Learn how to create dynamic and visually striking swirly curls in Adobe Illustrator with our guide. From using the pen tool to manipulating and blending shapes, our guide covers all the essential steps and techniques for creating swirly curls that add movement and energy to your designs.
STEP 1 – DRAW A SPIRAL
From the tool bar, select the Spiral Tool by holding the Line tool. Click and drag a line from the centre point outwards. Instead of click and drag, you can just click to get the Spiral Options box and enter the spiral radius, decay and spiral segments and click OK. Here, I have used 80% for decay and 10 for segments. You can move the spiral while dragging if you hold down the spacebar. Give the spiral a stroke and no fill. Copy the spiral and paste it in front. Navigate to the Edit > Paste in Front or use command/CTRL+ F. Choose the Rotate Tool and
click the centre point of the spiral and drag the spiral to the right to rotate it a bit.
STEP 2 – TRANSFORMING THE SPIRAL
Choose the Selection Tool (black arrow) or hold the command/control key to get the transform handles. Scale the spiral to add thickness to the spiral from the centre points out. Choose the centre points of the 2 spirals. Use the Direct Selection Tool and drag a rectangle over the anchor points. Make sure that no other points of the spirals are selected. Navigate to Object > Path > Join (or hit command/CTRL + J) to join both paths. Now, do the same for the 2 ending points of the spirals.
STEP 3 – ADDING A FILL AND PLACING THE CURL
To swap the stroke to a fill, click the double arrows right above the colours in the Toolbox. Change the filling to the colour you prefer. Drag the curl in place. Rotate the curl if needed so that it forms a fluent line. If you want to make them one object, select both and choose the add to shape option in the Pathfinder palette.
