How to Create a Bird’s-Eye View of Retro Cars in Adobe Illustrator

What You’ll Be Creating

Everyone feels a certain passion for retro

style! Those extraordinary clothes, those fancy hairdos, the music and, of

course, the cars! In this tutorial we’ll combine our love for the 50s,

cinematography and games, creating a crazy mix. We’ll make an aerial view of a stylized Greased Lightning retro car, using basic

shapes, various types of gradients and blending modes, working with the

Pathfinder panel and other functions of Adobe Illustrator.

Grease is the word. It is a movie that represents the pure essence of the 1950s—a story of love, joy, beautiful things

and marvelous cars. Those retro cabriolets with smooth rounded shapes and

folding roofs. They definitely remain stylish and unforgettable.

Inspired by this

movie, we’ll be making a top view of a retro car with lightning-shaped patterns. You can

actually use these techniques to create any kind of a car—be sure to check the

cars top view section of Envato Market to make it easier to imagine the vehicles from such an aerial

angle of view. Browsing through retro cars at Envato Market may also be quite

useful in order to get a nice detailed reference of a vehicle.

Ready to start drawing? Let’s begin!

1. Create the Basic Outlines

Step 1

We’ll start by making the main parts of

our car. Take the Ellipse Tool (L)

and let’s shape the top view of the chassis. Make a 130 x 300 px ellipse, switch to the Direct

Selection Tool (A) and drag both side anchor points down, making the bottom

part flat and wide.

Step 2

Continue by making a smaller 55 x 155

px ellipse and placing it at the left side of the chassis. This will be the

base for the headlights. Drag the side anchor points up, making the bottom part

of the shape more pointed.

Step 3

Now let’s shape the bottom part, which is

for the back of the car. Make a 130 x 125

px rectangle with the Rectangle Tool

(M). Select both bottom anchor points with the Direct Selection Tool (A) and use the Live Corners feature to make the bottom corners rounded, by pulling

the Live Corners circle markers up.

If you’re using earlier versions of Adobe

Illustrator, feel free to apply Effect

> Stylize > Round Corners. However, it affects all the

corners of the shape. You can then use the Eraser

Tool (Shift-E) and hold down Alt

to delete the upper part of the shape, making the upper corners sharp again.

Step 4

Now add a narrow shape with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, forming the

top-view of the wing. And let’s add the same elements to the right half of the chassis.

Select both the oval and the wing and double-click the Reflect Tool (O) to open the options

window. Select the Vertical Axis and

hit the Copy button. Place the

copies on the opposite side of the car, making them fit the chassis.

Step 5

Now let’s make a windscreen for our car.

Make a small rectangle of about 110 x 18

px size, placing it inside the chassis. Go to Effect > Warp > Arc Upper and set the Horizontal Bend value to 20%,

making the shape arched at the top. Object

> Expand Appearance to apply the effect.

Then go to Object > Path > Offset Path and set the Offset value to -5 px,

creating a smaller shape inside. Click OK.

Step 6

Finally, let’s add the interior parts of

the car. Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to make two small

rectangles, fitting the inner space of the car. Those will be for the seats. Make the

outer corners of the shapes rounded, using the Live Corners feature.

Finally, form a simple steering wheel, made

of three ellipses, one inside the other.

Great! Now all the main parts are ready and

we can move on to coloring!

2. Apply Colors and Add Details

Step 1

First of all, let’s select the largest element, the base of our car, and apply a bright radial gradient from vivid red

in the center to darker red at the edges. Use the Gradient Tool (G) to shrink the shape of the gradient, making it

more oval, this way adding subtle shadows to the edges of our car.

Step 2

Select the headlights ellipses and use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick the red

gradient color from the car base. Switch the Type of the gradient to Linear

and place the gradients vertically from lighter red on top to darker red at the bottom.

Add a small rounded rectangle beneath the

chassis (press Shift-Control-[ to Send it to Back) and fill it with similar red colors, filling the gaps on

the front side of the car.

