (Shift-E).

Select
the left anchor point with the Direct
Selection Tool (A) and press Enter
to open the Move options window. Set
the Horizontal Position value to -5 px and theVertical value to 0 px
and click OK, thus moving the
anchor point 5 pixels to theleft.

Do the same for the right anchor point,
setting the Horizontal move value to
5 px and moving it 5 px to the right.

Step 2

Select both side anchor points and Convert them to sharp corners. Adjust
the position of the anchor handles using the Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C) and move them up, making a smooth curve
of the face line.

Step 3

Let’s form the ear from a 40 x 35 px triangle, using the Polygon Tool. Take the Curvature Tool (Control-`) and make the
sides of the triangle more rounded and bulging. If you’re using earlier versions
of Adobe Illustrator, which don’t contain this tool, feel free to use Effect > Warp > Bulge, as we did
previously.

Select the upper anchor point, make it smoother and drag it
to the left, making the shape skewed. Go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set the Offset value to -3px,
forming the inner part of the ear. Fill it with a light-grey color.

Step 4

Rotate the ear and place it at the left
side of the head. Use the Reflect Tool
(O) to create a mirrored copy at the opposite side.

Step 5

Form a dark-grey nose from a squashed
ellipse, dragging its lower anchor point down a bit. Make two overlapping
light-grey ellipses beneath the nose, group them and Align with the face horizontally, using the face shape as the Key Object.

Step 6

Now let’s make a funny tongue sticking out!
Create a light-pink rectangle using the Rectangle
Tool (M), and place it under the light-grey ellipses. Select both lower
anchor points and pull the Live Corners markers up to their maximum, making the
bottom of the shape rounded. Take the Line
Segment Tool (\) and draw a vertical stroke, while holding down Shift. You can make the tips of the
line rounded in the Stroke panel.

Step 7

Let’s move to the eyes. Make a dark-blue
ellipse and cover its lower part with another ellipse or any color. Select both
shapes and use the Shape Builder Tool
(Shift-M) to delete the lower ellipse together with the bottom part of the
eye, which was covered. This way we’re making a playful look. Add a
darker iris and a tiny white highlight to the eye.

Rotate the eye a bit and create a second
one, placing it on the other side of theface.

Step 8

Create twoevenlight-grey circles,
covering the eyes. Then add two bigger circles, overlapping and covering
the lower part of the face, as shown in the screenshot below. Select the lower
circles and use the Shape Builder Tool
(Shift-M) to delete those parts outside the face.

Select all four new pieces and Unite them in Pathfinder, making a face “mask”. You
can delete the gap in the center of the mask by clicking its edge with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and deleting
it.

Step 9

Make two tiny rectangles with rounded
corners for the brows, making the dog look kind and cheerful, and finish up by
creating a subtle shadow on the right half of theface.

3. Make a Fancy Raccoon

Step 1

We start shaping out the face from a 60 x 60 px pastel-blue circle. Squash it
a bit and make the shape wider. Drag both side anchor points a few pixels down, and Convert them to sharp corners
from the Convert menu in the upper
toolbar.

Copy the ears from our cat, recolor them
according to the color of the raccoon’s head, and place them on both sides of the
head.

Step 2

Make a nose from a 18 x 10 px dark-grey ellipse, dragging its top anchor point up a bit.
Create another ellipse with a dark-grey Stroke
color, setting the Fill color to None in the Color panel. Take the Scissors
Tool (C) and click the left and right anchor points, splitting the
shape horizontally into two equal halves. Delete the lower half, making our
raccoon smile.

Step 3

Copy the face shape and make the copy much
smaller, filling it with white color and placing it beneath the nose area. Add two
tiny black eyes with white highlights, group them and align to the face
horizontally in the Align panel,
making the face a KeyObject.

Copy the face shape once again, making the
copy a bit smaller, fill it with dark-blue color and place it in the bottom part of the face, forming a mask.

Step 4

Let’s split the mask into two halves,
creating two separate spots around the eyes. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a vertical stripe across the middle of
the face. Select both the mask and the stripe, and use the Divide function of Pathfinder
to slice all the shapes. Delete the unneeded pieces, if there are any. Place
the halves you'vecreatedbeneath the eyes, and make the corners slightly rounded.

Finally, add a flat shadow to the right
part of the face. Now we can move on!

4. Make a Kind Panda

Step 1

Make a fluffy face shape from a 60 x 60 px light-beige circle, moving its
side anchor points down.

Step 2

Copy the nose area from our dog and set the
Stroke color of the “lips” to
dark-grey, so that the outline is visible. Select two outlined ellipses
(without the nose) and Unite
them in Pathfinder.

Choose the Scissors Tool (C) and click the side anchor points of the outlined
shape, splitting it apart. Delete the upper half, forming a kind smile for our
panda.

