Bat Logo Design with Circular Grid & Golden Ratio in Adobe Illustrator Video Lecture | Adobe Illustrator: Become a Pro at Designing - Design Softwares

hey everybody this is Nathaniel Dodson
from Tuck vidcom welcome into this adobe
illustrator tutorial today we're gonna
take a look at creating this very cool
very simple very beautiful Batman the
bats icon logo effect thing it's a very
very cool technique very simple but
important technique that we're gonna use
to build this little logo icon I think
you're really gonna like it now if you
do like it make sure you subscribe to my
channel so you never miss any future
past-president you name it tutorials
because you know that's that's the
that's the thing to do without other way
let's jump in and check this tutorial
out alright so here we are in adobe
illustrator now I've already created a
new document the document is 2560 by
1440 and I filled the background with
kind of this very very dark blue you can
fill it with a dark dark blue or a dark
grey whatever you want and that's just
this background layer you can see I've
locked it if you're scoping out my
layers panel now I have created a new
layer I'll just delete it just because
we will create our own new layer
together and we do that by clicking on
the new layer icon and simple and stupid
as that is that's what it is
now what we want to do is go ahead and
grab the ellipse tool so that's that
little shape tool and we're gonna click
a single time and we're gonna choose to
create a 500 by 500 pixel ellipse so
just a nice big circle right in the
middle of our document couple things we
want to change number one we want to
click here on the stroke you can see the
stroke is kind of in the foreground so
we're gonna just double click on that
stroke and I'm gonna give this probably
a yellow color so just kind of a nice
bright yellow and then I'm gonna select
the white the fill which is hanging out
in the back and I'm gonna hit the little
slash icon here just to dump the fill so
you can see here we have this nice
simple beautifully skinny thin almost
borderline hard to see stroked ellipse
we want to create a series of these
ellipses using the golden ratio so what
I'm gonna do is select the first ellipse
I'm gonna go edit copy and then I'm
gonna choose edit paste and it's gonna
throw a duplicate of the circle right
here in the middle of my document now I
want to come over here to my transform
options and I simply want to enter some
math you can see the width and height
are they're linked together by the way
I'm maintaining those proportions so
when I say 500 pixels divided by
forward-slash 1.618
which is that Fibonacci sequence the
golden ratio the most beautiful of
ratios and then I just the tab key you
can see it's going to resize me to three
oh nine point zero
two three so there we go I have my first
downsized circle right in accordance
with the golden ratio
now we're gonna have with that circle
selected we're going to go edits we're
gonna edit copy there we go
and then we'll go edit paste and it's
gonna slap this little circle in the
middle of our document we're gonna play
that same game where we go up there and
we divide this 3:09 divide that by one
point six one eight and let's see we get
one ninety point nine nine one on both
accounts
there we go three nice perfect circles
descending in size in accordance with
that most beautiful Fibonacci sequence
the golden ratio now one thing I would
recommend as we work our way through
this tutorial is that you come up here
into your view menu and just turn smart
guides on almost always in Adobe
Illustrator the smart guides can be very
helpful with just snapping things into
place and making sure things are aligned
it's a really helpful little tool here
in Adobe Illustrator now one trick that
we're gonna be using here probably as we
work through this tutorial is a very
quick copy and paste in place the
hotkeys aren't and I'm gonna do it here
I'm gonna select this circle I'm gonna
copy and then I would just hit command
or ctrl s so copy is command or ctrl C
and then I would hit command or ctrl F
to just paste in front which essentially
is a paste in place you can see it
doesn't look like we did anything but I
can now drag that circle out and you can
see I have a copy of that circle in the
middle of my document this is where and
how we're going to begin building our
bat it begins with a simple circle I'm
going to drag a copy of this circle out
holding down alt or option drag a copy
that circle out and this is where it
becomes important to have smart guides
so i zoom in just a touch here I can
select this circle and as I move over I
can see when I intersect exactly with
the top middle of my bottom circle right
now I'm gonna select that top circle and
I'm gonna nudge it downward so I'm using
my move tool I'm gonna hold down my
shift key and I'm gonna nudge it
downward 100 pixels so we're gonna hit
the down arrow key while holding shift
10 times so 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 great
first circle is in place we want to
duplicate the circle again hold down the
alt or option key we're gonna drag this
straight down I want to drag it straight
down to the bottom of my ellipse right
there see those points that are
intersecting I want the bottom of my
ellipse to come together just perfectly
as it is I'm gonna select that shape
again and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna
nudge it upward 40 pixels so that's
shifting hit the up arrow key once you 3
4 times and then I'm gonna nudge it over
to the right 140 pixels so that's going
to be hit the
while holding shift hold the right arrow
key or hit the right arrow key 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 times great
alright let's duplicate this circle
