Quick & Easy Ribbons

What We'll Be Creating

Creating The Ribbon Left Side

Lets jump straight in, create a new (Ctrl + N) document 800 x 400 pixels with your desired background color/effect.

Set the foreground color to #656565 then select the "Rectangle Tool" (U) with the following settings.

On the left side of the canvas drag out a rectangle.

We now need to drag out a 2nd rectangle but subtract it from the original rectangle. To do this select the "Rectangle Tool" (U) then select the "Subtract From Shape Area" option in the top options panel. Once selected drag out another rectangle over the original rectangle, once you drag it over you should notice the part which overlaps disappears.

Quick Tip:

Make sure the path is selected in the layers window before subtracting.

Creating The Fold

With the "Rectangle Tool" (U) create a small rectangle the same height as the ribbon end but not as wide then go to "Edit > Transform > Perspective". Drag the top left anchor point downwards until you have something like the image below.

Once the fold has been created add a gradient overlay to the "Ribbon End Layer" using the settings below.

Now add a gradient overlay to the "Fold Layer" using the settings below.

You should have something like this.

Creating The Ribbon Front

With the "Rectangle Tool" (U) drag out a rectangle the same height as the smallest part on the fold and as long as you want the ribbon to be.

Now add a gradient overlay to the "Ribbon Layer" using the settings below.

You should now have something like this.

Adding The Right Ribbon End

Creating the right ribbon end is a piece of cake, highlight the "Left Ribbon End Layer" and "Left Ribbon Fold Layer" then right click and go to "Duplicate Layer(s)".

Quick Tip:

Make multiple selections by holding down the CTRL key on the keyboard.

With the duplicated layers still selected go to "Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal". Now drag the rectangles across the other side of the ribbon. If you have global lighting settings enabled you might have to change the angle of the gradient so it matches that of the left side.

And that's all there is to it, now just personalize it to your liking.

Conclusion

Thanks for taking part in this tutorial, if you managed to finish this tutorial I'd love to see some of your results. Feel free to post them up on our Facebook Fan Page.