Draw a Calendar Icon in Illustrator

In this tutorial, we’re going to learn how to draw a calendar icon in Adobe Illustrator.

The Steps (1-16)

1. Create a New Document.

2. Select the Rectangle Tool and draw a four-sided shape.

3. Remove the fill from the shape, and give it a stroke width of your choice and the colour black. This will be the main body of our calendar icon.

4. Left-click on the inner handles (just inside the edge of the shape’s corners) to adjust the radius and slightly round-off all four corners.

5. Select the Line Segment Tool and Left-Click and hold Shift to draw a horizontal straight line. Make sure that this is the same colour, and uses the same stroke width as in Step 3.

6. Position this new line horizontally central to the shape created in Step 2, and leave a small gap between this line and the top of our four-sided shape.

7. Select the Ellipse Tool, and Left-click and hold Shift to draw a circle. Give this circle the stroke colour black, and a slightly smaller stroke width than the previously created shapes. This circle will represent a pin, that is holding up the calendar.

8. Select the Line Segment Tool, and Left-click and hold Shift to draw a short line at a 45 degree angle. Position this line between the main calendar body and the pin (circle). Hold Alt + Shift and Left-click on the line to drag across to the right and create a copy. Next, go to Object > Transform > Reflect, and reflect this line along the Vertical Axis. Position this ‘reflected’ line on the opposite side of the pin (circle).

9. Next, we’re going to create the calendar days. Select the Rectangle Tool and Left-click and hold Shift to create a square. Position this square within the main body of the calendar, and adjust the size so that you can fit another 30 days/squares approximately in this space.

10. With the first calendar day selected, Left-click and hold Shift to drag to the right and create a copy. After creating this initial copy, press Cmd/Ctrl + D to repeat the last action within Illustrator. Repeat until you have 7 squares in total.

11. Select all 7 squares and repeat Step 10, this time dragging the entire row of squares down to duplicate three additional rows. In total there should be 28 squares following this tutorial.

12. Colour the calendar days (part of previous/upcoming month) as desired, and select all 28 squares, and go to Object > Group. Position this group centrally within the main calendar body.

13. Select a colour of your choice and using the Rectangle Tool draw a four-sided shape that covers the top section of the calendar – we’re going to add a splash of colour here!

14. Position this new rectangle over the top section of the calendar, and then go to Object > Arrange > Send to Back. This ensures that the colour is contained within our main calendar body.

15. Go to Edit > Copy, and Edit > Paste in Place to create a copy of this new coloured rectangle. With this shape selected, drag the top-centre anchor point down to about 50% the height of the original size. Give this shape (now covering the lower half of the coloured rectangle) a slightly darker shade of the colour used in Step 13.

16. Drag over everything on your artboard to select all objects, and go to Object > Group, to group all shapes into one object that can then be easily moved around the artboard.

Download Adobe Illustrator.