... continued from the previous page.

18. Adjusting the Bows to look more natural : Hold the ribbon on top of the gift box. To make the shape more Ribbon like, with all the shapes selected go to
Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Mesh
and put in the settings above. Do not be afraid to experiment, and remember to make each bow on each box a little different!

Click on the ribbon using the Mesh Tool and Warp the Ribbon.

19. Add the Shadow : Lastly for the drop down shadow, draw an oval shape using a dark grey, Right click the oval and Arrange > Bring to Send to Back.

With the shape selected go into
Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur
and put in 71. If the shadow is too small you can select is with the Selection Tool and make it bigger. (How the Gaussian blur affects the art is totally dependent on the size of file.)

Experiment with different colours to create what you're after. Don't forget to change the bows slightly on each different box for a more natural look, or create boxes of different sizes, but with the same size bows for variety. How about light colored boxes with dark color ribbons!

Special Thanks to Ainsley Bevis for sending in this tutorial. Be sure to visit Ainsley at BloomwebDesign.net
      Ainsley is a passionate, and mostly self taught, Web and Graphic Designer based in Melbourne, Australia. As well as designing websites and graphic material for her clients she also enjoys playing guitar, piano, walking her dogs and cooking vegetarian food! Don't miss all her great Adobe Illustrator Tutorials!

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