Illustrator Tutorial – Create a Colourful Abstract Wavy Ribbon
One of the subscribers here at Blog.SpoonGraphics recently emailed me asking if I could create a tutorial on how I produced the wavy ribbon shape as seen in one of my personal works; Retro Kicks. I was happy to oblige so here we have a simple walkthrough on how to create a colourful abstract ribbon shape in Illustrator, which can then be used as an element in your designs.
First of all, select your palette of colours. Maybe like me you have just bought a new belt with a cool combination of stripes that you can pinch the colours from, otherwise head over to ColourLovers and pick out a trendy selection.
Create blocks of your chosen colours in Illustrator to eye drop the colours from later.
Draw a long thin rectangle on the artboard and fill with your first colour swatch.
Duplicate the rectangle and butt the copy to the bottom of the original. One quick method here is to Move (Enter Key) the shape vertically using the same number as the height of the shape. Then Copy (CTRL/CMD + C), Paste in Front (CTRL/CMD + F) then Transform Again (CMTL/CMD + D) to repeat the movement. Replicate this last step over and over with each new shape until you have a block of perfectly aligned stripes.
With all your stripes selected go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make With Mesh.
Enter 4 in the Rows and Columns boxes, you may want to experiment with higher numbers to allow more complex shapes.
Use the Direct Selection Tool to select a vertical line of points from the Mesh, use the Scale Tool whilst holding Shift to enlarge the end points proportionally.
Use the Rotate Tool to add an angle to the line of points.
Repeat the step on the next set of points, this time scaling down slightly.
Onto the third line, use the Direct Selection Tool to move the points around as well as Scaling and Rotating them. Aim to generate flowing curves without any tight kinks.
Fine tune each line of points in turn with all three tools to finalise your abstract stripes.
Now you have another vector element ready to Combine with Pixel and Produce Striking Artwork!
Go ahead and experiment with more Rows and Columns in the Envelope Mesh options, here you can see the process using 6 sets of mesh points.
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Once again, great tutorial !
Thanks a lot !
February 23rd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I agree! Thanks for the tutorial.
February 23rd, 2008 at 9:44 pm
This is great! Thank you! I always wondered how to manipulate lines with ease in Illy…
February 24th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Great tutorial, this can really expand anyone’s playing field
February 24th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
This is a really cool tutorial! I was able to follow it through in no time. Thanks again!
February 25th, 2008 at 3:04 am
Hey, great tutorial, love trying stuff out in illustrator, photoshop and the likes. First year student in a multimedia course, sometimes it all gets a little scary! haha!
Love the site, Thanks again.
February 25th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
very very good tutorial, easy to understand
February 25th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
this site is pretty good
thanks for the help
February 25th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
HI! Thanks ,, la verdad q me encanta este blog, sigan asi, es de mucha ayuda gracias.
February 25th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I like the tutorial. I also remember the design you did with the shoes in it. Really cool. thx.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Can you do this with Photoshop ??
February 26th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
ITS GREAT BUT I HAVE A PROBLEM!!
WHEN I MAKE THE MESH AND MOVE THE POINTS, I CAN’T MAKE CURVES I ROTATE THE POINTS AND SCALE BUT ALWAYS IS STRAIGHT AND THE CURVES ARE NOT FINE.
SOMEBODY CAN HELP ME???
THANKS A LOT!!
February 26th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I SEE NOW THE PROBLEM!!
if someone grouP the rectangles sure have my problem!!
NOT GROPU THE RECTANGLES!!
ITS MY FAULT!!
THANKS FOR THE TUT!!
February 26th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
HI THERE. THAT’s AMAZING
i just wanna know. can i make these curves run around a picture for example maybe in a fashion shoot. Where I’d like to mix illustrations with pictures. Should I import the picture into illustrator and work from there or is there some other method?
February 27th, 2008 at 5:55 am
I love you I love you I love you!!! Ok so I’m being a little over the top but seriously you are my hero! So happy you wrote this tutorial and boy it didn’t take you long after I made the request :).
Awesome!!!
February 27th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Chris you have no idea how happy you’ve made me!! I’ve been wanting to know how to do this for the longest. I really want to donate but I can’t use paypal :(. Is there any other form of electronic payment you accept? Or maybe I can just snail mail you?
February 27th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Thanks for the comments everyone;
Kafe; You can produce a similar effect in Photoshop using the Warp tool.
Sean Hodge; Thanks! I’m hoping to find time to sit down and produce a little more personal work, really helps develop the old skill set!
Red Henry; Glad you fixed the problem, good work on finding the solution!
Raithology, take a look at the How to Combine Pixel and Vector Tutorial, I think you’ll find some useful info there.
