How to a Create a Sports Jersey Design in Illustrator

What You’ll Be Creating

In the following tutorial, you’ll learn how to create your own sports jersey design.

If you don’t have the time to learn how to create a sports jersey design, you can always try Envato Elements, where you can find a massive collection of sports jersey designs, sport text effects, and sports fonts. This collection of jersey designs is just one of the many examples.

What if you prefer videos for learning new skills? We’ve got you covered. You can watch this new video from the Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel to learn how to create your own sports jersey:

What You’ll Learn in This Sports Jersey Design Tutorial

How to set up a grid
How to create an American football logo
How to stylize college varsity letters
How to create your own sports jersey design

What You’ll Need

You will need the following resource in order to complete this jersey design:

Norwill sports font

1. How to Create a New Document and Set Up a Grid

Hit Control-N to create a new document. Select Pixels from the Units drop-down menu, set the Width to 850 px and the Height to 600 px, and then click that Advanced Options button. Select RGB for the Color Mode and set the Raster Effects to Screen (72 ppi), and then click the Create button.

Enable the Grid (View > Show Grid or Control-“) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid or Shift-Control-“). You will need a grid every 5 px, so simply go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid, and enter 5 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box. Try not to get discouraged by all that grid—it will make your work easier, and keep in mind that you can easily enable or disable it using the Control-“ keyboard shortcut.

You can learn more about Illustrator’s grid system in this short tutorial from Andrei Stefan:

Graphic Design

Understanding Adobe Illustrator’s Grid System

Andrei Stefan

You should also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes. Don’t forget to set the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Units. All these options will significantly increase your work speed.

2. How to Create the Logo

Step 1

Focus on your toolbar and pick the Ellipse Tool (L), and then focus on the color settings. Select the stroke and remove the color, and then double-click the fill and set it to R=26 G=26 B=52.

Move to the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches) and click that New Swatch button to save the fill color. You’ll need again this color in the next steps, and having it saved will save you some time.

Make sure that your shape stays selected and focus on the control panel. Set the alignment to artboard, and then click the Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center buttons to easily move your ellipse to the center of the artboard.

Step 2

Continue with the Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C), and let’s use it to adjust the roundness for the left and right anchor points that make up your shape. First, click the right anchor point and drag the handles 30 px down, and then click the left anchor point and drag the handles 30 px up.

Step 3

Select your shape using the Selection Tool (V), press Control-C to copy it, and then press Control-F to add a copy in the same place.

Move to the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and turn off the visibility for the bottom shape. You’ll need it later.

Step 4

Reselect the Ellipse Tool (L) and use it to create a 270 x 120 px shape. Place it as shown in the following image, remove the fill color, and apply a 4 px yellow stroke.

Step 5

Make sure that your yellow path is selected and add a copy in front (Control-C > Control-F).

Keep this copy selected, replace the yellow with blue, and then go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points twice.

Step 6

Keep focusing on your blue path and pick the Direct Selection Tool (A). Select just the anchor point highlighted in the first image and press Control-X to cut it from the path.

Press the Delete key to delete the remaining path, and then press Control-F to paste the path that you just cut.

Step 7

Using the Rectangle Tool (M), create two 5 x 15 px shapes.

Switch to the Selection Tool (V) and hold down the Shift key to select both shapes, and then click the Blend Tool (W) from your toolbar. Select Specified Steps from the dropdown menu, set the value to 8, click OK, and then go to Object > Blend > Make to create a simple blend, as shown in the second image.

Step 8

Reselect the Selection Tool (V) and hold down the Shift key to select your blend along with that blue path, and then go to Object > Blend > Replace Spine to move your blend across that blue path.

Step 9

Reselect the Ellipse Tool (L) and use it to create a 190 x 450 px shape. Center this new ellipse, remove the fill color, and apply a 20 px yellow stroke.

Step 10

Using the Selection Tool (V), select your blend along with the two yellow ellipses and go to Object > Expand. Make sure that all the boxes are checked and click OK.

Select the resulting shapes along with the darker one, open the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder), and click the Minus Front button. Press Control-8 (Object > Compound Path > Make) to turn the resulting group of shapes into a single compound path.

Step 11

Focus on the Layers panel and turn back on the visibility for the bottom shape.

Select it and focus on the Appearance panel (Window > Appearance). Select the fill and change the color to white (R=255 G=255 B=255), and then go to Effect > Path > Offset Path. Set the Offset to 10 px and click OK.

Step 12

Pick the Rectangle Tool (M) and use it to create an 860 x 610 px shape. Fill it with R=255 G=182 B=19, center it, and press Shift-Control-[ to send it to the back.