How to Curl a Photo in Illustrator
You can make a photo appear curled in Adobe Illustrator by using the application's shape-filling tools to fill the shape of a page curl that you draw with the "Paintbrush" tool. This special effect emphasizes the two-dimensional quality of a photo by simulating a three-dimensional surface (the photo's paper) on which the photo is printed. The shape you draw with the page curl doesn't have to be completely realistic to achieve the curl effect. Increase the realism by closely observing how an actual photo or piece of paper curls.
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Instructions
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Open Windows Explorer and navigate to a photo to which you'd like to add a page curl. Click the photo and drag it to Illustrator's application window. Illustrator imports the photo for you to edit.
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Click the "Paintbrush" icon from the tool palette to run the Paintbrush tool. Drag over the corner of the photo you want to curl to draw the curl's shape. For example, if you want to curl the photo's lower left corner, drag a C-shaped curve from the left edge to the bottom edge. Arc up to create the curl's corner, then arc left to connect to the cursor's start point on the left edge of the photo.
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Draw another shape that coincides with the curl's bottom edge and surrounds the photo's real corner. This second shape will hide that real corner.
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Click the "Down Arrow" of the Stroke spinner control above the canvas to tell Illustrator you want the hiding shape to have no outline. Next, click the upper color swatch at the bottom of the tool palette. Click the white color from the drop-down gallery above and to the far left of the canvas to fill the shape with white, which effectively hides the photo's corner.
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Click the black arrow from the tool palette to run the "Selection" tool and then click the page-curl shape. Follow the instructions from the previous step to fill the shape with the "Gradient" fill type. This type appears as the swatch with a spectrum of gray in the drop-down gallery. This step shades the page curl and completes the curled photo effect.
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References
- "Illustrator CS5 Bible"; Ted Alspach; 2010
