Drawing Ribbon

This tutorial will show you how to create a realistic, textured effect on a ribbon shape using the Satin blending option.

Step 1

Start first by making a rectangle with the rounded rectangle shape. I used a radius of 5 px.

Step 2

Use the pen tool to add an anchor point near the bottom.

Step 3

Drag the anchor point down, and the other two points in line, to make a shape similar to this one.

Step 4

Start out by choosing the shape's color, and then giving it a gradient for the shading. Use a black to transparent gradient.

Step 5

The shading will be more realistic if you set it to a diagonal angle. Scale it to 150% and lighten the opacity.

Step 6

Add a pattern for texture. If you don't know how to create a pattern like this one, its simple. Create a new 5 x 5 px file and delete the background. Use the pencil to add 5 pixels in a diagonal direction with black or gray. Then go to edit > define pattern.

Step 7

Here's the fun part. The trick with satin is to play around with the settings until you get a nice texture. I like the contour preset in the screenshot, but you can choose a different one. The distance and size usually have to be close to max, but vary. Also play around with opacity and angle. Again, a diagonal angle looks good here, along with around 40-50% opacity. Also, increase the brightness and contrast if you can't distinguish the features well enough. (Image > adjustments > brightness/contrast || OR || Layer > New adjustment layer > brightness/contrast)

Completed

You can use it for a lot of things, like I did with my website :) It adds a nice flair.Feel free to try out different shapes too.