Adobe Illustrator is an ideal program for creating menus, given it’s easy manipulation of graphics, text and multiple pages (known as Art boards). We demonstrate how to go about creating stunning menus in our Adobe Illustrator training courses.
To create a menu design like the one illustrated here, first go to the File menu and choose New document, select the A4 sheet size with a Landscape orientation.
Next return to the File menu, choose Place, and navigate to a photograph of chilies, for example. Tick the check-box marked Template and hit OK. Note that Illustrator creates two layers, one a locked, semi-transparent layer containing your photo reference, and  a blank layer above for tracing on. You may unlock the template layer in order to move or scale the reference image. Add a red to orange gradient fill blend, and add a green stem to both objects.
Now use the Pen or Pencil tool (with a high Fidelity setting) to trace around the chilies. You could also use the Brush tool to create the stems. You may now hide or trash the template layer.
The bowl is created using the Ellipse tool – duplicate this for the interior and scale it down. Then use the Blend tool to blend the two objects together. Add a small red triangle to the edge of the bowl; also a small orange rectangle, a small green rectangle and a small blue circle. Then use the Blend tool to merge these together, with 6 specified steps.
a small green rectangle and a small blue circle to the edge. The background is created from a blue a rectangle, with a Distort Zig-zag filter added. We repeat this on a smaller pale blue rectangle.
Finally text is added,  and additional pages could be added as Art Boards. The whole design is then exported as a PDF.
Whether you’re a complete beginner or self-taught, our courses will help you gain self-confidence in your Illustrator workflow, as well as adding to your professional skill-set. Many more tips and techniques can be found at the Adobe website. And see many examples of our clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related Illustrator Blog Posts:
Illustrator workspace
Illustrator basics
Illustrator clipping masks
Illustrator live trace
Illustrator brushes