Draw an Icon Badge and Shadow in Illustrator

In this tutorial, we’re going to learn how to draw an icon, badge and long shadow, in Adobe Illustrator.

The Steps (1-19)

1. Create a New Document.

2. Select the Polygon Tool from the Toolbar, Left-click anywhere on the artboard and specify 6 as the number of Sides.

3. Using the Rotate Tool and holding Shift (to rotate in 45 degree increments), rotate the newly created hexagon shape so that the ‘points’ are pointing both upwards and downwards.

4. With the hexagon selected, hold Shift and drag from any corner to increase or decrease the size of the shape. Give the shape a Fill colour of #1D71B8 and remove any strokes.

5. Select the Rectangle Tool, and draw a four-sided shape that fills the entire dimensions of your artboard. Go to Object > Arrange > Send to Back to ensure that this shape is behind the hexagon.

6. Select the Ellipse Tool, Left-click and hold Shift to draw a circle. Using the Direct Selection Tool, Left-click on the bottom-centre anchor point, and drag this anchor point downwards.

7. Hold left-click on the Pen Tool, to select the Anchor Point Tool. Left-click on the bottom-centre anchor point to convert the curved edges to straight edges.

8. Select the Ellipse Tool, Left-click and hold Shift to draw a circle. Position the circle in the upper half of the pin shape. Hold Shift to select both shapes, and in the Pathfinder Palette click Minus Front/Subtract to knock-out the circle from the pin shape. This will complete the location pin icon and transform it into a single shape.

9. Hold Shift to adjust the size of the location pin proportionally, and position this in the centre of the hexagon shape. Give the location pin the colour white, or #FFFFFF.

10. Select the hexagon, go to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners, and adjust the Radius to slightly round-off the corners of the hexagon shape.

11. Select the Pen Tool, Left-click on the bottom of the hexagon to place the first anchor point, move the mouse down and to the right (remaining in-line with the angle of the hexagon shape) and place the second anchor point. Place the third anchor point in-line with the opposite edge, and at a 90 degree angle to the second anchor point. Left-click again along the top-right edge of the hexagon to place the fourth anchor point. Lastly, Left-click on the first anchor point to complete the shape – this will form the drop shadow.

12. With the drop shadow shape selected, click the Gradient Slider within the Gradient Palette to apply the default black/white gradient as a Fill. Set the Angle of the gradient to approximately 144 degrees.

13. In the Transparency Palette, set the Blending Mode to Multiply (set to Normal by default). This will blend the drop shadow, in particular the white, into the lighter blue background.

14. On the Gradient Slider, move the white inwards from the edge to ensure that the gradient seamlessly blends into the background. The goal here is to avoid a ‘hard edge’ or ‘banding’.

15. Repeat Steps 11-14 to create a second drop shadow shape, this time for the location pin.

16. Once all shapes are completed, you can adjust the colours in more detail to ensure that the shapes/icons complement the background effectively. At this point the background colour was adjusted to #3689E1, and the hexagon shape to #0081D4.

17. Select the background shape, and click the Gradient Slider in the Gradient Palette. Drag the latest background colour swatch #3689E1 on top of the white swatch on the Gradient Slider.

18. Create a new colour swatch #2D4496, and drag this on top of the black swatch in the Gradient Slider.

19. Set the gradient’s Angle to 0 degrees so that it runs horizontally from left to right.

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