Learn how to draw a simple golf cartoon illustration featuring a ball that looks pretty realistic. For this tutorial, using a vector application is highly recommended. Most digital effects can be done by hand, but it will be a long and tedious process if you do so. Vector software are filled with simple tools that can make your life easier and help you create realistic cartoon images quickly and easily. Ready? Let's draw!
A golf ball is usually covered with several small holes that are added to help the object go further on a golf course. For this first step, let's draw one of these holes using the technique found below. Start by sketching a circle filled with color gradients (A). Then, add a white circle inside the main one and make sure this one is colored in white (B). Make the top of this shape partially transparent. Now we have a circle that we can use to create all these little holes (C).
Now that we have what we need to work on our golf cartoon illustration, simply duplicate the original circle to create a whole bunch. In this case, I have created a pattern with rows and columns featuring twelve circles. That's it for now! Let's move to the third step ...
To create a little bit of perspective, it can be a good idea to modify the size of most of the circles as shown in the illustration below. Our goal is to create a pattern that is visually appealing and still very easy to read.
All four circles in the middle must be the biggest ones. Then, as we are getting closer to the edges, circles are getting smaller and smaller. All green squares are not needed for our illustration. These are just guidelines.
If you are using Illustrator, then you can use an envelope to change the shape of all circles created previously as shown below. The green circle is used to display the shape of the final golf cartoon ball once this effect is added. You can crop the envelope to get rid of all circles that are visible outside the green circle.
Now that all circles are integrated to the object, you can add a little bit of transparency to the set of small circles. As you can see below, these small circles are almost invisible on top. Then, you can draw a large shadow on the bottom of the ball (in red). Finally, create another large white circle (that must be slightly smaller than the main shape) and make the bottom of this new shape transparent (in blue).
Below you can see the object once all effects are added. It might seem like a simple cartoon object to illustrate (because you mostly need to sketch circular shapes), but getting all these effects right is a little bit more challenging if you are not familiar with vector drawing.
I hope you enjoy this lesson and remember that all the tips found in this lesson can be applied to tons of other similar subjects. You can also try these fun objects below. Enjoy! :)