Points & Paths

This tutorial shows you a technique to create custom cartoon-like clouds that feature soft shadows. This is a complete update to another tutorial on cartoon clouds that I had written for my previous site. This version is simpler and has a better end result so let’s get started.

1. Create a background
Since the clouds I’m creating are mostly white, I need to create a background that will contrast with them. To do this, I’ll choose a sky blue color from the Swatches panel and then create a rectangle that matches the dimensions of my document.

Since I won’t be interacting with this layer any further, I’ll lock it in the Layers panel.

2. Make the basics
In this step, I’ve created a new layer and on it I’ll create just two shapes with the Ellipse tool. The first shape is a perfectly round circle while the other is a little flatter. These two shapes will serve as the building blocks later for the clouds. Note that I’ve disabled the stroke on the shapes so that I’m only using a white fill.

To stay organized, I’ve labelled this new layer “Clouds” and the original layer “Sky”

3. Create shading shapes
To create the illusion of shading on the circles, follow along. Select both shapes and make a copy of them. Next, use the Edit > Paste in Front command to paste a copy directly over the originals. If you use the regular Paste command, your shapes will be out of alignment.

Keep the copies selected and move them up from the originals by tapping the Up arrow on your keyboard a few times. I hit this key about 10 times to get the result below.

At this point, click an empty area of your document to deselect the copies. Use the Selection tool to select the original perfect circle and its copy. Click once on the Minus Front command in the Pathfinder panel. Repeat this process for the flatter circles so that you end up with the result below.

Select both of these shading shapes and apply a blue fill to them. You can use the same blue as your background if you prefer. To soften the shapes, apply a Gaussian Blur effect (Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to them using the values shown.

4. The circles return
If you didn’t do any other fancy keyboard shortcut copying, cutting or pasting, you should still have a copy of the circles from Step 2 in the system’s memory. Use the Edit > Paste in Back command to make them appear.

Group the shading shape together with the circle below it (Object > Group) for each pair of circles. This makes moving a circle – along with its shading – much easier.

5. Bring in the clouds!
At this point, the hard part is over and the clouds will finally take shape. Use these two shapes as starter shapes to create your clouds. Make copies of the shapes, distort them a little with the bounding box handles if you prefer and stack them over one another. If the shading looks a little funny on some cloud parts, reposition using the Arrange commands (via the Object menu or by right-clicking a shape) or the Edit and Paste in Front/Back commands.

Here’s what I ended up with after a bit of copying and distorting. Notice that I’ve not only resized some of the original shapes but also rotated them around to get shading on different sides.