Swirl Mania in Illustrator & PhotoshopListThumbs
Swirl Mania in Illustrator & Photoshop
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 different styles for the blend, like adding a dark stroke with some light color.
3rd Way - Spiral Tool
Select the Spiral Tool and create a spiral, you can change the style of the spiral by holding the mouse button and some keys like CMD/CTRL, ALT, SPACE, UP, and Down.
You can go to Object>Path>Offset Path and specify the offset to 3pt, you will create a uniform spiral. But if you want to make the start point smaller than the end or vice-versa, you can use the spiral as spine for a Blend.
4th Way - Twirl Tool
Create an ellipse with the Ellipse Tool, after that select the Twirl Tool and double click on the icon to open the Twirl Tool Options. Deselect the Simplify option and use 10 for detail. Then go with the center of the twirl tool over the edge of the circle and press and hold the mouse button to create a spiral.
Mixing Techniques
Step 1
Create the first swirl using the first technique. Use a very long line with a circle at the end.
Step 2
Duplicate the swirls and resize it, repeat that to create another one, so you will have 3 swirls.
Step 3
Create a spiral applying the 3rd or 4th technique, actually you can do that with blends too.
Step 4
Create another swirl this time make the circle or much bigger.
Step 5
Duplicate the new swirl, resize and make it a bit smaller than the other like the image below.
Step 6
Duplicate again the swirl, now go to Object>Transform>Reflect. Change the color to yellow.
Step 7
Create a new spiral like the image below, then duplicate it again resize it like and place it above the other spiral.
Step 8
Keep adding swirls.
Step 9
Now we will add some 3D effects using the Mesh Tool (U). This tool allows us to apply multiple gradients to one object. Just select the object then with the Mesh Tool click where you want to add a new color.
Here in our swirl we will create a highlight area and a dark area. Repeat the process to the other swirls.
Step 10
With the Pen Tool create two lines following the shape of the tail of our "sperm" shape, then apply the Blend Tool with 5 Specified Steps. After that duplicate and resize the blend and use it on the other swirl
Step 11
Add more shapes and apply the Mesh Tool. Duplicate the yellow swirl and make it really bigger like the image below.
Step 12
For the spiral add a gradient from pink to cyan, then go to Effect>Stylize>Inner Glow... Use Screen for the Mode, 75% Opacity, 5pt Blur and Center.
Step 13
For those stripes following the spiral we will create a brush. To do that is really simple in Illustrator. Just create a rectangle and drag and drop it in the Brushes Palette, then in this case select New Pattern Brush. Use the image below for reference.
After that create a spiral exactly like the one you want to add the stripes, and apply the brush.
Step 14
Select the spiral without the Brush Stroke and copy it. Then select the spiral with the stroke and go to the Transparency Palette (Window>Transparency). Double click the area next to the thumbnail, it will create a new thumb all black, select this thumb and paste the spiral. It will create a mask, just move the mast to align it with the original spiral. It looks complicated but it's easier than the explanation ;)
Step 15
Use the blend tool to add more elements and details to some shapes.
Step 16
Create more swirls using the techniques we've seen before and just change the sizes and colors. After that group all swirls.
End result in Illustrator.
Step 17 (Photoshop)
Create a new document and place your image, I used a photo from http://sxc.hu and 1440x900px for the document size.
Step 18
Copy the swirls in illustrator, the group with all swirls we have created, and paste it in Photoshop. Select Paste As Smart Objects. After that go to Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss, use the image below for reference.
Step 19
Duplicate the layer and go to Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical, and reduce the size of the layer and move it like the image below. After that select the 2 layers and convert them to Smart Objects and rename it to "Swirls"
Step 20
Duplicate the new "Swirls" and rename it to "Swirls Glow", then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, use 3px for the Amount, place it behind the "Swirls" and change the Blend Mode to Hard Light
Step 21
Duplicate the "Swirls" layer again and go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal, again reduce its size and move it like the image below. Then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, use 3px for the amount again, but don't change the blend mode.
Step 22
Duplicate the "Swirls" layer one more time and this time just rotate it like the image below. Then go again to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, however this time use 5.5px for the Amount and reduce the opacity to 70%
Conclusion
Just place your logo and that's it. You can add more elements, you can even copy and paste each element separately and apply different layer styles to each swirl. There are many options and tons of different results from these methods, now it's all about trying different combinations.
Download the Files
Click here to download the files used in this tutorials
About the author
My name is Fabio Sasso, I'm a graphic/web designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil and I'm the founder of Abduzeedo. I hope we can share lots of information, tips, and ideas through Abduzeedo. Also you can follow me on Twitter or my personal site at http://fabiosasso.com.
144 Comments
Great tutorials Fabio - as always. Now I need to download Illustrator. I love how you take something as beautiful as the swirls you created and figure out how to make it 100 times better by adding it in with a real photo.
