From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
776 Freeform gradients in Illustrator CC 2019
From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
776 Freeform gradients in Illustrator CC 2019
- Hey gang, this is Deke McClelland. Welcome to Deke's Techniques. Now since the dawn of time, relatively, Illustrator has offered us two types of automated gradient, linear and radial. Now, inside Illustrator CC 2019, we have a third called freeform, that allows you to position points of color anywhere you like inside of an object, and it's going to allow us to take this piece of artwork right here, notice the linear gradients in the background as well as the pepper, and its stem over here on the left, and we're going to turn it into this without resorting to gradient mesh. Here, let me show you exactly how it works. Alright, here's the final version of the artwork, just so you have a chance to see it on screen. This shape right here is an example of full-on gradient mesh, created in part using the mesh tool. Whereas this guy is an example of a freeform gradient. And as you can see here, this left hand pepper isn't quite as lustrous as the right hand one, but it's a heck of a lot easier to create. And I just love the fact that you can actually see that fill expressed here at the bottom of the tool box. Alright, so we're going to start things off with this background rectangle, which is currently filled with a standard linear gradient. And notice, once again, assuming that you're working in Illustrator CC 2019, or, I presume, later, you have an edit gradient button up here in the control panel. It also appears in the properties and gradients panels. And if I click on it, Photoshop goes ahead and automatically switches me over to the gradient tool, and by default displays the gradient annotator, complete with each one of the color stops. And so I'm starting things off up here at the top with pale yellow, then we have a pale cyan, the kind of bluish gray, and finally white way down here at the bottom now what I think everybody's just going to find absolutely terrific is that you can now switch gradient types from the control panel. So you no longer have to bring up the gradient panel, and in addition to linear and radial, right here, we now for the first time have a third option of freeform gradient. Now notice when you switch between linear gradient and radial gradient, Illustrator goes ahead and keeps the colors. When you switch to freeform gradient, at least the way things are now, Illustrator automatically switches out the colors to black and white, as well as other colors found inside the artwork. That is not even remotely what I want. I want to gain back my original colors, and so I'm going to be moving these colors around. Notice that you can just drag them to different locations. And so I'm just going to drag these guys into kind of vertical formation like so. And then I'll change this top guy by double clicking on it, and selecting this pale yellow color swatch that I've created in advance. Then I'll press the enter key, or the return key on the Mac, to hide that panel so I can see the next color stop, this guy right here. I'll double click on it and switch it to pale cyan. And once again, I'm covering up the next color stop so I'll press the enter key in order to dismiss the panel, and I'll double click on this guy, fairly tedious, but has to be done. Switch it to blue gray right there, and then I'll go ahead and double click on this final color stop, and I will change it to white. Now notice that even though these points are kind of in alignment with each other, we do not have a linear gradient. And so if that's where I want to start, which I do, then I really need to line up these points. And I'm going to do that with the help of this guides layer right here, which has this vertical center guide