Create a Tea Cup and Saucer Using 3D Effects in Adobe Illustrator

3D effects in Adobe Illustrator can produce some amazing and quick effects, depending on how you use it to create actualize your idea.
Now, in this tutorial, we will going to know how it works in creating a tea cup and saucer using 3D effects and the Bristle Brush Tool.

Step 1

Use Pen Tool (hit P button on your keyboard) to draw two lines using an off gray stroke color. These lines will be used to create the cup and saucer. Once drawn, apply the “15pt Round” brush to it from the default CMYK brush palette.

Step 2

Draw the shape shown below behind your lines with a light golden brown fill color. This will be the tea color. Depending on how you like it, darken or lighten the shade. Once done, Group (Command + G / Ctrl + G) all three objects.

Step 3

While the group is selected go to Effects > 3D > Revolve, and use the settings below.

Step 4

To give the surface of the tea a “just stirred” look, use the Warp Tool (Shift + R) to tweak the top of the tea. This will give the tea a more fluid look.

Step 5

Use the Pen Tool (P) to create a curved, ear like shape for the handle with the same “15pt Brush,” but with the Stroke Weight of 0.75pt. This stroke should also be off gray.

Step 6

Go to the Effects > 3D > Extrude & Bevel effect and use settings below to create your handle.

Step 7

Copy and Paste the handle and go to Object > Expand. Use the Free Transform Tool (E) to rescale and rotate the hand to be a reflection on the side of the cup. Then change the Blending Mode to Multiply, and Opacity to 30%.

Step 8

The cup will cast a shadow on the saucer, so I’m going to create a shadow using a black to black transparent radial gradient. First I’m going to select the group with our cup and saucer in and then Object > Expand it.

This is so it’s easier to draw a shape for the gradient fill in due to Smart Guides. Set the shadow to Blending Mode Multiply.

Step 9

As our cup of tea has just been stirred, we're going to add some bubbles to the surface. We'll use a quick bubble technique. Use the Ellipse Tool (L), create a squashed circle with a white to light golden brown filled linear gradient and set it to Blending Mode Multiply.

Now duplicate the shape and apply a white to light golden brown to transparent light golden brown radial gradient on top, then set the Opacity to 80%. Also, slightly offset it a few nudges with your arrow keys.

Step 10

Group your ellipses (Command + G / Ctrl + G) and then set the Opacity to 75%. Duplicate the bubble group several times. Modify the scale of them using the Free Transform Tool (E) to give a less carbon copy look and place them around the rim of the tea.

Step 11

Use the Ellipse Tool (L), line up two squashed circles and use Pathfinder > Intersect to create a shape to cover the surface of the tea. Use the Direct Selection Tool (V) to slightly modify the handles on the shape to get an exact fit.

Move the shape below the bubbles. Then fill with a light golden brown to white radial gradient, and set the Blending Mode to Luminosity.

Step 12

Draw a circle with the Ellipse Tool (L) underneath the saucer with a black to black transparent radial gradient fill set to Multiply to create a shadow.