How to Make a Spiral Notebook in Illustrator CS5

The key to producing an effective notebook image efficiently in Illustrator is using the program's duplication tools to create the notebook's repetitive shapes. For example, apply the duplication tools to just one ring of the wire spiral to create the complete spiral shape.



You can make a spiral notebook in Illustrator by using the program's "Rectangle" tool to draw shapes representing the notebook's covers. This same tool is what forms the notebook's holes, through which the wire spiral passes. Form the wire spiral itself with the "Paintbrush" tool. Use Illustrator's "Text" tool to add graphics that clarify that your illustration represents a spiral notebook.

Instructions

1. Click the rectangle icon from the tool palette to run the tool for drawing rectangle shapes, and then drag on the canvas to draw a rectangle whose height is about 1 1/4 times its width. This shape represents the notebook's top cover.

2. Click the icon with the black arrow from the tool palette to run the "Selection" tool, and then click the rectangle to select it. Press "Control" and "C" simultaneously to copy the rectangle to the clipboard, and then press "Control" and "V" simultaneously to paste a duplicate of the rectangle, which will represent the notebook's back cover.

3. Drag the duplicate so it's slightly below and to the right of the notebook's front cover, to create the illusion of 3-D depth.

4. Use the instructions from Steps 1 through 3 to draw a series of rectangles along the left side of the notebook top cover. These rectangles represent the holes that the wire spiral goes through, so make the rectangles very small in relation to the notebook top cover, no larger than 1/20th the width of that cover. Align the left and right edges of these rectangles with each other as you place them, and make the spaces between the rectangles the same.

5. Click the paintbrush icon from the tool palette to enter painting mode, and then drag on the canvas to draw a "C" shaped curve whose top point lies within the top small rectangle from the previous step, and whose bottom point is at the left edge of the notebook cover, at about the same vertical level as the second highest small rectangle. This shape represents one ring of the notebook's wire spiral.

6. Use the instructions for Step 2 and 3 to duplicate and position the rings for each of the small hole rectangles to complete the illusion of the wire spiral.

7. Press "T" to enter text entry mode if you want to add text to resemble that on many notebooks, and then click in the top cover of the notebooks near its top edge. Type "One Subject" or other text you typically see on spiral notebooks.

References

• "Illustrator CS5 Bible"; Ted Alspach; 2010