Easily Make a Laurel Wreath in Illustrator

Illustrator Designs

As you may already know, in Illustrator there are always differents ways to achieve the same results, and making a laurel wreath is not an exception to that rule. But there are methods that takes more time than others, and other methods that give you more or less control over the final design. So today, I will show you a simple and easy to follow procedure to make any kind of wreaths in Illustrator that you can use on your designs.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and make a new file at any size you want. In this case I will make mine at 1500 x 1000 px.

Step 2

Select the Ellipse Tool (L) and make a circle.

Step 3

Hold the "Alt" key on your keyboard and drag the circle to the right as shown.

Step 4

Select both circles and go to Window > Pathfinder.

Step 5

Click on the "Intersect" icon.

Step 6

Press "Ctrl+C" on your keyboard to make a copy of the shape and then rotate the shape about 45º (we will use this copy later).

Step 7

Go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Select the "Vertical" option and click the "Copy" button.

Step 8

Move the copied shape to the right as shown.

Step 9

Select both shapes, scale them down and press "Ctrl+G" on your keyboard to group them.

Step 10

Go to Effect > Distort & Transform > Transform. Apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 11

Press "Ctrl+V" on your keyboard to paste the copy we did before and place the copied shape on top of our composition as shown and scale it down.

Step 12

Select the Line Segment Tool (\) and make a line from top to bottom of the design as shown.

Step 13

Go to Window > Stroke and apply the following settings. Be sure to select the "Width Profile 4" under the "Profile" dropdown menu.

Step 14

Select all the artboard elements and go to Window > Brushes.

Step 15

Click on the "New brush" icon. Select the "Art Brush" option and click OK.

Step 16

In the Art Brush Options window apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 17

To test our new brush, draw 2 half circles (or any other shapes you want).

Step 18

Lastly, with your shapes selected, in the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes) click on our recently made brush.