In this tutorial I will show you how to create this simple, but effective cute glossy vector heart in Illustrator

<<|1|>> Create a new document of any size. I am using 380 x 400

<<|2|>> Draw a heart shape. Illustrator does not come with any premade heart shapes, so you will need to either create one or you can get the custom shape from the photoshop shape library or download the one that I've made. To get the shape from photoshop, select the heart shape from the gallery, click and drag to create the shape, and then drag into your illustrator window. You can also download the vector shape I am using here already in .eps format. I have another tutorial on how to draw a heart shape from scratch on the tutorial folder blog so you can check tha out too ;)

<<|3|>> Ok. So now that you have your heart shape you can give it some color. I am using a gradient fill (radial) filled with light pink in the centre and a darker pink tone on the outside.

<<|4|>> Now to make your heart glossy. Make sure the heart is selected and then go to Edit>Copy and then Edit>Paste In Front. You now have a copy of the heart placed exactly above the first heart.

<<|5|>> Select the Pen tool from the tools pallette and draw a wavy line starting from the left of the heart to the right of the heart as shown in the picture.

<<|6|>> Next select both the line you have just drawn & the heart on top by holding down the shift key.

<<|7|>> You now need to divide the heart into 2 parts. Click on Divide in the pathfinder pallette. If you can't find the pathfinder palette, go to Window> Pathfinder

<<|9|>>You should now have 2 separate heart segments. Select the direct selection tool in the tools palette and select the bottom half of the heart and hit delete on your keyboard. You are left with the top half of the heart

<<|10|>> Select the top half of the heart and in the swatches palette click the white to black linear gradient to color the top half of the heart.

<<|11|>> Now select Screen as the blending mode in the transparency palette

<<|12|>> Type -90 in the gradient angle palette to turn the gradient the other way around

<<|13|>> You now have a glossy vector heart!

Add another heart and add a background to create a simple, but effective final image

Experiment with different effects & compositions to create designs like these...

I hope you have been inspired by this tutorial to create your own designs. If you have any questions or comments, just ask!

discuss this topic to forum