How to Create a Still Life Illustration of German Food in Adobe Illustrator

We’re honouring the Germany, their language and their culture this week in celebration of the launch of the German version of Envato Elements! 

In this tutorial, we will create an illustration with delicious German
food. All the elements of this illustration are simple, made from basic
shapes, which will lead you to quick but awesome results. We’re going
to need the Pen Tool a couple of times, but I promise that it won’t be
that hard.

My family and I lived in Germany for four years, and now that we are in
the USA, we miss some hearty German dishes! Envato Market has a
beautiful collection of these delicious German meals. Just try
not to run to your refrigerator afterwards, as we still need to finish
this tutorial! Let’s get to it!

1. Create a Shelf, a Tablecloth, and the Background

Step 1

Start by creating a new document (File > New) with 600 px width and
400 px height. We will first create a shelf where all the foods will be
displayed. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a long, narrow
rectangle.

Step 2

Now take the Pen Tool (P). Don’t be scared—you will just need to click
your artboard five times with this tool. Place the first dot where the
number 1 is in the image below. Then move on to the second position,
then the third and the fourth. The fifth dot has to be exactly where the
first dot is. Change the fill color as shown in the image below.

Step 3

Let’s move on to the tablecloth. We will use the Polygon Tool to make a
triangle. Take the Polygon Tool and click on your artboard. In the new
dialogue window, type 3 Sides with any Radius. Then click OK. 

Turn the
triangle upside down: right-click >Transform > Reflect. In the new
dialogue window, check Axis Horizontal and press OK. After that,
stretch the triangle and place it on the shelf. We’re going to turn this
into a Bavarian-themed tablecloth.

Step 4

Select the triangle from the previous step. Now take a look at the
Appearance panel. Click on the tiny triangle in the top-right corner and, in the pop-up menu, select Add New Fill. 

Now look at the Swatches
panel. Go to Swatches > Patterns > Decorative >
Decorative_Geometric 1 and select the Diamond Harlequin pattern for this
new fill. Set the Opacity to Color Burn. Our Bavarian tablecloth is
ready!

2. Create a Beer Stein

Step 1

Draw a rectangle using the Rectangle Tool (M). While keeping it
selected, go to Effect > Warp > Arc. In the new dialogue window,
adjust the options as you see in the image below—this is our basic glass
shape.

Step 2

Go to Object > Path > Offset Path. In the new dialogue window,
make Offset -12 px. Make Joins Miter, Miter Limit 4, and press OK.
Change the fill color to what you see below. We just filled it up with
the beer.

Step 3

Delete the fill color and set the stroke color. Using the Ellipse Tool
(L), draw an ellipse. Then take the Direct Selection Tool (A), and move
the left anchor to the right. You will get a handle for our beer stein.

Place the handle on the side of the glass.

Step 4

Delete the stroke color and set the fill color. Hit the Rounded
Rectangle Tool and draw a long rounded rectangle. While keeping it
selected, hold down the Alt and Shift keys together, move it to the
right, but not too far. 

Press Control-D once more to move this rounded
rectangle again. Go to Effect > Warp > Arc, as we need to warp it a
little. In the new dialogue window, adjust the options as you see here:

Place warped rounded rectangles on the beer stein. Germans call it Maß
or Mass (pronounced [mas]), which is the Bavarian word describing the
amount of beer in a beer mug, which in modern times is exactly 1 liter
(33.8 US fl oz) (from Wikipedia).

Step 5

Let’s go ahead and place this beer stein on the shelf. It’ll be easier
to draw the foam for our beer since we’ve got a colored background. 

Using the Ellipse Tool (L), hold down the Shift key (to draw an even
circle) to draw many small circles representing the beer foam. Once
you’re finished, take the Rounded Rectangle Tool and add a tiny, long, rounded rectangle to show overflowing of the beer.

3. Create a Pretzel

Step 1

I’ve always wondered how to draw a pretzel in a simple way. Different
people have different ways of drawing the pretzel, but I divided the
shape into simple parts, especially for you! So it goes!

First, draw an ellipse with the stroke color from below and no fill
color. Then you need to get a sharp bottom anchor point with the help of
the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C).

Select the left and right
anchor points using the Direct Selection Tool (A) and shift them up. You
should have a upside-down drop shape.

Step 2

Keep this drop shape selected, and while holding the Alt key, shift it
to the right. You will get two of the same shape. Notice that they still
need to be overlapping. Take the Arc Tool to draw a curve. Place it
upside down on the bottom of the two drop shapes.

Now, check Round Cap on the Stroke panel. Draw two small lines using the
Line Segment Tool (\) on the bottom part. The simple pretzel shape is
ready.

Step 3

Hold your horses! We need to jazz up our pretzel before we move on.
Let’s sprinkle some salt. Add a few tiny beige rectangles over it. Group
the whole pretzel (Control-G).