Step 3

Apply the same red linear gradient to the

wings of the car as well, positioning it at 90 degrees angle in the Gradient panel.

Step 4

As for the bottom element (the back

of the car), let’s apply an oval-shaped radial gradient as well and Send this part to Back (Shift-Control-[), placing it beneath the base of the car.

Step 5

Now let’s apply the colors to the

windscreen. Make the outer shape light red, slightly lighter than the base of

the car, making it pop out. As for the inner shape, apply a light-blue vertical

linear gradient, depicting the glass surface.

Step 6

Let’s add some glossy highlights to the

windscreen. Use the Rectangle Tool (M)

to make two narrow vertical stripes of any color (just to make them visible

above the white background). Set the Blending

Mode to Screen in the Transparency panel.

Hold down Shift and rotate the shapes 45 degrees, placing the stripes above

the windscreen. Now select the stripes together with the blue glass shape and

take the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M).

Hold Alt and click the unneeded

pieces outside the glass to delete them.

Finally, set the Fill color to white in the Color

panel and here you have it!

Step 7

Now we’ll make the striped pattern for the

seats in order to make them look more realistic and textured.

Make a 13 x 60

px rectangle and fill it with horizontal linear gradient from white to

light grey.

Hold down Alt-Shift and drag the shape to the right, making a copy. Press Control-D several times to make seven

more copies. Group (Control-G) the

shapes.

Step 8

Now let’s head back to our car, select the

seats, Copy (Control-C) them and Paste in Front (Control-F). Place our

texture beneath the seats (press Control-[

a few times to move the object several positions down). Hold Alt-Shift and drag the texture up,

creating a copy for the second half of the seats.

Now select the bottom piece of texture and the

seat-shape above it, click the right mouse button and Make Clipping Mask.

As you can see, now the texture is hidden

inside the seat-shape, creating a nice puffy texture.

Repeat the same for the second half of the

seat, placing the texture inside the Clipping

Mask.

Step 9

Now let’s create some additional shadow in

order to make the seats more three-dimensional. We still have two more outlines of

our seats (the copies that we created a few steps before).

Select the upper half and fill it with the

same white-grey linear gradient as we had for the seat’s texture (you can use

the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick the

color), but this time place the gradient vertically. Switch the Blending Mode to Multiply, making a darker semi-transparent shape.

And repeat the same for the second half of

the seats.

Step 10

The two halves of the seats look equal now,

but let’s add a bit more variety here. To do so, select the elements

of the lower half and shrink them, making the seat narrower. As for the second

half, let’s do the opposite: extend the shapes, making the seat much wider,

creating contrast between the shapes.

Step 11

Now let’s move on to the steering wheel. Select

the two circles (which are for the wheel), right click and Make Compound Path (or simply press Control-8). Fill the created donut

shape with a squashed radial gradient, consisting of three colors: dark grey,

white, light grey. Fill the center of the steering wheel with a simple radial

gradient from light grey to darker grey.

Step 12

Now let’s modify the back of our car, adding a folding roof. Copy the bottom shape and Bring it to Front (Control-C > Control-F

> Shift-Control-]). Fill the shape with vertical linear gradient from

white to light grey.

Make the shape much smaller and place it as

shown in the screenshot below: the light-grey shape should fit nicely inside

the back of the chassis, so that the dark-red bottom of the chassis

creates a thin outline around the shape, making both shapes match

perfectly.

Finally, duplicate (Control-C > Control-F) the light-grey shape that we’ve

created, make the copy smaller and reverse the colors of the gradient, creating

the inner part of the folding textile roof of the cabriolet.

Step 13

Now let’s form the inner part of the car,

making it much darker. Select the base of the car and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Set

the Offset value to -5 px, creating a smaller shape inside

the base.

Now select the new shape together with the

outer part of the windscreen (the red one), take the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M), hold down Alt and click on the top piece to delete it. This way we

have formed the interior of the car.

Step 14

We already have the base for the

headlights, but we haven’t yet made the headlights themselves. Let’s shape them

out!

