Spice up your next carousel, poster, t-shirt, or wallpaper with this super easy tutorial on how to make abstract shapes in Illustrator. Today, our branding Greenville NC professionals teach you how to make these graphics in just five easy steps. Follow along with our YouTube video, and continue reading to learn how to make abstract shapes in Illustrator and reinforce your design toolkit!

Step One:

To begin learning how to make abstract shapes in Illustrator, you must first create your document within Adobe Illustrator. In this example, our graphic design Greenville NC professional is working on an 800x600 frame, but the size of your final work is completely up to you!

Step Two:

Use the Pencil Tool (shortcut N on your keyboard) to draw a random shape in the middle of your Artboard. Then, repeat this step with a much larger shape around your first.

Step Three:

For the next step in this tutorial on how to make abstract shapes in Illustrator, select the Blend Tool (shortcut W on your keyboard) and click on the outermost line followed by the inner. Doing this should create a third line between the original two.

Step Four:

Double click the Blend Tool icon in your toolbar to open the Blend Options Panel. Choose the Spacing drop-down titled “Specified Steps” and set the number to 70. If you’re working at a larger size, our branding Greenville NC experts recommend playing around with this number until you find what looks best. By clicking the Preview button on and off, you’ll be able to update your artwork in real-time to get an idea of what you are working with.

Step Five:

It's time to get CREATIVE! Change the colors and line thicknesses to alter the appearance of your piece. You can also grab the Direct Select Tool (shortcut A on your keyboard) and edit the direction of your curves to alter their existing paths. This effect is easily one of our branding Greenville NC agency's favorite tricks in Adobe Illustrator. The artwork remains editable, and you can duplicate the technique with little effort. Learning how to make abstract shapes in Illustrator is definitely something you want to add to your graphic design arsenal.

Red Shark Digital | Graphic Design Greenville NC Agency

Our branding Greenville NC agency is driven by discovering new techniques to strengthen our design skills. From learning how to make abstract shapes in Illustrator to uncovering new methods of simplifying design creation in Figma, our graphic design Greenville NC team is dedicated to sharing our learned skills with our community. For more creative tutorials from our branding Greenville NC professionals, visit our Red Shark Digital YouTube channel or head to our News page!