In this lesson, I'm going to walk you through creating a clean and modern adaptation of a historical or national monument. This lesson will teach you how to take any intricately detailed building and stripping it down to it's base shapes - which can make an intimidating drawing subject much easier to render.

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Since we will be creating this monument using Adobe Illustrator, you'll be able to scale your monument to whatever size you want thanks to the magic of vectors. Your monument will be both print and web ready and will look great both large and small.

This is also a great way to commemorate special trips or destinations that you hope to visit one day!

Now it's your turn to create a historical landmark and monument using Adobe Illustrator!

Remember to break down all the component shapes into circles, triangles and squares whenever possible (don't be afraid to use the pen tool from time to time if needed).

Be sure to also implement a color pallete that revolves around a single color. Once you've decided on your first color, pick out three shades of a complementing neutral color and two shades of a bolder color.

I've chosen to demonstrate creating the Reichstag in this class, but feel free to make whatever monument inspires you!

Here's a short list of some monuments to help you get the creative juices flowing:

- Big Ben

- Tokyo Tower

- The Leaning Tower of Pisa

- Angkor Wat

- The Effiel Tower

- The Statue of Liberty