How to draw a banner ribbon

by Krystal Whitten August 06, 2016 9 Comments

Banners are my favorite! Can you tell? They show up in my lettering all the time.

A nicely placed banner will take your design up several notches! They're impressive, and with a little practice, you can be creating some really fun designs with them.

So I'll show you the basics in a 3 different ways, and there's a worksheet at the end that you can download for FREE and print to try it out yourself.

Let's just jump right in.

Straight Banner

1. Draw a straight line - or as straight as you can - followed by a parallel line below it.

2. Close the two lines to create a rectangle.

3. Draw two lines on each side slightly below the top of the rectangle. 

4. Now draw parallel lines just a bit below the rectangle. As you see above, the thickness of the rectangle and the new lines is about the same.

5. Now put a dot inbetween your new parallel lines, just inside a little (not flush with the ends). The dots will create your V-cuts on the tail of the ribbon.

6. Now you can create the V-cut tails by drawing lines from each point to the center dot.

7. Close the tails with two straight lines that attach to the original rectangle. 

8. Finally, draw a diagonal line from the corner of the original rectangle to the inside corner of the tail. This creates a folded look.

9. You can shade the fold if you like. 

10. Don't forget your lettering!

 Wavy Banner

2. Connect the parallel lines to form a wavy rectangle.

3. Add a curvy tail on the pointed side to extend the rectangle. This is going to form the fold in your ribbon. 

4. Next, draw a line on each side that is parallel to the tail you just created. This is the other part of your folded "ribbon," so you don't want it to be too fat or too thin compared to the main rectangle. They should be pretty close to the same thickness.

5. Now put a dot in the center of those two lines. Just like with the Straight Banner, you want to place it to the inside a bit because you're using the dots to create your V-cuts.

6. Now draw lines from each corner to the dot to crate your V-cut. The dot helps you find your center so your V isn't off-center. 

7. You're not done yet! Finish off your ribbon banner by drawing a straight line from the S-tail to the main rectangle. This is important because it completes that folded look. Now you can shade it in or draw some lines to off-set it.

8. Don't forget to add your lettering!

Double-Decker Wavy Banner

1. Ok don't hate me - I love double-decker banners, but I totally made up that name. I have no idea what they're called. Start off with two parallel wavy lines.

2. Then draw another set of parallel wavy lines under it, and slightly offset to the right.

3. Connect your bottom section by drawing a line up from the bottom corner to the top corner, and then diagonally to connect the two levels.

4. Finish off the top section by drawing a line from the top corner to the bottom corner

and then diagonally down to join the bottom level.

5. Now finish of the ends. You can do the same V-cut as the first two banners we learned, or straight or jagged as seen here. Put your own spin on it!

6. Shade the middle however you wish, or leave it as is.

7. And finally, add your lettering!

And those are three basic ways to draw banners. Your worksheet has a few other styles for you to try out. Apply the basic directions you learned here to draw them. 

Have fun!

Download the accompanying worksheet to print and practice.

If you enjoyed this tutorial and want more like it, check out my new book Faith and Lettering: An Inspirational Guide to Creative Lettering & Journaling (Amazon link)

With love and lettering,

*Affiliate links are used in this post. If you try this out, post a picture of your drawing on Instagram using the #krystalwhittenblog tag! I can't wait to see. 

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