Illustrator Tutorial: How to Create an Ice Cream Icon

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In today’s tutorial, we’re going to take a quick look at the process of creating an Ice Cream icon, and learn how easy it is to build one from scratch using nothing more than a couple of basic geometric shapes that we’re going to adjust here and there.

So, assuming you already have the software up and running let’s jump straight into it!

1. Set Up a New Project File

As with any new project, we’re going to kick things off by setting up a New Document, by heading over to File > New (or by using the Control-N keyboard shortcut), which we will adjust as follows:

  • Number of Artboards: 1
  • Width: 64 px
  • Height: 64 px
  • Units: Pixels

And from the Advanced tab:

  • Color Mode: RGB
  • Raster Effects: Screen (72ppi)
  • Preview Mode: Default
Creating a new document in Illustrator

2. Create the Ice Cream Icon

As soon as we’ve finished setting up our new project file, we can zoom in on our little Artboard and then start working on the actual icon.

Step 1

Start by creating the main shape for the actual ice cream using a 28 x 44 px rounded rectangle with a 4 px Corner Radius, which we will color using #ff9045 and then horizontally center align it to the underlying Artboard, making sure to position it at a distance of 4 px from its top edge.

Aligning the shape to the artboard

Step 2

Adjust the shape that we’ve just created, by opening up the Transform panel, and then setting the Radius of its top corners to 8 px from within the Rectangle PropertiesCorner Radius input fields.

Transforming the shape

Step 3

Add the popsicle stick using an 8 x 12 px rectangle (#d1a17d), which we will adjust by setting the Radius of its bottom corners to 4 px, making sure to position the resulting shape below the previous one, as seen in the reference image.

Adding the popsicle stick

Step 4

Cast a shadow onto the shape that we’ve just created, using an 8 x 4 px rectangle, which we will color using #966544 and then center align to its top edge, making sure to select and group the two together afterwards using the Control-G keyboard shortcut.

Creating the shadow on the popsicle stick

Step 5

Create the vertical insertion lines using three 4 x 32 px rounded rectangles (#ce6b29) with a 2 px Corner Radius, which we will horizontally distance at 4 px from one another, grouping (Control-G) and then positioning them onto the ice cream’s body as seen in the reference image.

Adding vertical lines to the popsicle

Step 6

Create the main shape for the subtle highlight using a copy (Control-C) of the ice cream’s main body, which we will paste in front (Control-F). Add a secondary copy (Control-F), making sure to push it to the bottom by a distance of 2 px, and then create the cutout by selecting both shapes and then opening up the Pathfinder panel, and using its Minus Front Shape Mode.

Creating the shape for the highlight

Step 7

Finish off the icon and with it the project itself, by changing the resulting shape’s color to #ffb14a, making sure to select and group all of the ice cream’s composing shapes afterwards using the Control-G keyboard shortcut.

Setting the color

Awesome Job!

As always, I hope you had fun working on the project, and most importantly managed to learn something new and useful during the process.

That being said, if you have any questions feel free to post them within the comments section, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

Finished popsicle icon designed in Illustrator