as well as this horizontal guide that scooted a little bit downward. And now I'm going to drag each one of these points so it aligns with the vertical guideline right there. This guy already almost does, this guy just needs to be scooted over to the intersection of those two guides. And then I'll drag this point over as well. And you can see that we have something approximating a linear gradient, but more strictly speaking, we're seeing glows of color around each one of these points. And by the way, I'm assuming that you have points selected up here in the control panel. Alright, now I want to convey the sense that these peppers are sitting on a very low focus table. And so I'm going to drag this white color stop up to right about here, let's say, and I'm going to drag this cyan stop upward as well. Alright, now I want to create a bunch of additional color points, and so if you want to create a bunch of points with the same color, then first select the point that represents the color you want to duplicate, and then just go ahead and click in a new location, such as over here, and here might work out as well, and then I'll click close to the top left corner of the artwork, and I'll click right about here. And we need a bunch of color stops to make this work. And I'll show you why. I'll go ahead and select this shade of cyan right here. And I'll click over here. Notice however that this region is not very cyan-y. The pale yellow is drifting down into it, and so to compete with that, I'll add another point at that location, then I'll just go ahead and add a couple of points over here on the left hand side of the artwork as well. And so it takes a little bit of experimentation to get a sense for how this tool works. Alright, now I'll fill out the white table top by selecting the white point, just so that I'm creating more white points, and I'll click to set a point right about there, let's say, another one at this location, and then one in between. And so notice the white tabletop is going to be slanting down and to the right. We want to do something more or less symmetrical over here on the left hand side of the artwork, and so I'll go ahead and set a point there, there, and there. So it really is easy to lay down these points. It's another matter predicting what the effects are going to be. Alright so now we need more of this bluish gray, so I'll select that guy and I'll set another point there, and set one over on this side. Notice that is not enough, I need to more or less match what I'm doing with the white tabletop. So I'll set a point here, I'll set a point down at this location, and I'll go ahead and move this guy down as well, and then I'll set a point here, I'll set a point right above the white one, like so, and I'll drag this guy down. And so you can click to set points, you can drag them around if you like. If you've set a point that later you decide you don't want, all you have to do is select it and press the backspace key, or the delete key on the Mac. You also have the option of expanding the size of a point. So notice if I hover over this guy right here, I can see this dash circle, which represents the impact of that color. And so if I want the color to be a bigger part of the gradient, I just need to drag this circular widget downward. And I'm going to do the same thing for this guy, by the way. You don't actually have to select the point to pull this off, you can just hover over it and then drag this item down like so. And then, let's say I want to move this entire row of points right here, then I can click on one and shift click on the others. So you can select multiple points in a freeform gradient. And then I can just drag them upward like so. Alright now I want you to notice, if I were to turn off that peppers layer, here inside the layers panel, that I have these colorful lumps in the