Maybe you should make a blog post about this - when can you tell that your design is complete? When do you say "That's the end" ?
Great tut again man. Keep it up.
Ya dude! It only took like 5 hours to write. Get some sleep dude!
www.abduzeedo.com
Fabio, it's "dezignus" not "deziguns"
http://dezignus.com/
Easy guess though, but fix the typo :-)
BTW... AWESOME WORK!
Wow Fabio !!
I dont have a paypal account else I would give all of it to you !! What an AWESOME tut man !!. You rip !!
You simply rock !!!!! what a tut ...... mind blowing !!!!!
Great tutorial Fabio. Your work is just amazing
I love ! very cool
Wow, amazing effect, thanks for the tut!
Great tut.. The mesh tool makes its job in illustrator.. Cool..
WOW, Thats an amazing effect. Thanks.
Great! As usual.
Great tutorial!
Wow ! realy cool !!!!!
very nice and beautiful tutorial Fabio ! thanks a lot! as usual ;)
Big Thx for this Fabio...your Tuts are amazing!!!
Wow, I never really comment but just want to say something about this site in general-you are an amazing source of inspiration for all of us learning and working in the visual world, kudos to you my friend! Keep up the excellent work! Btw beautiful redesign of the site (your footer is pretty funny too!)
great use of technique and creativity, just awesome
Really cool, 'll try it out some time. Keep up the GREAT work!
Wow!! It looks complicated? :D Awesome!
Thank you so much for this! Truly appreciate it
I've been frequenting your site for months now and never commented. I'd just like to say thanks for all the awesome tutorials and techniques you share with us!
thanks for the amazing tutorials :)
awesome awesome tutorial. really appreciate this, what a great help this tutorial is.
Awesome work dude!
Yay, Illustrator tut!
Awesome!
Keep it up :)
Holy crap! I've been looking for something like this for some time. This is awesome!!!
Really amazing!.
Awesome stuff, I never would have thought to make a design like this. Very thorough. Thanks!
Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing!
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I have attempted at creating swirls and such but never worked. Untill now!!
Keep up the good work man!
Nice article. Just subscribed to your feed. ;)
Here is one I wrote on how you can make Illustrator act as a Spirograph:
http://creativebits.org/freehand/rediscover_the_spirograph
can't wait to try it <:-p!!!
I love swirl. Nice tutorial, thank you for sharing.
HO!
me encanta esta web!
sois los mejoRes!!!
congratz bro!!
i like this very much...
for some art i have do the similar steps like u wrote in this tuts..
but this tuts add some inspiration for me!
thanks so much bro! :D
Awwsome Kool!!!! Been trying to do this effect, though l must admit my method were rather crude.
Absolutely beautiful. Incredible tutorial mate. You did a great job explaining things, and the end result is spectacular.
I LOVE your tutorials, this one is very nice :D
very nice tuts.
geez you're one of the best! thanks a lot, i've learned most of my fancy art effects from your tutorials. thank you! hope you keep on making more! idol!
Does this method onli werks with illustrator CS3 ? im using illustrtr CS2 and i jus cannot follow step 1 and step 9. the mesh tool etc
I'm having problems with step 9. The mesh tool will not work once I created the outline stroke and fill it. Any tips as to what I'm doing wrong...
I love those efx, absolutely wonderful, out of the world...keep creating cool stuff
Awesome tutorial! Been looking for something like this. Thanks!
Good idea:
"Maybe you should make a blog post about this - when can you tell that your design is complete? When do you say "That's the end" ?"
excellent tutorial, thanks a lot!!!!
What is the number of this foto at http://sxc.hu? And can anyone tell me how to join two path from example #1? I apply outline stroke, but nothing happens.
I still don't understand how to do the first one.
This is a world of solutions! Thanks for whoever gurus are behind this. Its site to visit everytime.
Iniobobong.
i've been looking for swirl tuts! THANKS! hope to see more swirl tuts. YOU'RE THE BEST!
Very nice tutorial!
I love the illustrator Tutorials! I learn a lot from you.. Thanks,
Nice! But Too Good.
using Vector art with photography gives a great result! i need to try it my self.
Super este tutorial me servirá de mucho, gracias y sigue adelante
Hi great Tutorial, I just dloaded Illustrator Trial for this :D
But I don't understand how to fill it black after I made the lines (Arc and Ellipse) in Way 1 / Step 1.
Thx for answers
Ascal
step 1 does not work. (for me anyhow)
i press creat outlines and i creates an outline and doesnt make a shape out of the line. i love this tutorial but im just stuk on this one bit, if u could give me a pointer that would be amazingly great.
thanks!
Cool, I will try this tutorial. Thank´s a lot.
Ahhh!!!
I love this!
It's so freaken dope!
