Vector Monarch Butterfly

Hi Friends

I have a beautiful vector monarch butterfly tutorial in illustrator and so excited to teach you the technique witch I used to create it in this example, I have fully described every step to learn easily and used different color to make it beautiful butterfly so follow this example without loosing any movement.

First of all we need a new document with appropriate size, I have taken (Width ="399", Height="399"). Select Pen Tool (P key)  and draw some anchor point to make a shape that should be look like butterfly wing.

Select Ellipse Tool (L key) and draw a little circle with "White" fill color then drag and drop in the Symbol Panel (Ctrl + Alt + F11). A window comes on the screen and you have to make adjustment with any name as done here.

Still selected circle in the symbol panel, select Symbol Sprayer Tool (Shift + S) and apply on the bottom part of the butterfly wing to look like white circle spot on the black area as done here.

Now apply same upper step to make white spot again but make sure the circle size should be increased. You can also do it manually, select Ellipse Tool (L key) and draw some white colored circle as below.

Now you have to draw another shape inside the wing to make it attractive, select Pen Tool (P key) and make some anchor point with selected "#F77D1E" fill color, you can take any color as you like but make sure that should be light than black.

In this step you have to make parts of the shape, select Pen Tool (P key) and draw some line on the shape with only stroke Black color. Select all the line to make them group by pressing (Ctrl + G) then select shape with hold Shift key and click on the "Divide" option in the Pathfinder Panel to make parts.

Now you have separate parts of the shape and you have to apply inner glow in them. Select one part and follow this path (Effect menu > Stylize > Inner Glow) and apply "#C15810" color with different settings, apply same effect in the rest parts as done below picture.

Select Pen Tool (P key) and draw some different type of the shape with "Yellow" color place on right position as done below picture.

I am going to draw some red spot on the wing, select Ellipse Tool (L key) and draw shape and apply inner glow. Go to Effect menu > Stylize > Inner Glow, choose "#A50A0A" color and adjust another settings as done below.

Now you have to make it more attractive, so select red shape and press (Ctrl + C) (Ctrl + F) to make copy paste then select Transparency Panel (Shift + Ctrl + F10) and change the blend mode "Normal" to "Screen".

Now select all the part of the wing and make them group by pressing (Ctrl + G) then make copy paste and adjust the position. Your two wings are completed and you have to make two more, you can use upper steps to make them but make sure your butterfly wings should be place as below picture..

Select Pen Tool (P key) and draw some anchor point to complete below shape with Black color, hold Alt key and press right Arrow then reflect it vertically and make both join (Ctrl + J).

Now you have to apply gradient in the joined shape, Select joined shape and adjust the position in the middle of the wings. Open Gradient Panel (Ctrl + F9) apply different color in the slider and draw some line with black color as done below. 

In this step I am going to draw eye and highlight, Select Pen Tool (P key) and draw a curveted line with little black circle on the start and end point then make them group by pressing (Ctrl + G). Now make duplicate copy and reflect it vertically and set on the another side as done below.

You can apply type of background to make it more attractive but I have applied a gradient background here.

Now select all the part of the butterfly and make them group by pressing (Ctrl + G) to apply drop shadow of the whole butterfly, go to Effect menu > Stylize > Drop Shadow and adjust all the settings as done below picture.

It is your final result.

Santosh Kumar

This is santosh kumar living in New Delhi (India) and love to work as a Web & Graphic Designing. I like to create sketch, background, illustration and vector graphics. Tutorialbunch.com is a very good place where I express my creativity.