Step 3

Copy the eyes from our raccoon, and let’s
form big, dark-grey spots around the eyes. Make a squashed ellipse and
rotate it a bit to the left. Use the Reflect
Tool (O) to make a copy and flip it horizontally to the other side of the
face. Fill the eyeballs with white color, so that they are visible above the
dark spots.

Keeping the eyeballs selected, go to Object > Path > Offset Path and
create tiny pupils inside the eyes with -1
px Offset value.

Step 4

Add round,dark-greyears to the panda’s head, and finish up by forming a semi-transparent shadow over the right side of its
face.

Great work! Let’s move on!

5. Create a Wise Bear

Step 1

Start making a bear’s face from a 60 x 60 pxcircle. Move both side
anchor points down and drag the top anchor point up, making the head look like
an egg.

Make the top of the head flat with the Eraser Tool (Shift-E). And make the corners
of the shape slightly rounded.

Step 2

Add two circle ears to the top of the head,
group them and Align them
horizontally, using the head as a Key
Object. Use the Offset Path
function with -3 px Offset value to
form the dark inner part of the ears.

Step 3

Make a wide, dark-brown nose from a squashed
ellipse. And let’s form the nose-bridge. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and make a light-beige shape, placing it behind
the nose. Move its upper left anchor point 5
px to the right, using the Move
options panel. Do the same for the upper right anchor point, moving it in the
opposite direction and thus making the top of the nose-bridge narrower.

Make the corners of the rectangle rounded.
Using the Live Corners function, you can vary the level of the roundness of
each separate corner of the shape. For example, you can select only the upper
anchor points and thus make the upper corners 100% rounded by pulling the
markers down to their maximum.

Step 4

Add a small ellipse beneath the bottom of
the nose-bridge, forming the lower jaw. Add the eyes to the bear’s face and, if
you feel that the bear's face is too dark, make the brown parts a
bit lighter.

Finally, add the shadow to the bear’s face.

Awesome! We have the last character left!

6. Make a Cunning Fox

Step 1

And again, we start forming the face of the
fox from our familiar60 x 60 px
circle of an orange color. Pull the side anchor points down a bit and Convert them to sharp corners, making
the sides of the face pointed. Convert
the lower anchor point to a corner as well, forming a sharp nose.

Step 2

Take the ears from our raccoon and position
them at the both sides of the fox’s head, adjusting the colors. Put a black
ellipse over the bottom part of the face, covering the nose area. Use the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M) to get rid
of the piece outside the face, forming a pointed black nose.

Step 3

Create an ellipse, overlapping the left
side of the fox’s face, as shown in the screenshot below. Use the Reflect Tool (O) to make a flipped copy
at the opposite side. Select both ellipses and delete those parts outside the
face with the Shape Builder Tool
(Shift-M). Fill the shapes with light-beige color, forming the cheeks. Add two tiny, shiny eyes to our fox.

Step 4

Make the tip of the nose a bit rounded with
the help of the Live Corners function. And let’s add some more details to our
fox!

Make a small squashed ellipse of a
lighter-orange color, and place it at the left side of the nose-bridge. Select
the shape, hold Alt-Shift and drag
the ellipse to the right, making a copy. Press Control-D twice to form two more copies. Make two more rows of
ellipses, placing them in a crisscrossed position. This way we depict a
stylized fur on the fox’s nose.

Don’t forget to add a gentle highlight to
the nose by forming a smaller and lighter shape on top of the nose.

Step 5

Add a gentle shadow to the right side of
our cunning foxie.

7. Create Icons With Long Shadows

Step 1

Now that we have six flat-style animal portraits,
let’s place them on a set of colorful circles, creating icons.

Make a turquoise circle of 106 x 106 px size for the icon's base, and put the raccoon’s
head in the center.

Create an 80 x 80 px square for the shadow base and rotate it to 45 degrees by holding down Shift.

Step 2

Switch the Blending Mode of the square to Multiply,
making it semi-transparent, and place the shape above the raccoon. Make the
shape a bit narrower, if needed, and move it around, finding the two spots where the shape overlaps the head. In our case, it is the tip of the right ear
and the left side of the face. Add two anchor points at these spots
using the Add Anchor Point Tool (+), and then switch to the Delete Anchor
Point Tool (-) and delete those unneeded anchor points at the top of the
rectangle, hiding the top of the shape
beneath the raccoon’s head.

Place the shadow under the head, delete the unneeded piece outside the icon with the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M) and—voila!—our fancy icon with a trendy flat shadow is finished! Create the circle
icons for all the rest of the animals using the same simple techniques.

Great Job! Our Set of Flat Animal Icons Is
Completed!

This was fun, wasn’t it? I hope you’ve
enjoyed creating these cute flat animals from one and the same shape and
learned some new tips and tricks, playing around with ellipses, thePathfinder panel and theShape Builder Tool! Stay tuned for new
tutorials, and don’t forget to show your result in the comment below!