Learn how to create an isometric grid in Illustrator. This method gives you a clean and professional grid scalable to different artboard sizes to start making isometric art quickly. Or skip the setup and download our Isometric Grid Template for Illustrator (Link in this article).
Chapters:
0:00 Isometric Grid Illustrator Tutorial
0:19 Create Minor Vertical Grid Lines
1:58 Create Major Vertical Grid Lines
2:58 Create Horizontal Grid Lines
3:32 Isometric Grid Template Download
Skip the setup! Download our Isometric Grid Template for Illustrator.
Create Minor Vertical Grid Lines
Minor lines (or the thin lines) in your grid can be made by creating a vertical line using the Line Segment Tool or the Pen Tool. I like to make this line on the left edge of the artboard. Now we will want to duplicate this line across the artboard. You can do this by going to Effect > Distort and Transform > Transform.
In this panel under the “Move” settings, you want to increase the Horizontal px amount. This will be the space between each copy of the line you make and the column width of your minor grid lines.
Next, under the “Copies” setting, you want to increase this number until your lines are duplicated across your entire artboard. The number of copies must be an even number (e.g. 20, 48, 90). The copies don’t include your original line, so you will have an odd number of lines overall. This ensures the grid is symmetrical and centred correctly.
Since these lines will be thinner, we can decrease the stroke point size to something like 0.25pt. Group all the lines and duplicate them to make the width twice as wide, then go to Object > Expand Appearance, and scale the height of the lines past the artboard height. Finally, group all of the lines and align them to the center.
Create Major Vertical Grid Lines
Now let’s create the major lines (or the thick lines) in your grid at desired intervals. If you want 4 columns of smaller grid lines in between, then you will want to place a thicker line every 4 minor lines across your artboard. These stroke lines can be 1pt.
Just like the minor lines, you will want to duplicate the ticker lines to make them twice the width of your artboard, and increase the height to go past the artboard size, then center the thick lines.
Create Horizontal Grid Lines
With all your vertical lines selected, you can rotate and duplicate them to make your horizontal grid lines by going to Object > Transform > Rotate. In this panel, enter 60° and select the “Copy” button, then use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl / Command + D to repeat the last transform effect. Now you will have the perfect isometric grid in Illustrator to start creating isometric art.
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