Cartoon Clouds

 

01 | Create a Sky Background
In order to see the white clouds we are about to create, draw a sky blue layer name it SKY and lock it. This will serve only as a background and nothing more.

02 | Draw the Basics
Create a new layer above SKY and name it CLOUDS. In the toolbox, set the fill to white and the stroke to none. Use the Ellipse Tool and draw some flat ellipses as below.

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03 | Combine the Shapes
Select all of the ellipses that make up the cloud by choosing Select > All or by pressing Ctrl + A.

Open the Pathfinder palette (Window > Pathfinder), press the Alt/Option key while clicking on the Add to shape area command. This will merge the shapes into one.

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04 | Copy, Copy
Make a copy (Ctrl/Cmd + C) of the merged shapes and paste it in front (Edit > Paste in Front or Ctrl/Cmd + F) of the original. Fill the copy with grey

Copy the gray shape and paste it in front (Ctrl/Cmd + F) of the other grey shape. Yes, another copy! For visual contrast only, fill this object with a color other than grey or white. I chose electric green (R:50 G:255 B:0)! In total, you should have three shapes stacked precisely on top of each other: the white shape, the grey shape and the green shape.

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05 | Offset Shapes
Use the Selection Tool to grab hold of the electric green shape and drag it slightly up and left from the grey shape below it. Try to approximate the look below.

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06 | Subtracting Shapes
With the Selection Tool, select the electric green shape and press the Shift key to select the gray shape below as well. You only want to select the top two shapes.

From the Pathfinder palette, press the Alt/Option key while you click on the Subtract from shape area command. This will delete the part of the gray shape that was beneath the electric green shape leaving us with the result shown.

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It's likely an unwanted piece or two of the gray shape will remain. To delete this, select the gray shape and choose Object > Ungroup, click on the unwanted bit and press the Delete key.

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07 | Soften the Look
This step is optional but can help soften the look of the cloud. Choose the gray shape and choose Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. In the dialog box that appears, enter a value of 4 for Radius and click OK.

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08 | Apply a Drop Shadow
Select only the white shape and choose Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the values shown and click OK. The blue I use for the shadow color is R:0 G:102 B:204.

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