Adobe Illustrator Tutorials
Swirl Mania in Illustrator & Photoshop
Tags * illustrator * photoshop * tutorial
There are lots of ways to create swirls in Illustrator, you can even download vectors from sites such as bittbox and dezignus, and if you are using Photoshop you can download brushes with those sorts of symbols.
However in this tutorial I will show 4 ways to create swirls, and by mixing them you will learn some very powerful techniques that will allow you to easily make tons of different styles of swirls and crazy sperm vectors.
1st Way - Arc, Circle, and Path tool
Select the Arc Tool and create an arc. You can change the arc's properties by holding the mouse button and pressing the UP and DOWN keys for the angle of the arc, SPACE to move it, and ALT to change the center point.
Now create an ellipse using the Ellipse Tool (L).
After you create the arc go to Object>Path>Outline Stroke. The stroke will be converted to a shape, the select the Direct Selection Tool(A).
2nd Way - Blend Tool(W)
Create 2 circles, one will be the start and the other the end points of our swirl. Then select the Blend Tool (W) and click on the small circle and after that on the big circle. Double-click the Blend Tool icon to open the Blend Options, there you will be able to change the spacing of the elements and the orientation. Select Specified Distance and use 1pt, for the Orientation use Align to Path.
The spine is the path along which the steps in a blended object are aligned. By default, the spine forms a straight line. * To adjust the shape of the spine, drag the anchor points and path segments on the spine with the Direct Selection tool. * To replace the spine with a different path, draw an object to use as the new spine. Select the spine object and the blended object, and choose Object > Blend > Replace Spine. * To reverse the order of a blend on its spine, select the blended object and choose Object > Blend > Reverse Spine.
You can test
Tags * illustrator * photoshop * tutorial
There are lots of ways to create swirls in Illustrator, you can even download vectors from sites such as bittbox and dezignus, and if you are using Photoshop you can download brushes with those sorts of symbols.
However in this tutorial I will show 4 ways to create swirls, and by mixing them you will learn some very powerful techniques that will allow you to easily make tons of different styles of swirls and crazy sperm vectors.
1st Way - Arc, Circle, and Path tool
Select the Arc Tool and create an arc. You can change the arc's properties by holding the mouse button and pressing the UP and DOWN keys for the angle of the arc, SPACE to move it, and ALT to change the center point.
Now create an ellipse using the Ellipse Tool (L).
After you create the arc go to Object>Path>Outline Stroke. The stroke will be converted to a shape, the select the Direct Selection Tool(A).
2nd Way - Blend Tool(W)
Create 2 circles, one will be the start and the other the end points of our swirl. Then select the Blend Tool (W) and click on the small circle and after that on the big circle. Double-click the Blend Tool icon to open the Blend Options, there you will be able to change the spacing of the elements and the orientation. Select Specified Distance and use 1pt, for the Orientation use Align to Path.
The spine is the path along which the steps in a blended object are aligned. By default, the spine forms a straight line. * To adjust the shape of the spine, drag the anchor points and path segments on the spine with the Direct Selection tool. * To replace the spine with a different path, draw an object to use as the new spine. Select the spine object and the blended object, and choose Object > Blend > Replace Spine. * To reverse the order of a blend on its spine, select the blended object and choose Object > Blend > Reverse Spine.
You can test