But I just cant get my head around the first part I mean I do everything you say but... it just doesnt come out!
IT'S MAKING ME SO MAD!!!
oh yea and also same goes with the mesh tool i kind of don't get it...
I THINK YOU SHOULD MAKE A VIDEO FOR THIS ONE!!!
Can someone help me pick up my jaw?
This tutorial is just amazing! Never seen those possibilities!
Keep up your awesome work!
Greets
cool & nice!! this is just something i been searching for love u XD, keep it up & have a good day
HI! I'M FROM MEXICO AND IS VERY CONFORTABLE TO SEE WEBS LIKE YOURS. AMAZING YOUR JOB. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
woww nice Job. I love it :D
it's really awsome! :)
Hi Fabio,
Long time since I didn't check one of your tutorial, you're improving your skills and your english!
Your work worth is weight in gold as usual.
But I've notice that I'm not the only one who's having problem with the 1st way could you explain it step by step & a bit slower?
I'm going to surf! Adios
Your friend
Beezy.
PS: I can't download the vectors on the links ?!?
bkler@hotmail.fr
Just Great can't be ignored without posting a "Great Job" Teknik, Thanks....
Great work!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks!!
Its awesome... :))))) :D
hey! thanks for this awesome tutorial! very very nice of you to share! this made me really excited about vectors! :D thanks!
thanks for share. great blog !
wow,very nice and thanks for your tutorial :) i looking for this tutorial
Is there a way to animate the swirl? i've seen of those swirl a lot in commercial, but they way they did it they animated the swirl. how would i approach it?
wow :D
great tutorial, i love it.. thank you so much
i still don't understand the 1st way. could you please help me out? i've tried everything i know but unfortunately, it is not coming out the way you have it in your tutorial. my problem is when i create the outlines of the elipse tool and the arc's then the path outline stroke is not working. awesome tutorial but just not clear in most parts. thanks!!!
I'm also lost in that first step. Could someone please show or tell me what's the exact method? Much appreciated!!!!
Wow that looks dope! Brilliant stuff man. Bookmarked.
Great Artwork. Thx alot!!!
Nice work!
But..
Back by popular demand - Can you clarify steps 1 and 9; do this and there will be a plethora of untapped potential unleashed from the deprived fingers of undeveloped creatives.
Thanks; ttyl, goodbye.
step 1 was a bit tricky, b/c he left out some steps. however, when you create an ellipse and 2 arcing lines, click on the white arrow and select all, open pathfinder and use the divide tool and go to edit and ungroup. now, select the lines inside of the shape. after you have done that go to your layers pallette and under path, delete unnecessary paths. you are now set to add colors to your shape. i do this b/c the mesh tool will not work properly if the vector lines are still in the shape. i know my instructions are a bit sloppy, but this is not my tutorial so i wont step on anyones toes.
Good Stuff. Very nice Tutorial. Bookmarked.
Not sure but i was able to follow it quite easily.
how can I download?
is there anyway a tutorial like this one to be made for photoshop?
thanks for this step by step guideline - i got it!
so beautiful thank you !!
Cool tutorial but you left out some steps on #1
I love Swirls. After seen your tutorial and the way you explained, CREATING SWIRLS IS NOT TOUGH. Thanks Abduzeedo.
http://www.kishoreblog.com
I got lost on steps 1-9. I can make the swirls look great, but I can not apply the mesh tool to add the highlights...I tried all different approaches but got nothing....I love the thought of this tutorial, but lost in the first steps.
Very nice tutorial. I have learned a lot about creating the swirls and other tools inside of illustrator.
Thanks
Thank You very nice topic
good job fabio,
this are really helpful
it is realy nice
hey i cant extraCT THE DOWNLOADED FILES [SAMPLES]
beautiful,good tutorial, really it's very nice.
WOW, looks nice!
simply gorgeous
oo wonderfull .. i like all
Nice work ,great collection. Thanks for the share.
Hi, I"m still a n00b at Illustrator/Photoshop, my frist day actually. I got to Step 9 where you add the mesh but I don't know how to do it.
I can't add a mesh to the swirls because they're rotated elements, I managed to get the Mesh on the tip but how do I do it on the rest of the swirl's body
Tracked back to from here: http://www.presidiacreative.com/the-10-absolute-best-tutorials-of-2008/
This is great work. Thank you very much for it.
Hi guys,
I sort of had a big problem with applying mesh to a path-created from swirl tool.
As long as you have a path within your object it's impossible. I had struggled with that for hours but eventually came across great tutorial and everything is quite simple.
You have to select your path (A) and then expand appearance under Object window.Then go to layers palette and get rid of PATh.
Only then can you apply colour and gradient mesh.
Ave Maria
Marcin
Maan, just stumbled across this page, saw the amazing design tutorial, then noticed where I was, of course - abduzeedo.com. This doesn't surprise me anymore, you guys rock!! Awesome work!