again we're basically going to do the
same thing but we're gonna push it off
to the left holding down the alt or
option key I'm gonna drag this straight
down and I'm gonna click it into place
here it's gonna happen there we go and
now I'm gonna nudge it up 1 2 3 4 while
holding shift and then to the left now 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 alright
so check this out if I do something like
grab the shape or tool hold down the alt
or option key and just come through here
and get rid of those shapes and then
come up through here and get rid of
those shapes and then come through here
and get rid of those shapes we now have
the bat shape and now because we use the
shaper tool we gotta like unware we get
to expand and ungroup and ungroup and
then join all these paths it's kind of a
bit of rigmarole so that's not really
gonna be a technique we use I just want
to show you we're building that bat
shape here but we want to add some kind
of finer details to the wings and that's
exactly what we're gonna do right now
hey let's take a quick break from this
tutorial are you following me yet on
instagram you can check me out on
instagram my handle is at Tut vid
there'll be a bug that pops up somewhere
somewhere here on the screen we do some
live shows a lot of live shows actually
over on Instagram and a lot of cool
graphics and stories and sketches and
all kinds of stuff gets posted over
there as well I think you just might
like it let's get back into this video
let's select this original large ellipse
and we're gonna do that copy and paste
and placed your command or control C and
then command or control F right so now
we have a second copy of this ellipse
right on top of the original one and
we're gonna nudge it upward 80 pixels so
we're gonna go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 I know it
seems kind of crazy hang with me we're
also gonna nudge it to the left 84
pixels so we're gonna hold down shift
hit the right arrow key 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
and then let go of shift and just nudge
it 1 2 3 4 just like that alright select
that original circle the large ellipse
once more we're gonna do that same copy
paste in place commander ctrl C command
or ctrl F we're gonna nudge up again 80
pixels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and this time
we're gonna nudge to the left 84 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 and then 1 2 3 4 nudging it
toward the left without holding circle
so you can see we've kind of created
these these outer pocket on the edge of
the wing right that's gonna become a
highlight or a really kind of a shadow
we're not finished we got to add a
second sort of cell on the wing and
we're gonna do that with some of these
medium-sized circle
so let's grab this top most medium
ellipse copy it'll do the copy and paste
trick commander control C command or
control F and we're gonna nudge this
sucker downward 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
so it's 111 or 110 pixels down and then
we're gonna go to the right 27 pixels so
1 2 and then we'll let go of shift and
go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 there we go we're gonna
select and duplicate that top medium
ellipse once more commander control C
commander control F again nudge it down
what are we done is that 1 down 80 or no
is 110 so we're gonna go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 and this time we're going to
nudge to the left 27 pixels so 1 2 while
holding down shift let go of shift and
use the left arrow key 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 so
you can see here if you look at the
wings we're gonna have added this 2nd
cell on the inside so now you might be
thinking how do we break this thing down
the simple way well that's exactly what
we're gonna do this is kind of a thing
of beauty
so let's select this whole thing let's
move it off here to the left and we're
just gonna duplicate it and pull a copy
out here that we can work on so I'm
gonna hold down my alt or option key and
I'm just gonna pull it straight out I'm
holding down shift as well to constrain
that straight line and we're gonna work
on this one out here we're gonna leave
these lines intact because lines are fun
and lines look cool we're gonna select
all of this right now and we're gonna
swap all the fills and strokes so we're
gonna make this like a giant yellow blob
right hang with me here now we're gonna
open up our Pathfinder panel this will
be window Pathfinder I already have mine
open over here and I'm most interested
in this tool right here the divide
function we're gonna divide all this
stuff and what this is gonna do is make
each of these areas its own separate
shape any of these areas that overlap so
all we need to do now and by the way if
I take a look at this you can see it's
still a big blob but if we ungroup it
we're gonna have all these individual
shapes so that's exactly what we're
gonna do we're gonna ungroup it by going
object ungroup and now that we've
ungrouped it we can begin selecting
stuff and just deleting it so I can come
through here I can delete all those
shapes I know I don't need them I know I
don't need those I've got I've got to be
careful here I'm coming around to the
wings of the bats
I still need those shapes I'm gonna
highlight everything this is the shape
of my bat in here alright but I know I
can come and get rid of some of the
circular stuff on the bottom get rid of
that I can get rid of these all right
just like that and I think that's the
shape of our bat what we'll do is we'll
zoom way in and just look at like
tips of the wings sometimes you have a
very tiny little bit left behind and
sure enough look at that there's a
little tiny shape there a few of them
