How to Create Vintage Love Envelope in Illustrator

In the following tutorial you will learn how to create a detailed envelope illustration in Adobe Illustrator using very simple techniques.

We will use the effects along with some basic vector shapes to achieve the final outcome in a short time. Hopefully you will learn some useful work tips.


Final Image

As always, this is the final image that we’ll be creating:
How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Tutorial Details

  • Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6
  • Estimated Completion Time: 45 minutes
  • Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate

Step 1

Let’s create a new document first. Make sure to set the dimensions to 600 x 600 pixels and the Color Mode to CMYK.

Now we pick the Rectangle tool (M) and draw a rectangle for the envelope base shape. Then fill it with gradient color. Then duplicate it and place a copy of the shape off to the side of the artboard, which we’ll use later.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 2

It’s time to add highlights. Make sure that your shape is selected, then go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow. Enter the attributes shown in the following image and then click the OK button. This will give an illusion of depth.
How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 3

Back in Step 1, I mentioned placing a copy of the rectangle shape outside the Artboard. Go ahead and grab a copy to work with. Now I’m going to use this shape copy to make a texture for our envelope.

With the shape still selected, go to Effect > Texture > Texturizer and change the setting as shown below.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Now change the Blending Mode to Softlight. Here is my result.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 4

Now grab the texture shape that we created in Step 3. Duplicate and paste in front(Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F).

Change the Blending Mode to Multiply and lower the Opacity = 30%. This will give an illusion of depth.

And we’re done with the envelope base shape.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 5

In this step, we’ll create a pattern for the envelope. Pick the Pen tool (P) to draw a shape as in the image below.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Duplicate the new shape (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + V) and fill them with blue and red colors.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + V) the pattern shape we created, move them to the bottom of the envelope, but in this step, select the red shapes then change them to blue and vice versa.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 6

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + V) the pattern at the bottom of the envelope, scale it to a little bigger. Remove some parts to make them shorter.

With the shapes still selected, go to Object > Transform > Rotate.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

You should end up with a result like this.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + V) the pattern and place the copy as shown below. And we’re done with the pattern part.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 7

In this step, we’re going to create a nice vector stamp for our envelope. Let’s begin by drawing a rectangle with your Rectangle Tool (M).

Then use the Elipse Tool (L) to create some circles and place them around the rectangle we created. Don’t forget to group all the circles together (Cmd + G).

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Select both rectangle shape and circle shapes, then go to Effect > Pathfinder > Minus Front. And now we have the stamp edges.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Duplicate (Ctrl / Cmd + C, Ctrl / Cmd + F) the the stamp edges, with the copy shape still selected, go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Choose Vertical with Angle = 90.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Place the stamp edges as shown below, then go to Effect > Pathfinder > Unite. This effect will combine the objects together.
How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Now we fill it with this gradient.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Draw a rectangle with your Rectangle Tool (M) and place in the middle of the stamp, fill it with color #327CA5.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 8

It’s time to add the stamp graphic. I used the Pen Tool (P) to draw a hummingbird shape and fill it with same gradient as the stamp edge.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Make sure to group (Cmd + G) all the stamp elements together. Then go to Effect > Stylize > Drop shadow.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

And you should end up with a result like this.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 9

In this step, we’re going to create the address area. Pick the Rectangle tool (M) and draw a rectangle, then fill it with same gradient as the stamp edge.

With the shape still selected, go to Effect > Stylize > Drop shadow.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Pick the Line Segment Tool (/) to create 4 lines as shown below with Stroke = 0.07pt, and fill stroke with color #BD9270.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Now we’re going to apply brush strokes to the paths created, go to the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes) and apply Charcoal – Feather brush for the strokes.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 10

Next, we’re going to create a cute sticker for our envelope. First, pick the Ellipse Tool (L) to draw a circle and fill it with gradient.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

With the circle shape still selected, go to Effect > Stylize > Drop shadow.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Pick the Pen Tool (P) to draw a heart shape, then fill it with gradient.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Now we apply the same Drop shadow effect for our heart shape. You should end up with a result like this.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 11

In the following steps you will learn how to create a pretty simple string tie for our envelope. Pick the Rounded Rectangle Tool to create a long thin shape, fill it with white #FFFFFF, then go to Effect > Stylize > Inner Glow.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Apply the same Drop shadow effect for our string as in Step 10. This will give an illusion of depth.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Now we’re going to add some red stripes as a pattern, just pick the Rectangle Tool (M) to create small thin rectangles and fill them with color #CA2026. Place them as shown in the image below.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 12

Repeat Step 11 for the horizontal string tie. You should end up with a result like this.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


Step 13

Let’s jump to a simple gradient background. Grab the Rectangle Tool (M) and create a 600 x 600px background and fill it with this gradient.

How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator


And We’re Done!

Here is how it should look. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and can apply these techniques in your future projects.
How to create vintage love envelope in Illustrator

Kim Chen
Kim Chen
Articles: 18