Make a 35 x 8

px oval shape using the Ellipse Tool

(L). Fill the shape with vertical linear gradient from light grey to white.

Copy it and Paste in Back (Control-C > Control-B).

Select the bottom anchor point of the back

shape with the Direct Selection Tool (A)

and drag it down, holding Shift.

Finally, fill the extruded shape with

bright-red radial gradient by picking the color from the chassis, using the Eyedropper Tool (I).

Voila! Now we can attach the headlights to

the car.

Place the headlights on the top part of the

car. They should look like this.

Step 15

Now let’s add a shiny chrome element to

the front part of the car. Take the Rounded

Rectangle Tool and form a narrow vertical stripe at the top of the car.

Apply a linear gradient with the following

colors: light grey, white, dark grey, light grey. Place it horizontally, as

shown below, giving the shape a true-to-life metal look.

3. Add the Lightning Pattern to the Car

Step 1

Now it’s time to make our retro car look

unique and associate it with the Grease movie! Get ready to grab the Pencil Tool (N) and draw those

flowing lines, creating a fancy lightning pattern for our car. Try to keep it simple.

You

can double-click the Pencil Tool (N)

to play with its Fidelity settings,

making it smooth. I’m drawing these shapes with just a mouse and, as you can

see, Adobe Illustrator copes perfectly well with making the lines smooth.

Step 2

Make three more different shapes of

lightning.

Step 3

Start applying the lightning shapes to the

left half of the car. Rotate them and move them around, making them fit the

elements of the car perfectly. Remember to use the Shape Builder Tool (Shift-M) to delete the unwanted pieces of lightning outside the car.

As soon as you’re happy with the

position of the elements, select them and use the Reflect Tool (O) to flip the shapes over the Vertical axis, making

mirrored copies and attaching them to the opposite side of the car.

Step 4

Now let’s add a bit more dimension here.

Select the two mirrored lightning shapes on the front part of the car and Make a Compound Path (Control-8). Apply

a bright radial gradient from white to greyish-pink, making the pattern silver

and glowing. Apply the same color to all the other lightning shapes.

Step 5

Now let’s add some highlights to the car, making

its surface look glossy and polished. Select the biggest element of the chassis and apply Object > Path > Offset Path with -7px Offset value. Fill the new shape with vertical linear gradient

from pink to black and set the Blending

Mode to Screen. You will see the

black part becomes transparent, creating a nice glossy effect.

Do the same for the oval shapes beneath the

headlights.

Step 6

Add a similar highlight to the back of the

car. Be sure to place the lightning patterns beneath the highlights.

Step 7

Now let’s add another important element of

any car: the exhaust or the tailpipe. We’ll actually make two of them to make

our car look cool.

Make an 8 x 35

px rectangle for the tailpipe and fill it with the same chrome linear

gradient as the decorative stripe at the nose of the car (use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to pick the

gradient).

Hold Alt-Shift

and drag the shape to the right, making a copy. Select both tailpipes and Send them to Back (Shift-Control-[).

Step 8

Now we’ll depict flames being thrown from

the exhaust.

Start by making a 7 x 30 px ellipse of black color and attach it to the tip of the

tailpipe. Create a smaller oval on top, filling it with bright-orange color.

Step 9

Select both ovals and go to Object > Blend > Make. This way

we make a smooth transition between the colors, creating a flame effect.

We can still edit the elements inside the Blend group in the Layers panel. For example, you can add a smaller yellow ellipse on

top and drag it inside the Blend

group to make the flame even brighter.

Drag the side and bottom anchor points of

the shapes down, using the Direct

Selection Tool (A) to extend the flame.

Step 10

To get the semi-transparent flame effect, firstly we need to create any kind of background beneath our car. For this purpose,

create a grey rectangle of 800 x 600 px

size and place it beneath the car (Shift-Command-[).

Select the flames and switch the Blending Mode to Screen.

4. Form the Background and Add Finishing

Touches

Step 1

Now that we’ve already started making the

background, let’s proceed with that, making our composition look complete and

balanced.