background. If that bothers you, you can just fill things in by selecting this guy for example, and then creating a new stop at this location, and another one here. But in our case, it's not really a big deal because after all, we do have these peppers in the way. Alright, now finally, if you want to get a better sense for how your gradient looks, then for one thing, I can turn off that guides layer in order to hide those horizontal and vertical guide lines, and then you can temporarily hide all of the points by either pressing and holding the control key, or the command key on the Mac, which temporarily gets you the black arrow tool. Or if you prefer, you can press and hold the space bar which temporarily gets you the hand tool. In my case, however, I'm going to press and hold control, or command on the mac, and then click off of the rectangle to deselect it. And that is how you create a freeform gradient just by dragging around a bunch of colorful points, here inside Illustrator CC 2019. Alright, now didn't that movie just make you glad to be alive? Well next week is even better. That's when I show you how to take your points of color and connect them to form lines. Which is going to allow us to take the pepper and its stem over here on the left hand side, and turn it into this. Deke's Techniques each and every week. Keep watching.
Practice while you learn with exercise files
Download the files the instructor uses to teach the course. Follow along and learn by watching, listening and practicing.
- 669_custom_QR.zip
- 670_more_QR.zip
- 671_hidden_circles.zip
- 673_shade_panels.zip
- 672_more_rectangles.zip
- 674_cafe_wall.zip
- 675_skewed_walls.zip
- 676_magic_checkers.zip
- 677_magic_dots.zip
- 678_reverse_illusion.zip
- 679_illusion_decor.zip
- 680_more_gizmos.zip
- 681_connect_gizmos.zip
- 682_wifi_symbol.zip
- 683_bluetooth_logo.zip
- 684_trajan_color.zip
- 685_trajan_AIcc.zip
- 686_stylistic_PsCC.zip
- 687_stylistic_AIcc.zip
- 688_grad_molecules.zip
- 689_sharper_moles.zip
- 690_smart_cules.zip
- 691_explore_cules.zip
- 692_blend_cules.zip
- 693_high_pass_cules.zip
- 694_cell_pattern.zip
- 695_hemoglobin.zip
- 696_edgy_cells.zip
- 697_springy_cells.zip
- 698_accordian_letters.zip
- 699_skew_blends.zip
- 700_cross_blends.zip
- 701_slice_blend.zip
- 702_blend_distort.zip
- 703_dynamic_roughen.zip
- 704_fish_twist.zip
- 705_dynam_bgnd_1.zip
- 706_dynam_bgnd_2.zip
- 707_quieter_art.zip
- 708_disintegration.zip
- 709_more_flakes.zip
- 710_mask_ashes.zip
- 711_flakes_to_ash.zip
- 712_note_tool.zip
- 713_contour_map.zip
- 714_contour_grad.zip
- 715_contour_arb.zip
- 716_contour_riff.zip
- 717_smooth_contour.zip
- 718_contour_cash.zip
- 719_color_of_money.zip
- 720_AI_adjust.zip
- 721_computer_key.zip
- 722_key_type.zip
- 723_faux_hedcut.zip
- 724_hedcut_lines.zip
- 725_color_hedcut.zip
- 726_ET_moon.zip
- 727_ET_trees.zip
- 728_ET_TRex.zip
- 729_global_glow.zip
- 730_content_aware.zip
- 731_space_portal.zip
- 732_enhance_portal.zip
- 733_rushing_stars.zip
- 734_AIcc_puppet.zip
- 735_puppet_tricks.zip
- 736_complex_puppet.zip
- 737_puppet_shortcut.zip
- 738_pentagons.zip
- 739_reinhardt.zip
- 740_kershner.zip
- 741_james_pentagon.zip
- 742_rice_pentagons.zip
- 743_stein_pentagon.zip
- 744_15th_pentagon.zip
- 745_tessellate_15.zip
- 746_pentatiles.zip
- 747_mod_pattern.zip
- 748_complement_tiles.zip
- 749_image_pattern.zip
- 750_pattern_fit.zip
- 751_candy_keeper.zip
- 752_keeper_text.zip
- 753_monster_movie.zip
- 754_mono_halftone.zip
- 755_word_haunted.zip
- 756_cheat_letters.zip
- 757_alt_adjust.zip
- 758_scuba_mono.zip
- 759_backscatter.zip
- 760_sample_outside.zip
- 761_Ps_vector_logo.zip
- 762_trans_shapes.zip
- 763_photo_logo.zip
- 764_high_res_snow.zip
- 765_enhance_snow.zip
- 766_snowflake_bokeh.zip
- 767_mandala_ps.zip
- 768_mandala_pattern.zip
- 769_mandala_dots.zip
- 770_mandala_color.zip
