TUTORIAL: How to make polar stripes in Adobe Illustrator
Well i started this tutorial because of a project I had to create for a client. I wanted to do a polar stripe set like the WWII Japanese flag to enhance a little bit the background. For this design I’ve chosen Adobe Illustrator (for totally freedom in resolution). In this point I must admit that I didn’t search for a plugin or a stock vector (probably there’s something out there that it can do this kind of FX) but I tried it manually.
Other techniques might be on the internet but the method I will show you (I think) is the fastest one. No more talking, let’s start…
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Making WWII Japanese flag stripes in Adobe Illustrator
Launch Adobe Illustrator and make a new document. Size doesn’t matter but as always try to be specific with the final output.
Make a box (extend it outside of the canvas) as thick as you want. Color it with a favorite color. Be specific what colors you will use because when you finalize this you can’t change the colors (you’ll have to start all over).
We are going to make a second box either by drawing it again or by drag and copy the first one. I prefer drag and copy but the choise is yours. Place the second box near the first and color it.
Now pick the two boxes simultaneously and drag and copy them, placing them near their initial position. If you done this right you must have 4 boxes. Good!
Repeat these steps until you cover all the canvas in width. (TIP: You can do this by using Object->Transform->Transform Again or Ctrl+D).
Ok, we have a pattern of enough stripes with various colors. But how can we achieve the famous polar effect in Illustrator? We have to cheat a little bit!
Pick all the boxes and make them an ART BRUSH (Tip: Drag them in the brushes palette and choose New Art Brush in the following menu).
In the Art Brush options choose the direction to be right or left. (you can always experiment with these options).
Now create a small circle. Apply the art brush you just made on the circle. Voila! You have a great polar stripe set ready for your design!
Note: If the polar looks like the photo below, delete some boxes or draw some more. I think the number of the boxes must be even.
And here is my final design…
The photo elements I bought them from Stockxpert.com – a great and very affordable photo databank.
Hope you find it a useful tutorial for the Adobe Illustrator and you did like the overall design, if you did please share and bookmark it.
138 ‘queries’.
March 15, 2012 at 02:59
Great tutorial!!
Bery good info!
August 2, 2011 at 23:34
You have some genuinely useful information written here. Good job and keep posting good stuff.
September 30, 2010 at 08:46
i use adobe illustrator a lot and i really love its great freatures”;`
August 11, 2010 at 08:22
Adobe Illustrator has more features than its competitors “
May 12, 2010 at 18:31
I always use Adobe illustrator at work because i work in an animation studio. this is really a serious tool for the graphic artist.,~*
March 19, 2010 at 21:55
Thanks for the comment…you can subscribe to post updates if you click the link SUBSCRIBE in the upper portion of the blog. Fill your email address in the form and you’ll informed when a new post is released. Cheers
March 19, 2010 at 21:37
Hi, that was without a doubt an awesome post. I had actually been looking for a photo printing related article for a while now. Appreciate it! Is there a way to subscribe? because I can’t seem to locate the details anywhere.
November 13, 2008 at 20:47
Thank you for this cool n simple tut. will be a part of my coming soon background.
greetz
November 2, 2008 at 19:24
Thank you so much
July 21, 2008 at 06:32
thanks for nice and easy tutorial. and think this can be done by creating a cone shape object and later rotating it from the cone edge.