How to Create a Water Pistol Illustration in Adobe Illustrator

Final product image — What You’ll Be Creating

In the following steps you will learn how to create a detailed water pistol illustration in Adobe Illustrator.

For starters you will learn how to setup a simple grid and how to create the main body shape along with the trigger and the handle using basic tools and effects and some gradients.

Next, using a bunch of new shapes, the live corners feature, some simple effects and basic masking techniques you will learn how to create the pipe, the nozzle and the water container. Finally, you will learn how to add subtle shading and highlights using basic blending techniques and a simple Drop Shadow effect.

1. Create a New Document and Set Up a Grid

Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, enter 600 in the width and height boxes then click on the Advanced button. Select RGB, Screen (72ppi) and make sure that the Align New Objects to Pixel Grid box is unchecked before you click OK. Enable the Grid (View > Show Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid).

For starters you will need a grid every 5px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, enter 5 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box. Try not to get discouraged by all that grid, it will ease your work and keep in mind that you can easily enable or disable it using the Control-“ keyboard shortcut. You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes. Do not forget to set the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Units > General. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.

2. Create the Body, the Handle and the Trigger

Step 1

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and focus on your Toolbar. Remove the color from the stroke then select the fill and set its color at R=255 G=200 B=0. Move to your artboard and simply create a 130 x 25px rectangle, the Snap to Grid should ease your work. Make sure that this yellow shape stays selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 5px Radius, click OK then go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 2

Set a random orange for the fill color, make sure that the Rectangle Tool (M) is active, create a 35 x 75px shape and place it as shown in the first image. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A) and focus on the bottom side of this orange rectangle. Select both anchor points and simply drag them 25px to the right as shown in the second image. Once again, the grid and the Snap to Grid feature should ease your work.

Make sure that the shape made in this step is still selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 5px Radius, click OK and then go to Object > Expand Appearance.

Step 3

Reselect your yellow, rounded rectangle, make a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F) and bring it to front (Shift-Control-] ). Select this copy along with your orange shape, open the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder) and click the Minus Front button.

Step 4

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 40px square and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this new shape stays selected and focus on the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance). Remove the color from the fill and select the stroke. Set its color at R=189 G=15 B=4 then simply click on that “Stroke” piece of text to open the Stroke fly-out panel. Set the Weight at 8px and check the Align Stroke to Inside button.

Switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A) and focus on the bottom side of this red shape. Select both anchor points and simply drag them 15px to the right as shown in the second image. Make sure that your red shape stays selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 5px Radius, click OK and then go to Object > Path > Outline Stroke.

Step 5

Duplicate your yellow and orange shapes (Control-C > Control-F). Bring these copies to front (Shift-Control-] ), make sure that both shapes are selectes and click the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. Select the resulting shape along with the red one and click the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel.

Step 6

Make sure that your yellow shape is selected, open the Gradient panel (Window > Gradient) and simply click on the gradient thumbnail to add the default black to white linear gradient.

Keep focusing on your Gradient panel, set the Angle at 90 degrees then move to the gradient colors. Select the right slider and set the color at R=255 G=230 B=30 then select the left slider and set the color at R=245 G=160 B=0. Focus on the gradient bar and simply click on it to add a new gradient slider. Make sure that this new slider is selected, set its color at R=245 G=160 B=0, focus on the Location box (from the Gradient panel) and set it at 15%. Keep in mind that the blue numbers from the Gradient images stand for Location percentage. Add five new sliders for this gradient then use the color and Location attributes shown in the following image.

Step 7

Make sure that your orange shape is selected and simply replace the existing fill color with the linear gradient shown in the following image.

Step 8

Make sure that the shape that makes up your handle is still selected, focus on the Appearance panel and add a second fill using the Add New Fill button. Select the new fill and simply add the linear gradient shown in the following image. Keep in mind that the blue number from the Gradient image stands for Location percentage while the yellow zero stands for Opacity percentage. This simply means that you need to select that gradient slider, focus on the Opacity box (from the Gradient panel) and set it at 0%.

Step 9

Make sure that your handle shape is still selected, focus on the Appearance panel and add a third fill using that same Add New Fill button. Focus on this new fill and simply click that “Opacity” piece of text to open the Transparency fly-out panel. Lower the Opacity to 5%, change the Blending Mode to Soft Light and then add the linear gradient shown in the following image.

Step 10

Select your red shape and simply replace the existing fill color with the radial gradient shown below. Make sure that this shape stays selected, focus on your artboard and use the Gradient Tool (G) to stretch your gradient as shown in the following image.

Step 11

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 35 x 40px shape, make it blue and place it as shown in the first image. Make sure that this new rectangle stays selected and go to Effect > Stylize > Rounded Corners. Enter a 3px Radius, click OK and go to Object > Expand Appearance. Replace the existing fill color with the linear gradient shown in the following image.

Step 12

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create a 35 x 10px shape, set the fill color at white (R=255 G=255 B=255), lower its Opacity to 20% and change the Blending Mode to Overlay.

Step 13

For this step you will need a grid every 1px, so go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid and enter 1 in the Gridline every box. Using the Pen Tool (P), create a 10px, vertical path and place it as shown in the first image.

Make sure that this new path stays selected and focus on the Appearance panel. Remove the color from the fill then focus on the stroke. Add a dark red for the color, set the Weight at 5px and check the Round Cap button from the Stroke fly-out panel. Keep focusing on this path and switch to the Direct Selection Tool (A). Select the bottom anchor point, drag it 8px to the right then go to Effect > Warp > Arc. Enter the properties shown in the following image, click OK and then go to Object > Path > Outline Stroke.

Step 14

Make sure that your red shape stays selected, replace the existing fill color with the linear gradient shown in the following image then go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the attributes shown below and click OK.