In these Illustrator blog posts we describe how to create a simple landscape and sun using some of the basic drawing tools. These are some of the many features we explore in our Adobe Illustrator courses.
The next step would be to create the sky, clouds, sun and trees. Firstly, the sky: create a rectangle and add a gradient blend of two colours, for example RGB 139,211,229 and 255,255,255. Then select Arrange from the Object drop-down menu, and Send to Back. This will place the sky behind our green hills.
For the sun object choose the Ellipse tool and press Shift to draw a perfectly proportioned circle. You could add a gradient here too of colours 254,222,88 and 237,179,41, for example. Send this object behind the hills but in front of the sun.
Next copy the sun and Paste in Front (Ctrl+C then Ctrl+F). Next select the Crystallize tool and double-click on the tool to open its dialog box; make the width and height 70mm and hit OK. Then press the brush in the middle of the sun to see the sunburst effect. Change its colour to 237,179,41. Move it behind the sun object. To scale up or down select with the Selection tool (V), then pressing the Shift and Alt keys together (Mac: Shift & Option), drag outwards.
The clouds are created using the Ellipse tool with a colour of white. Make the large one first, then the others. Select all the ellipses and go to the Object > Pathfinder menu. Click the Add button, then the Expand button. Copy this cloud to the other side of the image, then scale and rotate the copies to create some variation. You could also adjust the opacity of the clouds to create a more subtle effect.
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