| St. Patrick's Day Shamrocks in Illustrator, p. 4 | |
(If you arrived on this page from a search, you should begin the tutorial from page one.)
Using the Gradient Mesh Tool
As mentioned at the start of this tutorial, the Gradient Mesh tool lets you selectively apply color using a mesh. One note about gradient meshes: if you change your mind and don't want to use a mesh after all, the only way to do that if you can't use the undo command is by deleting the object. Once it's a mesh object, it's always a mesh object...so make sure to save a copy first if you might change your mind!
One other very important thing you need to know about the Gradient Mesh tool is that it only works on objects with a solid color fill. If the object has a stroke, using the Gradient Mesh tool will remove the stroke. (Note: If you have an object with a gradient fill, you can't use the gradient mesh tool on the object unless you convert it to a gradient mesh object. You can convert to a gradient mesh object by going to Object > Expand.)
Step 1. Command/Control + N (File > New) to start a new document in RGB color mode. Follow steps 1 through 7 above to make the first leaf of the shamrock. Shift + X to fill the shamrock with green and remove the stroke.
Step 2. In the Swatches palette (if you do not see the swatches palette, open it from Window > Swatches) open the options menu and choose Open Swatch Library then select Forest from the list. (In Illustrator 9 or 10, go to Window > Swatch Library. This particular set of swatches comes with Illustrator CS, but you can find greens in other swatches included with Illustrator 9 or 10.) You'll have some nice green shades to choose from. Set the foreground color to one of the darker greens (several shades darker than the base color of the shamrock leaf) by clicking on the chip.
Step 3. The Gradient Mesh tool looks like this: 
You can find it in the toolbox next to the gradient tool. Click on the tool
to activate it. By clicking on the shamrock leaf you add a mesh point. The points
are connected by mesh lines. Each time you click, another mesh point and mesh
line will be added. Color---even a different color---can be added to each of
the points after the mesh is made, or you can add color as you make the mesh.
Click with the gradient mesh tool a bit above and below the center points of
the heart shape as shown below to add two mesh points. Notice how the mesh points
are joined by mesh lines, and there are bezier handles that can be used to alter
the lines of the mesh.
Step 4. Click away from the shamrock leaf to deselect. (Click away means click an empty spot on the artboard). Change the fill color to a lighter color of green. After changing the color, you can select the shamrock again using the Selection tool (V), and click with the gradient mesh tool again to add some lighter spots on the shamrock on the right and left side of the leaf as shown below.
Things to remember:
- If you do not deselect before changing the fill color, the whole shamrock will change to the new color.
- You can change colors of an existing mesh point by clicking on it with the the mesh tool and clicking a different color chip in the swatches. To make it easier to see you are on a mesh point with the mesh tool, turn on Smart Guides. (View > Smart Guides). With Smart Guides enabled, when you hover directly over a mesh point, you will see a label that says anchor.
Continued on Page 5...
©2005 Sara Froehlich
