Can someone tell me how to do it like the picture above in illustrator?
I first drew an arrow (a rectangle and a triangle merged)
I then went to Effect → 3D → Extrude & Bevel to give the 3D shape.
Then I tried to Effect → Warp → Arc, but the arrow deformed itself (specially the arrowhead).
[Insert Example here]
I want to make it like the picture, rising but retaining its original shape.
This requires wrapping the arrow around a cylinder.
Make your arrow and drag it to the symbols panel, choose type "graphic".
Make a rectangle to extrude into a cylinder.
Select it and go to Effect > 3D > Revolve. Default settings are good. Select "Map Art", choose your arrow symbol and the side surface.
Place the arrow onto the white part, size and position to fit. Check Preview and check "Invisible Geometry".
"OK" out of that screen back to the Revolve screen. Revolve and position the cube until you like the position of the arrow.
"OK" out of that, expand and ungroup the results until the shapes are individual.
Select your shapes, group and go Effect > 3D > Extrude.
Give it some depth and some perspective and rotate the cube until you are satisfied.
Expand and ungroup the results.
Apply custom gradients to each shape to make it look like the example.
With the Pen Tool (Click P to use it) to draw the outlines of the shapes
For every block there are 3 shapes - each with a slightly different/darker shading (for photo realism).
So you would need to draw out all your blocks (in 3 parts each)
Then add a Gradient to each of the parts.
This is a particularly quick and poor arrow just for demonstration purposes.
I made the arrow from a triangle, rectangle and pathfinder to unite them.
Next I used the 3D options to extrude it. (This is optional, you could just draw it yourself and you might have to for certain shapes)
Next I deleted the parts I didn't want and recolored it with a simple gradient.
If you put more work into it yours will look better. You can of course bend your arrow the way you want it to be bent. If the pen tool is too daunting for you, you can try the curvature tool to bend it which is easier for beginners and can sometimes be faster once you get used to it.
Since you're new I'll show you an example of how the curvature tool works. The hotkey is shift + ~ You'd be using that an A to switch back and forth between selecting it and manipulating it if you wanted to get a faster workflow.