because maybe our path wasn't a hundred
percent accurate so it left a little
residue behind let me just zoom out a
little cuz we're flying off into
no-man's land there let's zoom in again
we're just trying to be careful make
sure we get all these pieces and we want
to make as perfect a shape as possible
this is vector artwork so we want to
make sure everything is nice and clean
all that looks pretty good those points
look good those points look solid
alright great so now that we have our
shape here I got a couple things that
I'm looking at I know that these two
shapes here they need to be combined
because that's gonna be sort of that
outer wing and then these two little
triangles also need to be combined
because that's gonna be sort of an inner
shadow for our wing so I'm gonna select
both of those shapes right and then I'm
gonna come over here to the Pathfinder
and use the emerg option boom one shape
great I'm gonna do the same to the other
wing just like that I'm just shift shift
clicking to grab a both shapes and then
up and Pathfinder merge them wonderful
I'm gonna do the same here shift-click
to both get this shape and the little
tiny shape there we're gonna merge them
as well using Pathfinder and then the
same thing here on this side hold down
shift and select both shapes and then
merge so now we've got is these
beautiful edges of our batwing before we
go any further I want to select both
outside edges like this and I just want
to copy them so I'm gonna hit command or
ctrl C and then commander control f to
paste them right in place and I'm gonna
nudge them straight upward abut I'm
gonna count how many times I nudged them
upward just to kind of get them out of
the way so I'm gonna go 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 to 15 15 is an
easy-to-remember number we're gonna fill
these little wing winglets with black so
up here in my color panel up here I'm
just gonna reduce it to solid black just
like that and I'm just gonna knock down
saturation hue just because I'm OCD and
I like the way the panel looks like that
now what we can do is select this whole
bat shape and just merge all of this to
one big shape you'll see why I'm doing
this in just a second let's select the
inner pieces of the bat wing so these
two kind of inner triangular shapes and
we're going to come over here to our
opacity and I'm gonna reduce the opacity
way down like way down to 5 there we go
now we're gonna select both the outer
bat wing pieces and I'm gonna reduce the
opacity of this to about 10 all right
now we're gonna select all this bat wing
junk and we're gonna nudge it downward
50 pixels so hold down shift and tap the
down arrow key 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 times now you might be
saying doesn't look any different well
it doesn't look any different because as
you can see in our layers panel our
yellow bat shape is above all of this
shadowing so what we can do is go object
arrange bring to front and now you can
see we have this nice cool sort of
two-tone wing effect and the really neat
thing about this technique is anytime
you want to change the color of the bat
select the original bat and say let's
try a green bat or let's try a blue bat
or let's go with a very light grey bat
or let's go with a very dark grey bat or
maybe a solid white bat you have so many
options in terms of what you want or
what you can do and if you decide like
here's the blue bat but I want to make
the shadow stronger you can select those
two shapes and you can update opacity to
like 15 or something and and see what
that looks like maybe you'll like it
maybe you hate it I'm gonna undo that
except for 410 but the point is you have
a whole load a whole host of options in
front of you in terms of what you can do
and you still have all those beautiful
original lines so you can do all kinds
of all kinds of all kinds of with that
but that is how you go in and create
this really cool little bat shape and
once you have it you can just go object
group group it up and there you go you
got your nice little graphic we created
it using just a bunch of circles and
nudging it around and the Pathfinder and
and really not too too much effort at
all it was relatively easy to do so
that's really gonna be it for this one
now I do have to say before I let you go
if you do create this I would love to
see what you make make sure you upload
it to Instagram tag me you don't think
it me some elaborate shout out or
anything fancy just tag me in the image
that way it goes to my tagged images
section and I won't lose track of it and
at some point I'll see it and I'll like
it I'll drop a comment I'll you know
just be cool to rub shoulders I'll get
to see kind of the stuff that you're
making especially if you're following
along with the tutorial and that's just
super cool again my Instagram handle has
act Tut vid you can head over there
check it out follow me if you like but
yeah definitely if you follow it I would
love for you to upload and at least tag
me on it so I can check it out so for
creating this Batman bat I con logo
thing here in adobe illustrator using
circles and the golden ratio and the the
Fibonacci sequence and strokes and fills
and and well we tried to play with the
shape or tool but that was kind of a
disaster and the Pathfinder panel which
is amazing and miraculous and wonderful
and all the all the things
as they say guys for all that and so
much more that's it get got it good neva
Dodson tuff vidcom I'll catch you in the
next one and before you go make sure you
subscribe to my channel for more great
tutorials every day also by my course it
helps us do what we do and this channel
is supported by viewers just like you
you can also just click the thumbnail
and watch another video from this
channel see you next time guys