Advice on line drawing

[Mvdarbs]

Hi Folks, 

 

Newbie over here again so humour me a bit....

 

I am trying to create a ribbon type affect that swirls upwards, it needs to have a varying thickness at certain sections and also needs to have breaks inserted in it at specific sections to allow for another object to be inserted. Any ideas what the best way would be to go about creating this?

 

Thanks

Mark

[Callum]

Hi Mvdarbs,

 

I usually use the Pen Tool for all the lines in my drawings because my freehand skill leaves much to be desired  :lol: . You can set the pressure for the Pen Tool to get varying thickness depending on line length. As long as you know where the breaks need to be I would just leave gaps with the Pen Tool by stopping and starting a new line which can be filled later. Its really just a case of experimenting and finding what works for you :) I have included some tutorials below that go over the Pen Tool and one of drawing lines with varying thickness it is free hand but the same applies to the Pen Tool. I hope this helps :)

 

Pen Tool Tutorials : Pen Power

                               Extra Slick Pen Tool

 

Stroke Pressure : Varying Mouse-Drawn Line Width

 

C

[Mvdarbs]

Hi Callum ,

 

Thank you for the quick reply I will try that, the effect I am after is similar to the attached... but obviously I will require the breaks. Do you think your suggestions will do the trick?

 

 

[Callum]

Hi Mvdarbs,

 

It will be difficult but you should be able to recreate that using some of the effects i mentioned :)

 

C

[MEB]

Hi Mvdarbs,

I'm not sure that changing the line width will allow you much control of the twist(s), but if you create/draw it manually (the shapes, starting from two lines) all the rest is possible. You can group or add the shapes that belong to one of the sides (same for the other side) and use them as clipping layers. You can also use them to enclose the highlights/shadows to give some volume to the ribbon.

[Mvdarbs]

Hi MEB, 

 

Thank you for the reply. Being as I am a SUPER newbie could you just explain what you mean by clipping layers please?

 

Thanks

Mark