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By Mihaly Varga
In this new tutorial you will learn how to create a delicious bowl of noodles in Adobe Illustrator.
Follow this noodles vector tutorial and learn how to draw a bowl of noodles in vector form using simple shapes, strokes and flat colors. Looks delicious so let’s start!
Tutorial Details
Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – CC 2019
Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
Step 1
Launch Illustrator and open a new document. Type a name for your file and set up the dimensions then select Pixels as Units and RGB as Color Mode. Next, go to Edit > Preferences > General and set the Keyboard Increment to 1 px and while there, also go to Units. These settings will help you throughout the drawing process.
Step 2
We will start with the bowl. Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw the first ellipse of about 309 x 177px on your artboard.
Next, draw a triangle-like shape but rounded at the bottom using the Pen Tool (P) and send it in back. Color both shapes with dark gray R=26, G=25, B=25.
Step 3
Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) again and draw another ellipse of about 301 x 172 px. Arrange it in the middle of the bowl but leaving a thin edge at the top. This will be the opening of the bowl. Color it with a slightly lighter shade of gray R=39, G=37, B=37.
Step 4
Let’s add a few highlights on the bowl. Zoom on the left and right sides of the bowl and draw using the Pen Tool (P) a few thin shapes filled with a lighter shade of gray R=58, G=57, B=59.
Step 5
Next, draw a shape like in the image below in the bottom right side. Color it with beige R=215, G=200, B=179. Change the Blending Mode to Multiply and send it behind the opening but in front of the bowl’s bottom in the Layers panel. This will create shading in the bottom right side of the bowl.
Step 6
Continue to draw a random shape like in the image below with the Pen Tool (P) and color it with a darker gray R=22, G=22, B=22. This will act as shading behind the noodles.
Now, focus on the edge around the opening of the bowl and use the Pen Tool (P) to draw four paths following this edge. Give them a 1.5 pt, 2.25 pt and 4.5 pt Stroke using R=89, G=89, B=91 and the Width Profile 1 in the Stroke panel.
Step 7
Draw three more paths following the bottom of the bowl and give them a 2.25 pt and 3 pt Stroke using R=89, G=89, B=91 and the Width Profile 5 in the Stroke panel.
Step 8
Next, use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw an 273 x 128 px ellipse and arrange it at the top of the bowl as the soup. Color it with light brown R=209, G=107, B=40.
Copy and Paste in Front (Control-F) this ellipse and let’s modify it with the help of the Direct Selection Tool (A). Select only the right anchor point and move it a little to the right; then select the top point and move it upwards as shown. Adjust the handles of these points to create a shape like in the image below with which we will mask the noddles later in the tutorial. Hide the blue shape for the moment until we get to that part.
Step 9
We will continue with the noodles. Grab the Pen Tool (P) or the Paintbrush Tool (B) and start to draw curved paths of different lengths on the soup. Give them a 4.5 pt Stroke using R=235, G=186, B=81.
Add more noddles until you cover more of less the center of the soup and then Group (Control-G) them.
Step 10
While the first group of noodles stays selected, go to Object > Expand in order to turn all strokes into filled shapes. Make a copy of this group, scale it down a little and arrange it in the right side of the bowl.
These noddles go over the front edge of the bowl and we need to fix this with a mask. Unhide the modified soup shape made earlier in the tutorial and bring it in front of everything by going to Object > Arrange > Bring to Front (Shift-Control-]). Keep it selected along with the groups of noodles and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Control-7).
Make another copy of the group of noodles and arrange it in the left side of the soup. Change the fill color to R=246, G=213, B=136 and reduce the Opacity to 30%. This will make it look like the noodles are actually inside the soup.
All the noddles and elements that you’ll add from now on, should be dragged under this mask in the Layers panel.
Step 11
Now, we are going to add different elements into the soup between the noodles. Grab the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw a few small circles of different sizes in random places. Color them with yellow R=252, G=185, B=40.
Next, let’s add some green pieces arranged randomly on the noodles as well. You can obtain those by drawing two circles of about 16 x 16 px (blue) and 11 x 11 px (yellow) as shown in the close-up. While both circles stay selected, press Minus Front in the Pathfinder panel to obtain a ring shape. Color it with green R=96, G=143, B=62 and then, multiply it to get more green pieces.
Step 12
It’ time to add a second layer of noodles. Make a copy of the first noodle group, rotate and arrange them on top.
Copy and Paste in Back (Control-B) this group of noodles and go to Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8). Move the newly obtained shape a little to the right and downwards. Change the fill color to R=238, G=179, B=64, the Blending Mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity to 80%. This will create a shadow under these noodles.
Step 13
Let’s add more elements between the noodles. Draw a few small circles filled with brown R=206, G=94, B=40 and others filled with darker yellow.
Step 14
To add highlights, grab the Pen Tool (P) and draw thin long shapes on a few noodles. Color them with R=251, G=246, B=215 and reduce the Opacity to 80%. You don’t need to add highlights on too many noodles because they will be covered by other layers and elements.
Continue to add more green pieces on top.
Step 15
We will continue to draw the shrimp. First, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw the shape of the shrimp like in the image below. Color it with R=251, G=192, B=138. Next, draw four stripes on top followed by the shape of the tail. Color these shapes with R=244, G=133, B=73.
Select the shrimp shape and then Copy and Paste in Place (Shift-Control-V) to make a copy of it in front of everything. Set this copy to stroke-none and fill-none. Now, select all the shapes that make up the shrimp and go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make (Control-7).
Step 16
Use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a moon-like shape at the bottom of the shrimp and color it with beige R=253, G=204, B=141. Drag this shape under the mask that you have created in the previous step; change the Blending Mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity to 80%. This will create shading on the shrimp.
To add highlights, draw four ellipses with the Ellipse Tool (L) along the shrimp and color them with R=253, G=204, B=141.
Step 17
Move the shrimp inside the bowl; then grab a group of noodles and place them on top. Copy and Paste in Back (Control-B) this group and go to Object > Compound Path > Make (Control-8). Move the newly obtained shape a little to the right and downwards so the shadow can be visible under the noodles. Change the fill color to R=238, G=178, B=64, the Blending Mode to Multiply and reduce the Opacity to 80%.
Step 18
Add more small circles filled with brown and more green pieces.
Step 19
Make a copy of the shrimp and arrange it on the noodles. Also, add more yellow and brown circles.
Step 20
Draw more highlight shapes on some of the noodles as you did before and color them with R=251, G=246, B=215. After that, arrange even more small circles.
Step 21
Place a small noodle shape in the left side of the bowl and color it with a darker orange. Make another copy of the shrimp, scale it down a little and put it it the bowl as well along with more green pieces.
Step 22
Make another copy of the noodles group, scale it up a little, rotate and arrange it in the left side of the soup. After that, create the shadow as you did earlier in the tutorial.
Step 23
Add more small circles filled with yellow and brown on top.
Step 24
We have arrived at the last layer. Draw a few highlight shapes on the noodles in the left side of the bowl, more circles and finish with another shrimp on top.
Step 25
The noodles bowl is ready at this point. To create the shadow of the bowl, use the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw an ellipse of about 290 x 165 px and send it to back in the Layers panel. Color it with R=79, G=21, B=21 and reduce the Opacity to 60%.
Awesome work!
Here is the final image of the delicious bowl of noodles. Add a bright red background to make the bowl stand out and you are done.
I hope you enjoyed this noodles free vector tutorial and that you learned new things today.
