How to Create a Cute Vector Coffee Cup in Illustrator Isometric Flat Illustration Style

Hi everyone and welcome back to another Vector Twist tutorial. In today's tutorial I would like to show you how to create an isometric coffee cup and we're going to be working with the reference photo. Now we're not going to trace the photo, we're just going to use it to build our shapes and then create the isometric coffee cup you see on the screen. So without further ado let's get started. Now first I'm going to hide my finished coffee cup here and then I'm going to show you the reference photo. The reference photo is from Unsplash. If you want to work with the same photo the link is in the description. Now let's create our first lines. So first I'm going to set the fill to none and then the stroke to a black. I'm going to work again with the isometric actions. If you don't have your own ones you can build them, I have a video on this. So first let's create a circle. We're going to be building the top shape of the cup. So simply create a circle and then choose isometric top for the actions and then we're going to create a copy onto the bottom and keep it selected and with the free transform tool shrink it down a little bit. Now this will help us to build the front of our cup. All we have to do now is switch to the pen tool and I'm going to zoom in. I'm working with my smart guides. Create two lines, one on the right and one on the left. Since I want the same line on the other side I'm just going to reflect it and if I'm a little bit off I'm just going to move it close to my circles. So let's zoom out again. You can see we have the base shape now for our cup. The next we're going to do is select the top circle and then we're going to offset the path under object, path, offset path. This will be the rim for our cup. Maybe minus seven and then we press okay. After that we're going to create another circle copy. This time the one that we've just created. Create a copy and drag it to the bottom. This shape will represent the coffee inside of our cup. Now before you deselect it let's create another copy of that. We're going to be using that to create some extra darkness for our coffee when we later fill it in with colors. And then we're going to cut the pieces away right away so we're not getting confused. So zoom in and then you can select both of the circles. Then choose the scissors tool either from the toolbar or the shortcut C. And then we're going to be cutting where it overlaps with our circle for the coffee cup. So once on the left and then the other side as well. And then we can delete the extra pieces. Now let's zoom out. Then we're going to build up our handles. For this we need a circle again. So create a circle. Of course a little smaller than our coffee cup circle. Then with the free transform tool shrink it down in height a little bit. And then we're going to apply an isometric action. This time it's going to be the isometric right. So select it and hit it. And then we're going to be moving it closer to the cup. And then let's move it a little further to the back. This is going to be the handle for our coffee cup. I actually think I'm going to increase it a little bit. Once you moved it into the right position we're going to select it and then go to object, path and we're going to offset it. Maybe a little bit more than seven points and then press okay. Once that's done we're going to cut them. We're not going to cut them to the edge. We need to create a copy. But if I create a copy now it's going to get too confusing. So first let's cut the excess parts away. So I'm going to click once here and then on the other side. And then maybe here on the bottom. And then we can delete the excess lines. Even though they're still sticking out we need some extra part. Because now we're going to grab both of them and then create a copy into the back. I'm going to press and hold the shift key. And then once I have it in the right position I let go. Then we can again cut the excess parts. When you have a look at the handle of the shape of the coffee cup we need a top shape and a front shape and an inside shape. Now we have just a little bit too many lines here. The line in the back we need to cut. So I'm going to cut it right here and then delete it. And then also this line here needs to be cut as well. I'm going to cut it right where it meets the other line here. And then I can delete the excess line. And now it makes a little bit more sense. Now we're also going to cut the extra pieces. So I'm going to zoom in and then just quickly clean up all the extra lines. This way we know exactly what's what. Now if I zoom out and we're going to have a look on our reference photo we now created our isometric handle for our coffee cup. Now all we have to do is create a saucer on the bottom. I'm just going to grab the bottom shape and create a copy. Then with the free transform tool I'm simply going to increase the size of it. And then align it. I also then want to select all of my lines and set the same stroke of one point. And then we're going to create another copy of the bottom saucer. And then just cut it on the sides. For that I'm zooming in again. I'm switching to the scissor tool. And then cut my extra circle that I've just created and delete the excess part. Now before we color it in I think it would be great to add two more shapes. A shadow for our saucer and the shadow for our coffee cup. So in this case I'm just going to create a copy of the bottom circle for the coffee cup and drag it to the left. And the same thing I'm going to do with the shape on the bottom. And I'm dragging it to the left as well. And then again because we have access we're going to just cut it right where it meets the other circles. And then I can delete the extra parts. And then we're going to continue. We're going to clean this up as well. So I'm going to cut it. And because so we don't have any confusion one more cut. And we're going to delete the small part as well. Sometimes I might have to go in and cut an extra piece off because I wasn't accurate. Same time we're going to look on top of here. Maybe going to extend it a little bit and even change the curve here. And then we just need to add one more line. Since my light is coming from the top right this is going to be darker. Since I'm going to create a flat style illustration even though it's the isometric view we're still just going to be working with simple shapes and colors. We need to add an extra line. Choose the pen tool. And then I'm just going to create a line straight down to the bottom of my coffee cup. And that's it. Now we can actually color it in. I already have a color palette in my swatches panel. If you want to work with the same colors you can download them. The link is in the description. Just open it up in Illustrator. I have a group for the coffee. I have a group for the cup. And then a group for the shadow. Now the easiest way to actually color this is to select it all and use the live paint bucket. So choose it from the toolbar. And then we're going to pick our colors for the fill. So the lightest one I think is going to be the saucer and the inside of the cup. Then a little bit darker for the handle. A darker one for the saucer on the outside here. This color would also work really well for this side of the cup. Then of course we have our coffee inside. So dark coffee and then a little bit lighter on the edges. Then we have our shadow for the cup and the saucer on the outside. And of course I almost forgot the coffee cup itself. And then a white for the handle on top and the inside. And the top rim for the coffee cup. Now of course you could keep it like this with the black stroke around. I see we have a small mistake here. So let's zoom in and then let's clean this up. I'm going to be cutting it with the scissors tool. And then I'm going to delete it. You can make easily adjustments when working with the live paint bucket. So let's say I would like to get rid of the stroke altogether. So I select it all and then turn off the stroke. And now I just need to create a background color so I can see my white parts of my coffee cup. I already have this created so in my layers panel I'm just going to turn it on. All we have to do now is simply select all of it. And then go to object, live paint and select expand. And that's it!