Elli, feel free to simply share/bookmark/digg the page to show your appreciation!
Chris
February 27th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Oh Man! U’ve made my transition from freehand to illustrator easier
February 28th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Great Tutorial!!
February 28th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Amazing tutorial!!
February 28th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Yesss, this is amazing! Thanks for that!!
February 29th, 2008 at 4:43 am
I’ve already used this idea in a school project I’m working on. Thanks!
February 29th, 2008 at 7:02 am
nice tutorial
i like it very much
keep it up
thanks
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Pure gold.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Great tutorial!
Easy and simple process.
thanks!
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
tha´ts gooood tutorial
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Great Tutorial!
March 4th, 2008 at 8:34 am
good one. definitely im gonna use this in future projects. thanks!!
March 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Piece of cake! Excellent tutorial!!
Thnks!
March 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
great tutorial..
can be done in just a minute!
thanks!
March 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Nice
thanks for information.
March 8th, 2008 at 1:58 am
Can this be done with an art brush?
March 9th, 2008 at 5:39 am
This is such an excellent tutorial! Thank you so much. Nice blog too!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
The other option is to convert the color stripes u ve made to Illy’s brush stroke. Then just draw any lines and select the brush stroke that you ve made. It should work too, but maybe not as nice as this 1.
Havent try. (^_^)
March 14th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
really thanks for sharing .
Help me a lot i can´t buy a drink but I give a big Kiss
thank´s again
March 16th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Makes us great
March 16th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I have a question, were can I download Adobe Illustrator CS2? email me to angel_wings@live.com thx ^^
March 18th, 2008 at 12:56 am
Thanks a million! Great tutorial — there are so many options in Illustrator that the possibilities seem endless.
March 18th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
thank you, to you for this tutorial. all my respect has.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:49 pm
nice tutorial, step by step, pictures help much
thanks
March 21st, 2008 at 3:53 pm
i like this site. this options wonderful tnk u tnks so mch
March 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Viry Nice Gr8 tutorial…. Thanks a lot
March 24th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
muy chevere el tuto… y facil
March 25th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
This tutoriel is good
But i can’t seem to move the points in a curve, When i do it moves the whole block
What have i done wrong?
March 27th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
SO much lovely man!
March 28th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Flo: you need to use the direct selection tool (white arrow). first click off any selection, then use that tool to draw a rectangle around where the points are that you want to move. with it still selected, drag it around. hope that helps.
April 7th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Hi there,
As a fan of your blog, I admire your work. I wanted to share with you how I used your tips for the first time in my work … hope you like it!!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/719916@N21/
April 8th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Hallo. Great tutorial man, I’m loving the knowledge!!
Do you know any way of creating an animated version of this using after effects… ?
Also I laid a simple b&w gradient over the stripes and changed the blending mode to Difference to achieve a almost shaded effect.
Keep up the good work.
April 20th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
omfg, thank you so much, now i understand HOW those masters has been playing with lines for years. Uncredible!!!
May 7th, 2008 at 6:38 am
Thx for sharing
May 11th, 2008 at 5:18 am
NICE TUTORIAL
THANK YOU
May 13th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Hey Chris ….so simple and nice tutorial…thats great man!!!!!
May 31st, 2008 at 3:14 am
I’m having a little trouble figuring this out. I can’t get any of the tools to work the way they do in the tutorial.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:49 am
im having a little trouble with this tut many getting a vertical line of points,i can only select to at a time, am i missing something?
June 17th, 2008 at 3:15 am
thank u very much
great tutorial
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:34 am
thank you soooo much
July 7th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
THANK YOU! Thank You! Great tutorial and HUGE help!
July 9th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Best design . I like it Very much
July 9th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Thanks for sharing the Knwledge.
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:28 am
Hi There,
Nice tutorial! Very detailed! Guess what I made some guesses where you ask us to copy the color bars. I just pressed ctrl+alt+down arrow key and got a new bar.:)
So it was quite easy after that!
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Thanks
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
When I click WARP WITH MESH, I can’t see a grid!
August 11th, 2008 at 1:48 am
I love this tutorial! I am trying to do as many Illustrator tutorials as possible to learn the program! The only issue I seem to be having is my colors become all pixely and unpretty…any ideas why?
August 11th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Never mind, I figured it out! Great easy tutorial! I’ve never used Illustrator and it was quite simple! Thanks!
August 15th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Nice, thanks for sharing the wealth!
August 16th, 2008 at 1:10 am
When I use the scale tool, it scales the entire thing. >.<
October 5th, 2008 at 4:35 am
cool!! thnx