We already have an 800 x 600 px rectangle beneath our car. Apply a radial gradient from

grey to dark grey, depicting the asphalt surface.

Step 2

Now let’s return to our car and tweak

it a bit, adding a gentle flat-style shadow. Select all parts of the car, duplicate them (Control-С > Control-F) and Unite

in Pathfinder, creating a single

silhouette.

Use the Line Segment Tool (\) to draw a red vertical line across the car.

Step 3

Let’s align the objects. Select both the

red line and the car silhouette, hold Alt

and click the silhouette to make it a Key

Object. You will see a thick selection stroke, indicating that all the

selected elements will be aligned to this object. Head to the Align panel and click Horizontal Align Center.

While both objects are still selected, go

to the Pathfinder panel and click Divide in order to split the silhouette

into two equal halves. Delete the right half and apply Multiply Blending Mode to the left half, making it semi-transparent

and thus darkening the left side of the car.

Step 4

Let’s make the ground beneath the car

textured for more realism. Duplicate

(Control-C > Control-F) the

background rectangle and head to the Swatches

panel. From here, click the Swatch

Libraries menu icon and find Patterns

> Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_Textures. Apply the USGS 22 Gravel Beach texture to our

rectangle.

Step 5

Now let’s add a shadow cast by our car.

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to make an

oval of a slightly larger size than the car. Place it beneath the vehicle and

apply a squashed radial gradient from greyish-pink in the center to white at

the edges. Switch it to Multiply Blending

Mode, forming a blurred shadow on the ground.

And here is what we have!

Greased Lightning, Go, Greased Lightning!

Great job guys! We’ve successfully crossed

the finishing line of our race and created an aerial view of a retro car,

inspired by the Grease movie. These techniques can be used to create any other

top-view vehicle or symmetrical object, which is perfect for simple racing

games and easy to animate.

Feel free to go further and adjust our

result image even more. For example, here I’ve duplicated the car that we created and played around with the colors, creating alternative palettes, which

can also be found in the original Grease movie. You can get these top-view retro cars in AI, EPS and PNG in order to see how they were made or to edit them your liking.

Keep creating fancy things and share your

results! Good luck!

How to Turn a Landscape Photograph Into an Isometric Icon in Adobe Photoshop

What You’ll Be Creating

In this tutorial we are going to create a 3D isometric map made from combinations of a few landscape photos. No 3D software is used in this project—we are going to use only Adobe Photoshop. The end result can be used as an icon or as part of an infographic.

Tutorial Assets

To complete the tutorial you will need the following assets:

• Dirt and roots
• Landscape 1
• Landscape 2
• Sea
• Soil texture (personal photo, available inside the zip file)

1. Prepare the Canvas

Step 1

First of all, we need to add an isometric grid to our canvas. You can find instructions for this in the isometric tutorial we published earlier.

Step 2

Based on the grid, draw a rectangle vector shape on the isometric surface. You can use any color, because this is just a guide for our next photo manipulation process.

Step 3

Duplicate the vector shape by clicking Control-J, and move it upward.

Step 4

From now on, you can turn off the grid, because we won’t be needing it anymore.

2. Build the Soil

Step 1

Draw the left side of the 3D map using the Pen Tool. Double-click its layer shape and then add a Gradient Overlay.

Step 2

Set its Fill to 0%.

Step 3

Repeat the same step on the other side.

Step 4

Draw a new shape using the Pen Tool, covering the whole map. Add a Gradient Overlay to the shape and then set its Fill to 0%.

Step 5

Grab the soil texture and place it on top of the map.

Step 6

Control-click the left side of the map to make a new selection based on its shape. Click the Add layer mask icon in the lower part of the Layers panel to cut off the rock texture outside the shape.

Step 7

Repeat the same process on the other side of the map.

3. Build the Hill

Step 1

Grab the hill landscape and overlay it on the map with low Opacity. Position it until you get a nice perspective.

