Flat-Art Puppy Character Design in Adobe Illustrator

Name: Flat-Art Puppy Character Design in Adobe Illustrator
Rating: 4.8 (37 reviews)

Beginner friendly, step-by step, fun, short course using basic shapes, color blocking & simple vectors

Created byTim Wilson

Last updated 6/2025

English

What you'll learn

How to set up an Illustrator artboard
How to create logos, graphics and icons
How to draw with circles, rectangles and triangles
Draw your own shapes and manipulate them with ease
How to use the Shape Builder tool - manipulate simple shapes by subtracting one from the other / adding to each other
How to change the stacking order of objects
How to round the corners using the little corner widget on the shape
Create patterns in your Swatch
How to color and export your final design
Export multiple sized images for web or print using the Artboard export options

Course content

1 section • 14 lectures • 36m total length

Create the Feet & Choose Colors3:28
Create the Body4:31
Create the puppy's body by drawing an ellipse and placing it beneath the dog. Use the shape builder with alt/option to subtract shapes for the legs and paws.
Make the Head & Ears2:24
Use Ellipses for the Mouth & Nose1:00
Use ellipses to design a puppy's mouth and nose in Adobe Illustrator, drawing a tongue, a perfect circle, and a black nose, then copy, color, and place.
Make the Shiny Nose & Eyes0:42
Add the Tail0:44
Shade Character & Export1:18
Add Lines for Shading on a New Artboard4:46
Add in the Dark Shadows4:37
Make a Bone2:22
Make a Bone into a Pattern2:12
Adjust Scale & Rotation on a Bone Pattern2:39
Add Some Text & Scale2:19
Add text puppy clinic in Illustrator, scale with the shift key, adjust clinic size in the character panel, choose a stylish font and blue color, rotate and position it.
Export for Screen & Print and Outro3:41

Requirements

No experience needed
Copy of Adobe Illustrator CC

Description

Join me on this fun, beginner-friendly, short character design course in how to create a flat-art style puppy in Adobe Illustrator!

No drawing skills are needed!

In my usual hands-on style, you’ll follow a step-by-step process to design a charming puppy illustration using basic shapes, color blocking, and simple vector techniques.

Hi, I'm Tim!
I’m an Adobe Certified Instructor and Expert, as well as a designer based in London.

What you’ll learn:

How to set up an Illustrator artboard
How to draw with circles, rectangles and triangles
How to use the Shape Builder tool
How to change the stacking order of objects
How to color and export your final design
Create patterns in your Swatch
Export multiple sized images for web or print using the Artboard export options

All lessons are delivered in short, clear videos with a hands-on project.

There are no resource files for this course.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a solid grasp of creating simple characters from Illustrator's basic shape tools. You'll be able to manipulate simple shapes by subtracting one from the other as well as round the corners using the little corner widget on the shape. You will change the stacking order of objects and look at using a opacity to create simple 2D shadows.

Don’t forget to share your work—I love seeing what you create!

Who this course is for:

Those with minimal knowledge of Adobe Illustrator who would like a gentle introduction to what it can do
Those with knowledge who'd like to explore more ways of creating and building using shapes
Those with knowledge who would like to explore the tools in a different way to they normally would