How To Create a 3D Logo Design in Adobe Illustrator: Tutorial Roundup

Monday, September 17, 2018

This year, many people were under the impression that everything was going to be 3D. We have 3D TV’s, 3D movies, even 3D smart phones. To bond with that idea, it is a good skill to have as a graphic designer, web designer, or if you just want to get more familiar with Adobe Illustrator and all of the great options it offers for creators and designers alike. There are many ways that you can use Adobe Illustrator to manipulate text and shapes to appear 3D. Of course, there is always the actual 3D option in Photoshop,but sometimes it is good to know that you can create a 3D illusion without it, building your experience with Illustrator, Photoshop, even when using these ideas in actual sketches for logos! Today, we will review a few great tutorials on how to create a 3D logo design.

NDesign-Studio

This tutorial shows just how easy it is to create 3D text, graphs, charts, and shapes that will allow you to have the necessary tools to be able to create any 3D logo you want. By arcing and extrude and beveling text, merging paths, and expanding the appearance for the sake of the tutorial, you can watch this normal text transform into the 3D text that you imagined. It also shows you just how simple it is to do to any organic or created shape, and by adding a gradient of colors, brings those shapes and texts to life.

Tutorial on ndesignstudio.com, featuring part of the tutorial in which the 3D extrude and bevel step helps bring the text to life.

Examples of different shapes you can make 3D with one simple tutorial on ndesignstudio.com

Tutpad

This particular tutorial is a bit more complicated, but for good reason. This tutorial provides you with excellent information that can give any graphic designer or web designer in training a new tool in order to create the most professional logo possible. Although this tutorial is more complicated, as well as has a lot more steps, the tutorial on tutpad.com is able to effectively give you each part of the steps in bite sized pieces. This allows for whoever is following the tutorial for themselves, doesn’t click away in frustration, but instead is able to use the tutorial to their advantage and in turn, learn valuable skills that they will use for the rest of their career. A thorough and long tutorial, made into an easy to digest with simple step-by-step instructions, leading to an extremely professional and well designed logo, that now anyone can feel comfortable creating, thanks to this tutorial.

A closer look at the extremely detailed instructions part of tut pad’s tutorial.

The finished 3D logo product.

Tutvid

Most of the other tutorials found on 3D logos are all videos. Although these may be different than a tutorial that has been written out successfully, it may be beneficial to give video learning a try. This way, especially with this particular tutorial video, you can see every single step in real time, while the person who created the tutorial talks you through it. If it’s going too fast, you can always pause it. Besides that, especially for a 3D logo like this one, which appears to be extremely professional in nature and quality, a video based tutorial experience may even be better than the normal type of tutorial that is written, in order to allow the audience to retain all the information quickly and easily, without missing any steps that possibly some newbies might miss on the first try. Moreover, this video also teaches many skills to learn on Adobe Illustrator within the tutorial that can be helpful in different situations as a graphic designer or web designer. Either way, for a completely free tutorial that helps you create something you can potentially build a career off of is extremely valuable, and the microcosm of information that is at our fingertips is something to take advantage of as a freelancer.

Step by step instructions allow anyone to easily follow this tutorial and create professional, high quality logos.

Graphic Tweaks

Much like the video above, this YouTube channel called Graphic Tweaks explains in a shorter video (about eight minutes) how to draw and create your own custom 3D logo. This allows for creativity to flow, and lowers the chances of any new and budding freelance artists or graphic designers to simply copy another designers’ idea. This happens way too often in the design world, and it is helpful to be able to see other designers encouraging others to come up with their own unique ideas, as well as teaching them simultaneously. Like any other tutorial, this video goes in depth when it comes to a unique design without using previously created shapes and whatnot. Besides this, it is able to condense all of the information quickly and easily into a shorter video, making it more likely to be clicked on. People nowadays want everything fast, and this video caters to that demographic.

A step by step tutorial that is quick and easy, as well as professional and has interesting monochromatic colors that are perfect for any logo.

Clever Mark

This tutorial is probably one of my favorites. This is because I believe this is the tutorial that takes into account time, quality, and doesn’t skimp on details, while still keeping the video entertaining, educational, and easy to follow. These are the key components when creating any tutorial, and these unique logo designs created in Adobe Illustrator are nothing short of professional, interesting, color versatile, and appears complete. In the video, you get many close up shots in which the person who is leading the tutorial is able to take care of every minuscule detail, while in the process teaching others that the small details are important. Without relying on the smaller details to help make your design feel and look complete, any design would just always look like it’s missing a little something. Here, we learn new techniques, focus on the small details, and in the process become able to design a 3D logo that is sure to catch anyone’s eye.