The Making of a Stylized Santa Face - Adobe Illustrator Tutorial

Jacquelin Vanderwood November 15, 2003   1 Let's start with an oval on a layer named Santa.   2 With the Direct Selection tool, pull out the bezier curves to create a more broad forehead.   3 To create the eyes use the Pen tool and create an eye shape. Then go ahead and use the Reflect tool set at Vertical to create a flipped copy of the eye. Add a black center with the oval tool and holding the shift key down and do the same for the white highlight.   4 Use the Pen tool to create an ear shape. Duplicate and flip it with the Reflect tool.   5 Use the Oval tool to create the eyebrow then merge the shapes together. Using the Appearance palette, click on Stroke, access the Stroke palette and apply a gray stroke to the brow with a 4 pt. dashed light gray line. Copy and flip it.   6 Create a star for the hat. To increase the amount of points on a star, use the up arrow. Duplicate the star.  Create a 2-step blend and use the Blend tool to select the points.   7 Let's create a hat. Use the Pen tool to draw the shape. Click the Clear Appearance button to clear out the style duplication. Drop that layer below the stars. Fill the hat with red. Apply the Roughen feature located under Effect.   8 Create a ball at the end of the hat and use the Eyedropper to glean the style from the stars. Increase the stroke weight to 10.   9 Create a beard that will cover the lower half of the face with the same style as the ball.   10 Create a pink oval. Reduce by 20% and copy the oval and change the color to white. Move the white oval to the top of the pink oval and use the Blend tool (Smooth Color) to create the nose.   11 For the mouth, create an oval. Duplicate it and move upward using the arrow tools. Select both ovals. Use Subtract in the Pathfinder palette then apply Expand to make the mouth one object.  In the Appearance palette select the stroke layer and apply a raspberry colored 3 pt stroke. Duplicate that Appearance palette stroke layer and apply a 1 pt light pink stroke.   12 For Santa's hair, create a large oval and send it to the back. Apply with the Eyedropper the style of the beard. Apply Zig Zag to the hair using the settings below.   13 As a last idea, in the Appearance palette apply a white stroke to the hat. And also, using the Direct Select tool, select the bottom point of the mouth and drag down holding the Shift key down to open the mouth for a more pleasing appearance.     Copyright 2003, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved