How to draw a cow print pattern in Illustrator

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What You’ll Be Creating

In the following tutorial, you will learn step by step how to make a cow print pattern in Illustrator, and then how to scale, rotate or stylize it.

If you don’t have the time to learn how to draw a cow print, then Envato is the solution. This creative platform offers over 2,000 Illustrator add-ons you can download without restrictions! You can find plenty of vector patterns, including cow patterns.

What you’ll learn in this tutorial

1. How to create a new document and set up a grid

Step 1

Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, set the Width and the Height to 850 px, and then click that Advanced Options button. Select RGB for the Color Mode and set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi), and then click Create.

Enable the Grid (View > Show Grid or Control-“) and Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid or Shift-Control-“). You will need a grid every 10 px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid, and enter 10 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box. Try not to get discouraged by all that grid—it will make your work easier, and keep in mind that you can easily enable or disable it using the Control-“ keyboard shortcut.

You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview of the size and position of your shapes. Don’t forget to set the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Units. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.

create new document and set up grid Illustratorcreate new document and set up grid Illustratorcreate new document and set up grid Illustrator

Step 2

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and use it to create a 600 px square. Fill this shape with a random red and lower its Opacity to 10%.

This shape will serve as the frame of your pattern tile. You can open the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and lock this shape to make sure you don’t select or move it by accident as we put together the cow pattern.

square lower opacitysquare lower opacitysquare lower opacity

2. How to create the vertical edges of the cow pattern tile

Step 1

Focus on the bottom-right corner of your red square. Pick the Ellipse Tool (L) and use it to create a 200 px circle. Make it black and place it as shown in the first image (use the grid as a guide).

Keep your circle selected and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown  in the following image, and click OK.

Your end result won’t look exactly like the one below. The key is to get a random distorted shape. If you’re not happy with your result, you can press Control-Z to Undo, and then press Shift-Control-E (or go to Effect > Apply Roughen) to reapply that same Roughen effect. Feel free to repeat this sequence of keyboard shortcuts until you’re happy with your distorted shape.

circle distorted using zig zag and roughen effectcircle distorted using zig zag and roughen effectcircle distorted using zig zag and roughen effect

Step 2

Make sure that your circle is selected, and go to Object > Transform > Move (Shift-Control-M). Set the Horizontal Position to -600 px (the exact size of your pattern tile), and then click the Copy button. This will add a copy of your circle 600 px to the left. In this way, we make sure that the pattern tiles will match perfectly when repeated horizontally.

move a copy using transform movemove a copy using transform movemove a copy using transform move

Step 3

Reselect the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 40 x 60 px shape, and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected, and go to Effect > Warp > Wave. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes indicated in the following image, and click OK.

Remember that you can press Control-Z and then Shift-Control-E to try a different distortion for this shape.

distorted ellipsedistorted ellipsedistorted ellipse

Step 4

Make sure that your shape is still selected, and press Shift-Control-M to quickly open the Move window. Keep the existing settings and click Copy, just as we did for the first shape.

moved ellipsemoved ellipsemoved ellipse

Step 5

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 100 x 70 px shape, and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected, and go to Effect > Warp > Bulge. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes indicated in the following image, and click OK.

distort ellipse with warp and roughen effectdistort ellipse with warp and roughen effectdistort ellipse with warp and roughen effect

Step 6

Make sure that your shape is still selected, press Shift-Control-M, and then click that Copy button.

move copy of distorted ellipsemove copy of distorted ellipsemove copy of distorted ellipse

Step 7

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 100 px circle, place it roughly as shown below, and then go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points.

Keep this shape selected, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes indicated in the following image, and click OK.

add anchor points to circle and distort itadd anchor points to circle and distort itadd anchor points to circle and distort it

Step 8

Make sure that your shape is still selected, press Shift-Control-M, and then click that Copy button.

move copy of distorted circlemove copy of distorted circlemove copy of distorted circle

3. How to create the horizontal edges of the cow pattern tile

Step 1

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 90 x 200 px shape and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes indicated in the following image and click OK.

squeezed circle distortedsqueezed circle distortedsqueezed circle distorted

Step 2

Make sure that your shape is selected and go again to Object > Transform > Move (Shift-Control-M). This time, you need to set the Vertical-Position to -600 px and then click Copy. This will add a copy of your selected shape 600 px above the original one, as shown below.

By moving this copy up by exactly 600 px, we make sure that the pattern tiles will match perfectly when repeated vertically.

copy and move distorted circlecopy and move distorted circlecopy and move distorted circle

Step 3

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 100 x 150 px shape, and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

distort ellipse with effectsdistort ellipse with effectsdistort ellipse with effects

Step 4

Make sure that your shape is still selected, press Shift-Control-M, and then click that Copy button.

add copy of distorted ellipseadd copy of distorted ellipseadd copy of distorted ellipse

Step 5

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 130 x 50 px shape and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

distort ellipsedistort ellipsedistort ellipse

Step 6

Make sure that your shape is still selected, press Shift-Control-M, and then click that Copy button.

multiply distorted ellipsemultiply distorted ellipsemultiply distorted ellipse

4. How to create the inner parts of the cow pattern

Step 1

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 130 px circle and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected and go to Effect > Warp > Bulge. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

orange circle distortedorange circle distortedorange circle distorted

Step 2

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 150 px shape, and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

circle distorted with zig zag and roughen effectcircle distorted with zig zag and roughen effectcircle distorted with zig zag and roughen effect

Step 3

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create an 80 x 120 px circle, and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected and go to Effect > Warp > Arc. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

distort ellipse with arc effectdistort ellipse with arc effectdistort ellipse with arc effect

Step 4

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 120 px circle, and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected and go to Effect > Warp > Shell Upper. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

distort circle with shell upper effectdistort circle with shell upper effectdistort circle with shell upper effect

Step 5

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 110 px circle, place it roughly as shown below, and then go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points.

Keep this shape selected and go to Effect > Warp > Arc. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

add circle and add anchor pointsadd circle and add anchor pointsadd circle and add anchor points

Step 6

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to create a 90 x 170 px shape and place it roughly as shown below.

Keep it selected and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag. Enter the settings displayed in the image below, click OK, and then go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Roughen. Enter the attributes shown in the following image, and click OK.

distort ellipse with zig zag and roughen effectdistort ellipse with zig zag and roughen effectdistort ellipse with zig zag and roughen effect

5. How to create the smaller parts of the cow pattern tile

Step 1

Use the Ellipse Tool (L) to add some smaller circles and ellipses between your existing shapes, roughly as shown in the following image.

add multile smaller shapes to complete the cow patternadd multile smaller shapes to complete the cow patternadd multile smaller shapes to complete the cow pattern

Step 2

Select these shapes one by one and use different combinations of effects to distort them as you did with the larger ones.

distort multiple shapesdistort multiple shapesdistort multiple shapes

6. How to save a pattern in Illustrator

Step 1

Select all your distorted shapes and expand them by going to Object > Expand Appearance.

expand distorted shapesexpand distorted shapesexpand distorted shapes

Step 2

Make all your shapes black, or feel free to use any other color.

cow pattern blackcow pattern blackcow pattern black

Step 3

Unlock your red square and select it to remove the Fill color.

remove color from pattern tileremove color from pattern tileremove color from pattern tile

Step 4

Now, because the color of your square is set to None, this invisible shape will act as the frame of your pattern as you save it. You can press Control-A to quickly select your entire design and simply drag it into the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches) to save it as a pattern.

save cow patternsave cow patternsave cow pattern

7. How to apply a pattern in Illustrator

Step 1

Use the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a shape that covers your entire artboard. Make it white and open the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance). Use the Add New Fill button to add a second fill, select it, and apply your saved cow pattern.

apply cow patternapply cow patternapply cow pattern

Step 2

Once the pattern is applied, you can scale or rotate it using a Transform effect. Make sure that the Fill with the pattern (from the Appearance panel) is still selected, and go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform.

First of all, uncheck the Transform Objects box and make sure that the Transform Patterns box is checked, and then play with the Scale sliders to scale the pattern or adjust the Angle to rotate it.

scale and rotate cow pattern using transform effectscale and rotate cow pattern using transform effectscale and rotate cow pattern using transform effect

Step 3

Finally, you can always adjust the color of that bottom fill to create a more vibrant cow pattern.

cow pattern yellow backgroundcow pattern yellow backgroundcow pattern yellow background
cow patern brown patterncow patern brown patterncow patern brown pattern

Congratulations! You’re done!

Here is how your cow pattern should look. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and can apply these techniques in your future vector patterns.

Feel free to adjust the final vector pattern and make it your own. You can find some great pattern drawing ideas at Envato, with interesting solutions to improve your Illustrator patterns.

How to draw cow printHow to draw cow printHow to draw cow print

Envato is an excellent resource for pattern drawing ideas. Here’s a short list of some of the most popular vector patterns that you can find.

Cow skin seamless pattern (AI, EPS, PSD, SVG, PNG, JPG)

Cut the hassle of learning how to draw cow print in Illustrator and get one from Envato. This seamless cow pattern might be just what you’re looking for.

cow skin seamless patterncow skin seamless patterncow skin seamless pattern

Cute cow pattern (AI, EPS, JPG, PNG)

If you’re in a hurry or you simply can’t be bothered to learn how to draw a pattern in Illustrator, this cute cow pattern might be the solution.

cute cow patterncute cow patterncute cow pattern

Seamless cow pattern (PNG, JPG)

With this seamless cow pattern, you can easily repeat the pattern across any surface, ensuring smooth and consistent results. Bring a touch of boldness and whimsy to your designs in a matter of seconds.

seamless cow patternseamless cow patternseamless cow pattern

Vector animal print patterns (AI, PSD)

Don’t have the time to learn how to make a pattern in Illustrator? Well, this set of animal vector patterns might come in handy. From classic leopard spots and zebra stripes to unique cow and snake prints, these Illustrator patterns bring a dynamic energy to any project.

vector animal print patternsvector animal print patternsvector animal print patterns

Farm animal seamless patterns (AI, EPS, PNG, PSD)

If you don’t have the time to learn how to draw a pattern, you can always try one of these playful designs. Featuring delightful illustrations of cows, chickens, pigs, and other barnyard favorites, these patterns are perfect for creating rustic designs.

farm animal seamless patternsfarm animal seamless patternsfarm animal seamless patterns

Want to learn more?

We have loads of tutorials on Envato Tuts+, from beginner to intermediate level. Take a look!

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