- 771_mandala_final.zip
- 772_AI_trim_view.zip
- 773_AI_presentation.zip
- 774_global_edits.zip
- 775_global_control.zip
- 776_freeform_grads.zip
- 777_freeform_lines.zip
- 778_freeform_gotcha.zip
- 779_great_white.zip
- 780_sharper_shark.zip
- 781_vibrance_sat.zip
- 782_vib_sat_sharp.zip
- 783_hedcut_action.zip
- 784_action_actions.zip
- 785_color_lines.zip
- 786_combine_lines.zip
- 787_clip_to_group.zip
- 788_color_outside.zip
- 789_flip_horizontal.zip
- 790_white_walker.zip
- 791_walker_begins.zip
- 792_digital_shave.zip
- 793_deep_wrinkles.zip
- 794_deep_brows.zip
- 795_pale_lips.zip
- 796_glowing_blue.zip
- 797_lifeless_pupils.zip
- 798_cold_gloomy.zip
- 799_brittle_flakes.zip
- 800_trans_shapes.zip
- 801_range_mask.zip
- 802_flip_photo.zip
- 803_actual_dream.zip
- 804_augment_dream.zip
- 805_smart_distortions.zip
- 806_blend_distortions.zip
- 807_star_negative.zip
- 808_star_pattern.zip
- 809_shaded_stars.zip
- 810_grad_pattern.zip
- 811_pattern_fade.zip
- 813_gobstopper.zip
- 814_gobpattern.zip
- 815_galignment.zip
- 816_etched_lines.zip
- 817_blend_pattern.zip
- 818_cubical_holes.zip
- 819_grad_pattern.zip
- 820_iso_arrows.zip
- 821_position_tips.zip
- 822_fill_gaps.zip
- 823_cartoon_teeth.zip
- 824_triangle_eye.zip
- 825_add_windows.zip
- 826_perfect_tessellate.zip
- 827_triangle_tunnels.zip
- 828_triangles_pattern.zip
- 829_colorful_triangles.zip
- 830_recolor_triangles.zip
- 831_rainbow_blends.zip
- 832_pattern_blends.zip
- 833_imposs_trident.zip
- 834_shade_trident.zip
- 835_opposing_grads.zip
- 836_trident_shadows.zip
- 837_impossible_hex.zip
- 838_impossible_lattice.zip
- 839_Joan_Miro.zip
- 840_watercolor_wash.zip
- 841_Miro_signature.zip
- 842_Photoshop_Miro.zip
- 843_enlarge_Miro.zip
- 844_Miro_Peele.zip
- 845_color_Us.zip
- 846_red_rorschach.zip
- 847_finish_Us.zip
- 848_CAF_fails.zip
- 849_turkey_2019.zip
- 850_trace_hand.zip
- 851_articulated_hand.zip
- 852_colorful_hand.zip
- 853_paint_fingernails.zip
- 854_paint_turkey.zip
- 855_turkey_feathers.zip
- 856_drop_shadow.zip
- 857_Ps_iPad_1.zip
- 858_Ps_iPad_2.zip
- 859_Ps_iPad_3.zip
- 860_iPad_Sidecar.zip
- 861_Adobe_Fresco.zip
- 862_Fresco_halftones.zip
- 863_live_brushes.zip
- 864_oil_paint.zip
- 865_Fresco_masks.zip
- 866_repurpose_mask.zip
- 867_vector_brush.zip
- 868_fresco_ps.zip
- 869_auto_color.zip
- 870_ACR_pano.zip
- 871_correct_pano.zip
- 872_diffusion.zip
- 873_simplify_2020.zip
- 874_fill_gaps.zip
- 875_posterize.zip
- 876_paint_bucket.zip
- 877_nonD_poster.zip
- 878_dynamic_poster.zip
- 879_filmstrip.zip
- 880_awful_awesome.zip
- 881_rembrandt.zip
- 882_recolor_freeform.zip
- 883_recolor_group.zip
- 884_over_under.zip
- 885_dev_over_under.zip
- 886_3D_metal_star.zip
- 887_heavy_metal.zip
- 888_wonder_poster.zip
- 889_wonder_displace.zip
- 890_wonder_woman.zip
- 891_metadata_template.zip
- 892_edit_metadata.zip
- 893_quilt_warp.zip
- 894_warp_object.zip
- 895_gopro_images.zip
- 896_content_aware.zip
- 897_gopro_combo.zip
- 898_blend_vignette.zip
- 899_photo_painting.zip
- 900_cue_ball.zip
- 901_pool_ball.zip
- 902_stripe_ball.zip
- 903_transform_each.zip
- 904_recolor_pool.zip
- 905_pool_cues.zip
- 906_rotate_cues.zip
- 907_repeat_face.zip
- 908_rainbow_faces.zip
- 909_mask_lips.zip
- 910_single_many.zip
- 911_symmetrical_mask.zip
- 912_colorize_grads.zip
- 913_mask_grads.zip
- 914_lantern_type1.zip
- 915_lantern_type2.zip
- 916_lantern_type3.zip
- 917_blend_steps.zip
- 918_blended_blends.zip
- 919_reverse_order.zip
- 920_pattern_colors.zip
- 921_blend_pattern.zip
- 922_polygons.zip
- 923_equil_triangle.zip
- 924_mercedes.zip
- 925_star_ring.zip
- 926_perfect_star.zip
- 927_lets_review.zip
- 928_basic_shapes.zip
- 929_triangle_man.zip
- 930_paint_grads.zip
- 931_adv_grads.zip
- 932_trans_vectors.zip
- 933_free_distort.zip
- 934_dynamic_fx.zip
- 935_cats_eye.zip
- 936_cat_iris.zip
- 937_primitives.zip
- 938_zig_zag.zip
- 939_dynamic_hilight.zip
