Drawing a Vector diamond in Illustrator CS5

Illustrator is the  original king  for drawing vectors since the 80′s, and I will show you how
drawing a  vector diamond is an easy task in Illustrator  with the help of the ellipse tool, pen tool,
and using  the Live Paint Bucket.
Follow along with me on this Illustrator Tutorial on how to Draw a Diamond using Illustrator CS5:

Here is a few examples of  diamonds you will be creating:

Step 1 – Create a New Illustrator file.
On the menu go to, File > New click OK.
(or press Ctrl N)

Step 2 – Draw a couple ovals to create the top of the diamond.
Press L on your keyboard to select the Ellipse Tool.
Press D to set your fill and stroke to the default fill and stroke.
Click and drag to draw an oval shape. Select the Black arrow ( press V)
and click on the oval to select. Hold down Alt and click and drag to duplicate the oval.
Select the new oval and scale it  using shift and Alt so that it fits inside the first oval.
It should look like this:

Step 3 – Add a Triangle with the Pen tool to create the bottom of the diamond.
Will start  adding a triangular shape to the bottom of the ovals.
Press P to select the Pen Tool.  Click to add an anchor point at the left edge of
the ovals. now move your mouse to were you want the tip to be, Illustrator will show
you a guide that will be the center of the ovals.  When you see it, move your mouse
down until your diamond is the height you wish and click to create your second anchor point.

Now Click to add an anchor point at the Right edge of
the ovals. Press V to select the black arrow click on the triangular shape you just created.
Right click (or Ctrl click on Mac) and select Arrange > Send Backward.
your diamond should look like this now:

Step 4 – Add lines to create the cuts in the diamond.
Press P to select the Pen Tool. Starting from the left side, we will create a zig zag lines
between the 2 ovals to create the top cuts. (look at my finished diamond as an example.)
make sure there are no gaps between the zig zag lines and the ovals.

Next we need to add vertical lines to create the vertical cuts.
Deselect Everything so we can start a new path. Now wherever the Zig Zag line
touches the outer oval click to start a path and then click again at the bottom
tip of the diamond like this:

I highlighted in pink were you should start your vertical lines

Make Sure and Deselect after each vertical line you draw. (press v than click on a blank area of your artboard)

You should now have your basic Vector Diamond:

Step 5 -  Color your diamond using Live paint.
Press V to select your Black arrow and click and drag around the diamond to select the whole thing.
On the menu go to, Object > Live Paint > Make. this will make it easier to color our diamond.
Next, We need to open a gradient swatch Library.
open your swatches panel, and Click on Panel options > Open Swatch Library > Gradients > Gems and Jewels.
Press K to select the Live paint Bucket Tool, and Select the Pearl swatch.

pearl swatch

Hover your cursor over the center of each area  and Click to fill in with the Pearl gradient.
Like pictured below:

Live Paint

When you have filled in all white areas of your diamond, your Diamond should
resemble this:

Diamond outlined with black

Step 6 – Change the stroke of the diamond.
Select the entire Diamond (Ctrl A)  now up on your control panel
it should have a ? next to the fill color and stroke color.
From the stroke color menu, select White.
And from the Stroke weight menu Select .5pt

Stroke Weight and Stroke Color

Now we are done coloring our Diamond, on the Menu go to, Object > Live Paint > Expand.
Congratulations! Your now  finished with the diamond!!

The finished diamond:

Thanks for Following along with the RoboCobra on this Tutorial.

Tags: adobeIllustratorVector