Create a Futuristic Background That Stands Out

October 3, 2019

Standing out from the stock market isn’t easy. There are thousands of resources out there and creative minds behind them. However, it’s not impossible. Hard work, perseverance, and creative ideas are normally enough to find your place in the artistic world.

At Freepik, we’re always seeking new ways to help you and offer inspiration so you can make the most of your creations. Have you ever tried to turn apparently basic resources into original and compelling artworks? In today’s tutorial, we teach you how to convert a background into a potential downloadable resource by creating a futuristic background.

We asked our skilled contributor Silvia Salvador to help us. She’s prepared an exhaustive video tutorial on how to create a futuristic background with hexagons. Get ready to make a difference!

Create the Background

We’ll be working with Adobe Illustrator. So, open up a new document, name it, and set the dimensions.

Select the Rectangle tool (M) and insert a rectangle in the artboard. Dark tones work better in these cases.
Then, click on the Mesh tool. Select a bright fill color for the mesh points.

Hexagon Pattern

Select the Polygon tool to insert a hexagon. Then, apply a radial gradient (go to Window > Gradient). Make it subtly. Shade the bottom-right area to add depth to the shape. I’ve used a light purple for the stroke.

Tip: Align stroke to inside so strokes don’t overlap when expanding the pattern.

Use the Ellipse tool (L) to insert a circle in each vertex. Use the same color you applied to the hexagon stroke. Then, go to Window > Pathfinder> Divide to delete the areas outside the hexagon borders. After that, group the elements.
To create a pattern from a shape, select the hexagon, and choose Object > Pattern > Make.
From the Pattern Options panel, modify the settings to get the result you’re looking for. In this case, I’ve selected as Tile Type the option Hex by Column and set the number of copies to 9×9. Once your pattern is ready, click on Done.
Insert a rectangle slightly bigger than the artboard and apply the pattern.

Pro tip: If the grid is too big, you can make it smaller by changing the settings from the Transform panel. Once there, click on Transform Pattern Only.

Distort the Pattern

Go to Object > Expand and select Fill. You’ll see that now there are some clipping masks in the layers panel. So, we’re going to release them.
Choose Object > Clipping Mask > Release. Right after that, again to Object > Path > Clean up. Now, it will be easier to work with the pattern. Group the elements.
Select the group, go to Object> Envelope Distort> Make with Mesh. Set rows and columns to 1 each.
Then, click on the Mesh tool and insert mesh points depending on the shape you want to create. In this case, I’m creating a sort of hexagonal wave so, I’ve inserted and dragged the mesh points to get that effect.

Opacity Mask

In this step, we’re going to create an opacity mask to smooth the object’s borders and get a natural result. Playing around with transparency, in this case, helps to “hide” the edges and get that effect.

We’re going to create a white mesh similar to the object’s shape and use black to hide the areas we want to hide. As we already created an envelope distort with mesh, we’ll add transparency using this mesh.
First, copy the object and paste it in front. Then, go to Object > Envelope Distort > Release.
Delete the group and keep the mesh.
Color the mesh white. Then, with the Lasso tool (Q), mark those areas you want to hide. These will appear in black.
When your mask is ready, go to the Transparency panel and click on Make
Mask.

Add Effects

Depending on the effect you want to obtain, the settings you use will be different. In this case, I want to add some depth to the design, so I’m going to play around with different blending modes and opacity values to get the desired effect. Use the main Object as a reference to create three more duplicates:

Primary Object: this should have 100% opacity and Normal blending mode. Apply a Gaussian Blur of around 1.3px (Effect >Blur > Gaussian Blur).

Important: make sure you delete the gaussian blur effect every time you duplicate the main object.

Copy and paste the main object. Select the Reflect tool (O) to rotate the copy (which should be in the back). From the Transparency panel, choose a blending mode. In this case, Multiply or Darken are good options. Reduce opacity to around 50%.

Tip: you may need to change the values several times until you get the effect expected.

Copy the main object again and paste it in front. Select Color burn and set opacity to 50%.
Copy the main object for the last time and paste it in front. Set blending mode to Overlay and opacity to around 50%.
Group all the objects.

Tip: you can create another opacity mask to adjust colors and smooth the object’s borders.

Finishing Touches

→Color

At this point, we’re going to enhance colors. To do so, first create a rectangle with the same size as the artboard.
Apply a radial gradient. Use a deep blue for the borders and a lighter one in the center.
Reduce opacity to 50% and choose the blending mode Overlay.
Then, group all the elements.

→Lighting effects

We can also add some lighting effects. Select the Ellipse tool (L) and insert some small white circles all over the design.
Apply a radial gradient to them and set transparency to 100%.
Then, select the blending mode Overlay.

→Text

You can also add text. In this case, it’s a background, so I’ve written “Futuristic hexagonal background”.

And after all these steps, this is the result we got:

Geometric designs are versatile and can be used in different types of themes: futuristic, technology, science, etc. Here are some ideas where you can use this effect. Have a look at them, and start creating content like this. Users will love it!

Posters

Landing pages

Retro futuristic landscapes

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By Freepik