Creating a landscape in Adobe Illustrator involves the use of several basic tools and techniques, which we explore in our Illustrator courses.
For the landscape pictured here we first create a new file via the File drop-down menu: width 210 x height 130 mm > Colour Mode: RGB, for example. We will create the scene mainly using the Pen, Ellipse, Crystalize and Gradient tools.
Now select the Pen tool and change the Fill colour to green – you can do this either through the Colour Panel, the Swatches panel, or by double-clicking on the Fill icon at the bottom of the Toolbox. If you choose the last method the Colour Picker dialog box will open. You can either choose a colour by clicking on the colour slider, then inside the colour field. Or you can type in the RGB values, for example 51,160,44. You would do this in the case where you had to use a company’s branding colours.
Now click on six points to create two jagged hillocks, as seen here. Clicking with the pen tool in this fashion creates very geometric shapes. We want to make them more rounded, so press down on the Alt button (Mac: Option) on your keyboard and drag on the middle two points to smooth them. You can adjust the anchor points and handles further by clicking and dragging with the Direct Selection tool (the white arrow).
Next open both the Colour and the Gradient panels. You can drag colours down from the Swatches onto the Gradient panel, thus creating colour stops. You can tweak the colour stops further by selecting a stop and clicking in the colour bar on the Colour panel. In this fashion give the hills a gradient fill using two stops with the following values: 171,218,77 and 51,160,444.
Now we wish to create a copy of the hills and alter their appearance. Select hill with Selection tool (V), then press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+F, which are the keyboard shortcuts for Copy and Paste in Front.
To flip the copy around go to Object > Transform > Reflect > Vertical. Move the first set up a bit and adjust points with Direct Selection tool (A) if necessary. Change its gradient fill to: 138,200,25 and 51,160,448. Then adjust the gradient width to add some contrast.
Next we would create the sky, clouds, sun and trees.
Whether you’re a complete beginner or self-taught, our courses will help you gain self-confidence in your Illustrator workflow, as well as adding to your professional skill-set. See many examples of our Illustrator clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related Illustrator Blog Posts:
Illustrator workspace
Illustrator basics
Illustrator clipping masks
Illustrator live trace
Illustrator brushes