How to Create an Easy Halloween Pattern in CorelDRAW

In this beginner tutorial, we'll combine drawing tools and simple shape-building tools to create a spooky, Halloween-inspired pattern. All three designs within the pattern are formed from basic shapes: circles, squares, and triangles. Fire up CorelDRAW and let's bring on All Hallows' Eve!

1. Drawing the Moon

Step 1

Start by creating a New Document. I prefer to work out patterns within a square document of 8 inches or so. Your document's size is entirely up to you. Since I'm posting these designs online, I've chosen RGB for the color profile, and 300 dpi in case I'd like it to be printed or easily resized later.

Step 2

Use the Ellipse Tool (F7) to draw a simple circle. Hold down Control while drawing the circle to keep it uniform. Draw a second, smaller circle, and overlap the top right of the first circle.

Step 3

Select both shapes in the Objects Manager docker and, in the Property Bar, hit Back Minus Front to delete the smaller circle from the larger circle. You'll be left with a lovely crescent moon.

Delete the smaller circle to create a crescent moon

2. Drawing the Bat

Step 1

The bat begins the same way as the moon did: with a circle. Once again, grab the Ellipse Tool and draw a circle.
Using the Polygon Tool (Y), set the number of Points or Sides (in the Property Bar) to 3, and draw a triangle.
Don't worry about getting the shape just right on the first go. Using the Pick Tool, you can Scale or Rotate your triangle as you see fit.
Place the triangle on the circle, Rotated slightly to the left (Double-click an object with the Pick Tool to toggle between Scale or Rotate).

Begin drawing a bat using circles and triangles

Step 2

Copy (Control-C) and Paste (Control-V) the triangle and, in the Property Bar, hit Mirror Horizontally. Place the copied ear on the right side of the circle. Use the Align & Distribute docker to Align the two triangles as you see fit (usually by hitting Align Top).

Step 3

The bat's wings are constructed from three triangles. You can draw them with the Polygon Tool, or take more control over the design and use the Pen Tool.

Each triangle has Three Nodes or Points.
Make sure your triangles are closed shapes, where you return to the origin point with the Pen Tool.
Overlap the first triangle slightly while drawing the second.
Make sure the top points of the triangles are Aligned.
Adjust the triangles with the Pick Tool to make sure they overlap and line up at the top point of each and at their bottom corners.

Construct the bats wings from three triangles

Step 4

Select all three shapes and hit Weld in the Property Bar. Your triangles will now be united into a single shape.

Step 5

I've Zoomed (Z) in on the top corner of the new shape created in the previous step. Using the Shape Tool (F10), Double-click to delete any extraneous nodes. Make sure that any you delete don't drastically change the overall shape of your five-sided figure.

Step 6

Now that your object is free of extra, unneeded nodes, its ready to turn into a bat wing.

Use the 3-Point Ellipse Tool draw a line along the bottom left side of the bat's wing.
Pull the ellipse outward to get the elliptical shape of your choice for the scallops on the bat's wing.
Repeat on the other two sides.
Select the main wing object and the first circle. Hit Back Minus Front in the Property Bar.
You've successfully deleted the circle from the bat wing! Let's continue.
Repeat with the other two circles and the main bat wing shape. Delete any extraneous nodes.

Step 7

Place the bat's wing next to the bat's head, overlapping slightly. Copy and Paste the left wing, Mirror Horizontally, and Align the two wings. Select all five objects and hit Weld in the Property Bar.

Weld the shapes together to create your bat

3. Drawing the Cat Eyes

Step 1

Start with the Rectangle Tool (F6), drawing a wide rectangle. In the Property Bar, select Chamfered Corner and enter 2" in the Corner Radius boxes. You'll be left with a simple hexagon.

Step 2

Draw a circle in the center of the hexagon. Make sure that it's large enough to nearly hit the top and bottom sides of the shape.
Use the Pen Tool to draw a curve that starts on the left corner of the hexagon, curves along the edge of the circle, and stops at the right corner of the hexagon.
Close the shape with a straight line at the origin point on the left side.

Draw a circle and a curve inside the hexagon

Step 3

I chose arbitrary colors so that each shape was a bit more visible for this step.

Copy and Paste the half curve shape drawn in the previous step.
Delete the hexagon object. In the Property Bar, hit Mirror Vertically.
Place the circle off to the side of your other shapes. Align the two shapes and Weld them together.

Step 4

Back to simple black outlines and white fill color for now. Make sure the circle is Aligned in the center of the almond shape.
Copy and Paste the almond shape. Use the Pick Tool to Scale the copied shape down so it fits within the circle.
Rotate the copied, small almond shape so it's sitting vertically within the circle. You've successfully drawn a simple cat's eye.

4. Completing the Design

Step 1

To complete your cat eyes, Group (Control-G) the three objects and Rotate them to the right. Copy, Paste, and hit Mirror Horizontally in the Property Bar for the second eye. Now that we have all three of our designs ready, let's add simple, flat colors to them.

Step 2

Ungroup (Control-U) any grouped components. Copy and Paste the almond shape of the eyes and set the copied shapes to a black, 3–4 pt Weight Outline in the Object Properties docker, with the fill color set to null. The other fill colors are as follows:

Almond eyes: white (#FFFFFF)
Iris of the eyes: orange (#FF9933)
Pupils: black (#000000)
Bat: purple (#9933CC)
Moon: orange (#FF9933)

Group together all of the objects below.

Step 3

I drew a large rectangle behind my main designs so that the next step is visible. Use the Star Tool to draw many five-pointed stars of varying sizes to fill up the gaps in the design. Make sure to Copy and Paste the moon and bat so you can Scale and Rotate them around the pattern.

5. Creating the Pattern

Step 1

Select everything within the design except for the black rectangle. Go to Tools > Create > Pattern Fill.
Select Vector in the dialogue box that pops up and hit OK. Once you do so, select the pattern area using the marquee provided. It's like cropping an image or drawing a rectangle over the design.
Save your new pattern with a name and tags, and decide if you'd like the pattern to be shared with other users or not.

Step 2

Draw a large rectangle and select Vector Pattern Fill under Fill in the Object Properties docker. Choose your newly made pattern in the File Picker under Personal, and choose either Shared or Private.
Your new pattern may be warped a bit. Adjust the Fill Width and Fill Height as needed.
To vary your pattern further, select either Horizontal or Vertical Row Offset and offset your design's pattern tile to the level you'd prefer. I offset my design by 30.

Fantastic Work, You're Done!

For a background, draw another rectangle behind your design. Vary your object colors further and create a whole range of Halloween pattern designs! What other holiday items can you create with basic shape tools in CorelDRAW? Flex your vector muscles and show off your work in the comment section below!

Mary Winkler

Illustrator / Ypsilanti, MI

The work of Mary Winkler (aka Acrylicana) is vivid and whimsical. It's often child-like in theme, depicting sweets, fanciful creatures and rainbows as well as exploring the world of fashion and garment in illustrated form. Done in a variety of media, including digital, acrylic, watercolour and ink, Mary's work is pop art, graphic and, for lack of a better word, sparkly. Her work is painted on canvas, a variety of papers or printed by way of giclee ink jet or silk screen (usually onto fabric for pouches/bags). Mary studied Illustration at College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan.

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