Today, I am going to show you how to create a vector, cartoon monster eye in 5 extremely easy steps. This is another one of those beginner tutorials that can be achieved in under 5 minutes flat, with a little bit of practice. I like to use this kind of technique to create a library of vectors that I can then later use and reuse in my illustration pieces. You can also experiment with gradients, different eye colors and placements to get a different eye each time.

Step 1
Open a new RGB document in Illustrator. Set the stroke to black and fill to white.

Step 2
Select the Ellipse tool and pressing down "Shift" [to get an even circle], draw a circle. Copy this circle using Cmd+C [Mac] or Ctrl+C [Win]. Paste this circle in the work area using Cmd+V [Mac] or Ctrl+V [Win]. Using the Selection Tool, click on the newer circle, press down "Shift", drag and reduce the size of the circle. Again pressing down "Shift" and using the Ellipse Tool, draw a third tiny circle and place it so it is overlapping the other two circles.

Step 3
Select the outer circle using the Selection Tool. Set stroke to "None" and fill to a dark "Gradient" [I clicked on the "Swatch Libraries Menu" tab on the bottom left of the "Fill" menu. I then clicked on "Gradients" and then "Simple Radial". I picked the dark blue gradient]. Now select the inner circle using the Selection Tool. Set stroke to "None" and fill to black. Select the third, tiny circle. Set stroke to "None" and fill to "white".

Step 4
Now setting the stroke to "None" and fill to a gradient [This time in the "Swatch Libraries Menu", I clicked on "Gradients" and then "Neutrals". From the swatches that opened up, I chose a simple gray to white gradient. To make the gray very light, in the "Gradient" window, I changed the color values by clicking on the gray tab as shown in the picture]. Again by pressing down "shift" and using the Ellipse Tool, I created a circle bigger than the blue circle. With this new circle selected, I chose "Object>Arrange>Send To Back" and positioned it the way I wanted behind the blue circle.

Step 5
To finish off, select all the different elements by pressing Cmd+A [Mac] or Ctrl+A [Win]. Group all elements together by pressing Cmd+G [Mac] or Ctrl+G [Win]. Click on the layer in the Layers Panel and rename the layer to "Cartoon Monster Eye". Save the file as cartoon_monster_eye.ai or as an EPS file in your Vector Stock Library and you are done.

Now use and reuse as you wish.