Place it on the shelf.

4. Create a Bavarian Spiral Sausage (Bratwurstschnecke)

Step 1

Since it is a spiral sausage, we will use the Spiral Tool to draw it. 

First, delete the fill color and set the stroke color you see below.
Then take this tool and click on your artboard. Enter the following
options and click OK. Don’t forget to check Round Cap on the Stroke
panel. Rotate this shape and adjust the handles of the anchor points to
achieve the real shape of the bratwurstschnecke (the German name of this
sausage).

Step 2

To hold this sausage together, Germans pierce it with a wooden skewer.
So let’s delete the stroke color and set the fill color. Draw a long,  narrow rectangle. Make it narrower at the top: move the top-left anchor
point to the right, and move the top-right anchor point to the left.

Step 3

Pierce the sausage with the skewer.

And place it on the shelf. Hungry, yet? We’re almost there!

5. Create the Goose

Step 1

Let’s use a beige ellipse for the body of the goose. By moving the
handles of the anchor points, achieve the result you see in the image
below. Notice that the bottom and left anchor points remain intact.

Step 2

Add a small ellipse for the head of the goose. Rotate it a little to the left.

Here comes the next challenging point of the tutorial—another Pen Tool
(P) moment for the goose’s neck because he just can’t live without it.
The top of the neck needs to overlap the head, and the bottom of the neck
needs to overlap the body. Notice that when you’re using the Pen Tool
(P), you need to stretch the handles of the anchor points, not just
click on the artboard as you did at the beginning of the tutorial.

Step 3

Let’s create a beak for our goose. Create an orange ellipse, and then move
the top and bottom anchor points to the left. Move the handles to make
this shape sharper, but not pointy.

Step 4

Give the goose a beak. Add a tiny oval for the eye. And of course, brighten up his eyes by adding a white circle.

Step 5

Make a copy of the beak. We’re going to turn this into a tail. Change
the fill color: using the Eye Dropper Tool (I), take the color from the
body. Place it as the tail of the goose. Let’s make one more copy, but
make it a bit smaller. The tail is now ready.

Step 6

For the wing, create two ellipses where the wing should be. The first ellipse is
darker (below you can see the fill color) and the second, the top one,
is the same fill color as the body. Our goose is done.

6. Create the Traditional Bavarian Hat

Step 1

Start with a green rectangle and add some warp options that you see in
the image below. Finish off with an ellipse on the top. You don’t need
the black stroke on the ellipse—I just marked it to show you where it
should be placed.

Step 2

To create the brim of the hat, we will use a cutout of an ellipse. Cover
one half of the newly created green ellipse with any colored rectangle.
While keeping both shapes selected, press Minus Front on the Pathfinder
panel (Window > Pathfinder).

Step 3

Combine all the parts belonging to the hat together.

Using the Arc Tool,
draw a yellow stroked curve on the hat (without a fill color).

Step 4

Here we will create a simple feather which we will add as a decoration to our traditional German hat.

Draw an ellipse with fill color (R=232, G=216, B=175) and no stroke
color. Warp it by entering the following options below. Add a long, narrow
ellipse over it (fill color R=214, G=196, B=150). Using the Direct
Selection Tool (A), move the left and right anchor points of the new, darker ellipse down. Expand the feather (Object > Expand Appearance).

Step 5

We want to bend the feather for a natural-looking effect. Group the
whole thing together (Control-G) and apply the Warp Options you see
below. Expand the feather again (Object > Expand Appearance).

Place it on the hat but behind the yellow stroke. You can also place the
feather, and then put the yellow stroke over it (Control-X, Control-F).

Step 6

Group the hat together and place it on the head of the goose.

7. Create the Basket

Step 1

Draw a rounded rectangle using the Rounded Rectangle Tool. Cover the
upper part of it with a rectangle of any fill color. Press Minus Front
in Pathfinder (Window > Pathfinder).

Step 2

Add a long rounded rectangle of a lighter color.

Step 3

Delete the fill color, match the stroke color and draw a circle for the
handle of the basket. Make the stroke weight very thick on the Stroke
panel.

Step 4

To show a texture of the basket, we can just draw a few lines over it to show the weaving.

Step 5

And place the goose in the basket!

A little funny story… Once in the middle of the city center in Munich,
I spotted an old man in a traditional German outfit. It was
pretty evident that was his everyday outfit. And there I saw a very big
goose walking near him. It almost looked as though the man had just
descended from the Alps and came to the market to sell his goose as if
it were the Middle Ages! It was quite a strange and funny sight!

Awesome Work, You’re Done!

Place the basket with the goose on the shelf. We are done!

Yay, we did it! Hope you liked this tutorial, and maybe it even sparked some interest in Germany. Keep posting your results and ask me if you have any questions!