Are there ever any negative comments on this site???
I can't believe this tutorial is getting such praise. It's sooooo ugly!
Wow! That was a really neat and easy to follow tutorial :)
I'm pretty good with photoshop and am now expanding my Illustrator knowledge - you helped me a LOT. Thanx man :D
I think a lot of us are having the same problem with step 9 using the mesh on the shapes for the 2nd example. If you could post a solution i think we would be very grateful. Excellent tutorial otherwise. I found using the 2nd example easiest and quickest and by using the pen tool i could create a curve path to replace the spine to get more complex shapes.
esta muy bueno el tutorial, but I do not grasias !!!!- very good English and in Spanish that are nesesito ... agan tradusirlo something .. atudarlos if I can .. mensinger is my don3.14hotmail.com
very good!!!!
Hey great tutorial I decided to take the stock hand photo and make something completely mine. I call it "Creativity" I'd be nice to get some feedback, thanks.
http://flickr.com/photos/tearitup10/3301998326/
Thanks 4 the tutorial great stuff.
II hope there more to come
sohbet odalar? - sohbet
Excelentes tutoriales... Me han servido de mucho gracias
Hi there,
I'm trying to follow your tutorial about Swirl Mania, but there are no pictures?
I can't follow the tutorial without pictures and i would love to follow this amazing tutorial (i saw a picture of the result on another website).
Can you please fix the problem with the pictures?
Thanx
From Holland
Hi there,
Some weeks ago I was searching some swirls tutos and found yours! I felt in love with and used it with some little change for my website.
I hope you'll love the result.
Thank you
Thanks again for inspiration.
I've learned so much since i found this site that my head hurts.
Superrrrrrrrrr ,,,, great
Thanks very much. Its awesome.I learned a lot :]
The result is fantastic! Congratulations on a great tutorial.
Very interesting writeup thank you:)
cool~! i love this tutorial~!!
supppppppppper great man~!
Thanks for the tutorial, it's pretty helpful.
The tutorial is great. I, like the others, am having trouble with the first and ninth step. I used the live paint tool and that seemed to work with the fill in but the mesh tool is a little bit more tricky. If any could help me out and leave a comment on this site. Thanks to the people who already left tips.
For some reason My Mesh Tool (u) doesn't want to work. it has the little sighn that shows you can't use it at a certain place. I selected my swirl and then tried the mesh tool but that won't go. Maybe it's cuz I have the trial version I dunno. but if not please let me know if you know the solution to this.
I've learned a lot on this site and the information provided would continue to learn and how to thank you for example if I can not describe my gratitude
i can't stop loving you..................r graphics. Good job.
why won't you let me save your tutorial as a pdf? In the future when I want to study it, I will no longer have access to the internet where I am moving. When I try to save, your site causes my explorer window to "stop working". Yours are the only tutorials that do this.
Please help. Explain, Lend advice for a work around. Thank you.
WoW. It´s great. Thanks a lot, absolutly thanks.
WoW. It´s great. Thanks a lot, absolutly thanks.
Yes. Thank you. I do not know if you did something to allow me to download or if the Internet was being fickled the other day, but this evening, I was able to download Swirl Mania as a PDF and I am thrilled. It's great. Thank you again.
this is awesome... many thanks to this tutorial.
thank u to giving tutorials to all viewers
double klick with arrow on the path in the middle of the objects and delete.
then:
Objekt -----> livepaint ------> Expand
mesh tool should be working now.
Fabio:
He buscado durante dos días algun tutorial que me guiara paso a paso para elaborar una figura vectorial y nada ¡Hasta que encontré este que realmente es extraordinario!.
A pesar de no saber mucho inglés, las ilustraciones y la explicación es sumamente clara y entendible.
¡It´s great. Thanks a lot, absolutly thanks.!
wow ! imaging
That is amazing,you use the photoshop to create the image.Nice job man.
The tutorials are good but without a good software quite impossible to do the same.
Awesome tut; thanks for posting. This site gives me great inspiration!
great tutorial!!!! me encanto el tutorial, si no te moleta en mi blog esta la traduccion al español
Saludos =)
Just freakin awesum, afta 10 hours i cud lid wif this tut, thankx Fabio , u rock.. peace out man..
That's often a problem in abduzeedos tuts.
he is skipping some steps, HE probably knows, but some of the beginners DON'T know...sometimes VERY depressing
Well done Ab. I love it from the start to the finish. I am not a typical AI person, I can achieve all these with Corel X3 or X4 yet I like to follow up on the dev on AI.
Well done.
I'm really very useful to follow a long-time see this as a blog here Thank you for your valuable information.
I'm really very useful to follow a long-time see this as a blog here Thank you for your valuable information.
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