Gradient Mesh Tutorials
I’ve had a number of people inquire about the gradient mesh tool in Illustrator. Many people find the tool difficult to use at first glance, but trust me – once you get the hang of it, it can be one of the most versatile ways of creating realistic looking forms. Here are a few tutorials that explain how to use this tool.
Creating Drapery Folds
Magical Butterfly presents a tutorial on how to create drapery folds using Illustrator.
Gradient Mesh Portrait Tutorial
Check out this amazing potrait created with gradient mesh from Creative Bush.
Basic Gradient Mesh Tutorial
Kevin Hulsey gives an in-depth explanation of the facets of Gradient Mesh and how to apply them effectively in this basic tutorial.
Using the Gradient Mesh Tool in Illustrator
In this video tutorial, Bert Montroy from PixelPerfect shows you 2 different methods of applying the gradient mesh to your illustrations.
Going Bananas for the Gradient Mesh Tool
Sarah Froelich from Designorati goes bananas in this D-I-Y tutorial, and so will you!
Create Realistic Illustrations using the Gradient Mesh Tool
Veerle Pieters offers a PDF download tutorial on creating realistic illustrations with the gradient mesh tool. Don’t be fooled by the date – just because its from 2004 doesn’t mean its out of date! Veerle has been doing this successfully for a long time!
Crayons – A Study in Gradient Mesh
Leo Blanchette, a freelance illustrator and a regular contributor to istockphoto, has posted this in-depth tutorial on creating realistic looking crayons from a photo reference.
Basic Bag Tutorial
Create a cloth bag illustration in a few easy steps!
Create Scalable Clouds
Cheryl Graham offers this tutorial at AdobePress on scalable vector based Gradient Mesh clouds.
The World’s Most Photorealistic Vector Art
This link isn’t a tutorial; it’s more inspiration – check out the amazing work from some of the pros in the industry using advanced gradient mesh!
I hope this answers some of the burning questions you may have on how to apply gradient mesh effectively!
