Start with a rectangle, add a fill color, no stroke.

Duplicate the rectangle 3 times and use 3 different colors. Make sure the rectangles are butted against each other.

Duplicate the first set of 4 rectangle and group the second set.  

Under the Effect menu, choose Distort & Transform, Free Distort.

Distort one side vertically, keeping the line vertical and not distorting the shape width wise, only height wise.

The results are a wider set of rectangles. Go under the Object Menu and choose Expand Appearance to make the shapes render as objects and no longer an effect.

The result of the Expand appearance is actual distorted shapes.

Copy the first set of 4 rectangles to the right side and snap them to the left edge of the existing rectangles.

Scale the rectangles to match the height of the distorted rectangles.

Select the center set of rectangles and go the the Edit menu and choose Edit Colors>Adjust Color Balance

Check the Convert check box, check the preview box, then slide the black slider to the right to add more black overall to the colors.

The results is an overall darkening of the shapes color without having to edit each color individually.

3D ribbons with a change of value as the panels turn.

To round the ends take the Direct Selection Tool and select just the left edge of the rectangles and pull the Corner Widgets in to the center of the rectangle.

And you get nice rounded ends. Hot dog ends!

And here is your final graphic.

Select all the sections and squish the shape vertically to create an oval. 

With the oval selected, hit the return key to call up the Move dialog box. Set the vertical movement to a very small amount. In this case a negative number will the copy up. Press COPY to duplicate the shape.

Change the top layer to a lighter version of the color on the top of each shape to create a lighting effect and the darker colors remain on the sides.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to build in perspective... without using the perspective grid.

And in the process create a really cool house with this nifty trick. It does play with your mind as you put the pieces in place but come together really well. Enjoy!

Start with a rectangle. Choose a color fill, no stroke.

Select the left two corners with the Direct Selection Tool. Hold SHIFT + DOWN ARROW  and move the right side down several clicks.

Option click  + drag the parallelogram and duplicate the shape.

Select the new shape. Chose the Reflect Tool and reflect the shape over the vertical access.

Move the 2 shapes together so they meet at the front edges. 

Option + Click and drag the right shape to the left edge. Send the shape to the back. Object > Arrange > Send to Back. Align the edge of the back shape to the edge of the front shape.

Use the Direct Selection tool to select the lower edge of the right shape and copy and past the line segment.

Duplicate one side of the shape

Reduce the new shape in size and change the color.

Place it on the side of you shape and you have a window.

Repeat the process and add a door. 

Duplicate the left back side and bring to to the front and align the edges as shown.

With the direct selection tool, select the two lower left and right edges. Then move the line segment to align to the sides. You now have a lawn.

Using the Direct Selection tool to drag over the top points at the back edge and select the 2 points that touch at the top corner.

Click the up arrow several time on the keyboard to raise the point up to get the roofline you want.

Here is a quick way to take any shape, object or text and create a darker slip shadow like you see in some illustrations and infographics. 

Start with a simple shape. Filled with a color but no stroke around the object.

With the object sleected with the Selection Tool, hit the return key to bring up the Move dialog box. Set the H & V to ZERO in each field and press COPY. This duplicates the shape on top of itself, very important.

With the duplicated shape, hold OPTION + SHIFT and click and drag the shape. Holding shift allows the shapes to be dragged at a 45° angle. 

Select the first duplicated shape and the last duplicated shape and choose Object > Blend > Blend Options... and choose Specified Steps from the drop-down menu. Set the number of steps. In this case I moved the object about 2.5 inches so I chose 250 steps. 4 inches would be 400 steps.

Once the Specified Steps are set, choose Object > Blend > Make. This will blend the first and last object together with 240 steps or duplicate shapes.

Here is the result of 250 shapes blended together.

To make this into a single shape, choose Object > Expand.

The Expand panel will open, click OK.

With the Blend Expanded, choose Unite in the Pathfinder Panel to combine all the 250 shapes together into one shape

Send the object to the back by choosing Object > Send To Back. This put the "shadow" to the back behind the original shape.

Change the color of the shadow to a lighter or darker color to show the slip shadow behind the original image.

Putting it on a similar color background adds to the effect.

Build a simple test tube. A few steps but these methods can be quite useful for other things that you will build. Keys to this is using the Make Compound Path and the Exclude Overlap in the Pathfinder Panel.

​Have fun with this one!

Start with a rectangle. Fill it with a color, no stroke. 

Use the Direct Selection Tool to select just the lower two corners of the rectangle. With the Live Corner targets active, drag the targets into the center of the rectangle until it stops. This will round the lower corners.

Add a 10 pt line at the top of the test tube. Align the center with the center of the rectangle. Use the Rounded End feature in the Stroke Panel to round the line ends.

Duplicate the line on top of the test tube off to the side. (I colored it green to make it more visible).
OPTIN + CLICK & DRAG the green line down, then COMMAND +D until you get several lines. 

Select all the green lines and outline them all. Object > Path> Outline Stroke. This will turn it into shapes rather than lines, this is important when you use the Pathfinder Panel. Shapes and lines don't work well together, everything has to be shapes, not lines (strokes)

Fill the shapes with white. With all the while shapes selected, choose Object > Compound Path> Make (COMMAND + 8). This will make all the shapes act as one shape, also important for use with the pathfinder. 

Select the "lines" and the test tube body and in the Pathfinder Panel, choose the Minus Front function. This will remove the "lines" from the body. If you didn't make them a compound path, all the lines but one will disappear. 

Select the top line and choose Object > Path > Outline Stroke. Select both the top "line" and the body then choose the Unite Function in the Pathfinder Panel.

This will create a single object, which is necessary to do the next steps.

Draw 3 circles at the top of the test tube. One needs to be over lapping the main object. 

Select JUST the circle that overlaps the main body of the test tube AND the test tube and choose the Exclude Overlap mode in the Pathfinder Panel.

This knocks out the circle where it overlaps the main body.