Step 2

Add a layer mask to the landscape photo and then paint with black to hide unwanted areas. In this case, I want to retain the street, the hill next to it, and the tree in the corner. Try to get a natural shape using your brush stroke. We don’t want this to be a flat, box-like shape.

Step 3

Let’s go back to the soil. We need to make it darker and more believable. Start by painting shadow on its corner. Add a new layer and simply paint black using the Brush Tool with low Opacity.

Step 4

The result is already much better. Keep on adding black shadow to the soil to make it a lot darker.

Step 5

Next, grab another dirt or soil texture. Paste it on top of the previous soil and set its mode to Overlay. Take your time, add a layer mask, and carefully insert any dirt, rocks, and roots into the soil to make it as realistic as possible.

Step 6

Let’s add another landscape image into the map. Place the landscape behind the current hill landscape. Add a layer mask to the landscape image and then paint black to remove most of its content while leaving part of its valley.

Step 7

Add a new layer and then paint shadow on areas of the new landscape as indicated below.

4. Add the Sea

Step 1

Now, add the sea image behind the map. Position it where you like it most.

Step 2

Control-click the base of the map to create a new selection based on its shape. Click the Add layer mask icon to hide unselected pixels.

Step 3

Manually fix broken elements in the landscape, if there are any, by painting them with white using a soft brush. In this case, do this with the rock.

Step 4

To add more waves to the sea, we can simply duplicate the sea image and move it to a different position. Apply the same layer mask as the first one and then hide some of the areas until it blends with the first image.

Step 5

Select the ocean by Control-clicking on its layer shape. Add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer with Cooling Filter to increase the contrast of its blue sea surface.

5. Add Details

Step 1

Let’s add more contrast into the scene manually. Start by selecting the main hill. Make a new layer on top of it and then click Edit > Stroke to add a stroke line.

Step 2

Apply a Gaussian Blur filter to soften the line, and then reduce its Opacity setting in the Layers panel. If necessary, you can also delete a segment of the blurred line using the Eraser Tool.

Step 3

Repeat this process, and add another shadow by painting with black on a new layer.

Step 4

Let’s make the road more realistic by adding an unfinished street at the end. Activate the hill landscape layer and then paint with white to reveal a chunk of street hanging outside the map. Right underneath the street, paint black to add thickness to the street and then paint a big soft shadow on the soil.

Step 5

To make it appear more realistic, add a new layer and scribble some short black lines using the Pencil Tool with 1 px brush size on the street. Duplicate the layer, and invert its color to white by pressing Control-I. Move the white scribbles down 1 pixel. Reduce their Opacity setting in the Layers panel.

Step 6

Add another shadow and highlight onto the scene by painting with black and white using a soft big brush with low Opacity.

Step 7

Here’s the fun part. The map will not be complete until we have a small car on the empty street. You might notice that in our main landscape there’s a parked car. Select and then copy it to a new layer (Control-J). Place it on the street, add a layer mask, and then hide unneeded pixels by painting them with black.

6. Add the Background

Step 1

We will use a simple background for this map. Activate the Gradient Tool with a standard white to black gradient. Drag from top to bottom until we have this background.

Step 2

Let’s add a shadow underneath the map. Control-click the base to make a new selection. Fill it with black, deselect (Control-D), and then apply a Gaussian Blur filter (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to soften it. Repeat this process a few times with different Radius settings and layer Opacity until we have a realistic floor.

Step 3

We may need to draw shadow manually by painting black on the canvas using a big soft Brush Tool with low Opacity.

Step 4

This grey background is just too dull. Let’s make it more interesting by changing its color to blue. Add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer above the background and select Cooling Filter.

Conclusion

Now, we have reached the final result. As you can see, there are no complicated tricks in this tutorial. We only used a simple layer mask and a bit of manual drawing.

I believe that it is important to select the best landscape photos—by doing this, we save ourselves from time-consuming photo editing and can focus on working with the map shape. I hope you understand this tutorial and can follow it easily. If you do follow along, let me know your result. I’d love to see it. Thanks.