- 940_reptile_scales.zip
- 941_shade_eye.zip
- 942_variable_shade.zip
- 943_dragon_eye.zip
- 945_single_thumbnail.zip
- 946_ai_home.zip
- 947_unlock_object.zip
- 948_unlock_icon.zip
- 949_line_tool.zip
- 950_broken_candy.zip
- 951_candy_rhino.zip
- 952_wrap_pattern.zip
- 953_ice_shadows.zip
- 954_illustrator_ipad.zip
- 955_pencil_points.zip
- 956_ipad_blob.zip
- 957_ipad_pen.zip
- 958_grads_repeats.zip
- 959_color_grading.zip
- 960_grading_tricks.zip
- 961_blend_balance.zip
- 962_font_height.zip
- 963_camera_profile.zip
- 964_JPEG_raw.zip
- 965_match_detail.zip
- 966_Ps_line_tool.zip
- 967_troubleshoot_line.zip
- 968_blend_vectors.zip
- 969_curve_line.zip
- 970_point_glyphs.zip
- 971_area_glyphs.zip
- 972_snap_glyphs.zip
- 973_snap_letterform.zip
- 974_glyph_shape.zip
- 975_glyph_pen.zip
- 976_playing_cards.zip
- 977_scale_shape.zip
- 978_card_suits.zip
- 979_enhance_path.zip
- 980_power_symbol.zip
- 981_huge_artboard.zip
- 982_new_artboard.zip
- 983_triceratops.zip
- 984_pen_tricks.zip
- 985_round_corner.zip
- 986_draw_round.zip
- 987_reshape_round.zip
- 988_AI_brushed.zip
- 989_AI_rivets.zip
- 990_blend_grad.zip
- 991_binoculars.zip
- 992_blue_halo.zip
- 993_bi_aberrations.zip
- 994_hide_shapes.zip
- 995_subwoofer.zip
- 996_deep_cone.zip
- 997_gradient_frame.zip
- 998_hex_screws.zip
- 999_thats_all.zip
Contents
-
-
-
-
767 Mandala patterns in Photoshop CC 20191m
-
768 Painting a free-form mandala pattern9m 5s
-
769 Painting mandala-style dot patterns6m 56s
-
770 Coloring your mandala pattern7m 48s
-
771 The final full-color mandala6m 27s
-
772 Illustrator CC 2019 new preview mode1m 1s
-
773 Illustrator CC 2019 presentation mode3m 21s
-
774 Global edit in Illustrator CC 20196m 30s
-
775 Applying a global edit from the control panel4m 8s
-
776 Freeform gradients in Illustrator CC 20198m 29s
-
777 Freeform gradients: Points versus lines8m 10s
-
778 Freeform gradient limitations6m 29s
-
779 Crop and develop a great white shark8m 54s
-
780 Sharpening your great white shark6m 11s
-
781 Low vibrance and high saturation9m 3s
-
782 Vibrance, saturation, and sharpness9m 11s
-
783 Actioning a full-color hedcut in Photoshop1m
-
784 Recording an action to play all actions9m 37s
-
785 Draw something, color the outlines8m 46s
-
786 Combining multiple works of line art7m 3s
-
787 Group your line art, clip to the group4m 9s
-
788 Coloring outside your line art in Photoshop6m 32s
-
789 Flip horizontal view in Photoshop CC 20191m
-
790 Creating a White Walker in Photoshop1m 59s
-
791 The White Walker begins9m 25s
-
792 Giving a guy a digital shave in Photoshop3m 58s
-
793 Carving deep wrinkles or scars into skin8m 37s
-
794 Shading the White Walker’s deep-set brows6m 21s
-
795 Creating pale, lifeless lips in Photoshop5m 57s
-
796 Giving your White Walker glowing blue eyes10m 46s
-
797 Adding some creepy lifeless pupils6m 40s
-
798 Adding a cold and gloomy background12m 18s
-
799 Adding cold and brittle snowflakes6m 25s
-
800 Using the Transparency Shapes Layer option5m 29s
-
801 Combining a radial filter with a range mask8m 35s
-
802 Flipping a photograph in Camera Raw6m 20s
-
803 An actual dream effect, in Photoshop14m 37s
-
804 Augmenting your Photoshop dream8m 45s
-
805 Applying distortions as Smart Filters6m 37s
-
806 Combining distortions with blend modes10m 5s
-
807 Drawing a 24-sided star in negative space12m 48s
-
808 Making your star a repeating hex pattern8m 27s
-
809 Shading your star pattern in Illustrator6m 57s
-
810 Creating a gradient pattern in Illustrator4m 31s
-
811 Making one pattern fade into another6m 23s
-
812 Welcome to my seamlessly repeating summer1m 35s
-
813 Drawing a cubical gobstopper in Illustrator14m 55s
-
814 Creating a pattern of gobstoppers7m 23s
-
815 Aligning your many gobstoppers5m 54s
-
816 Blending line textures in Illustrator12m 58s
-
817 Combining object blends with a pattern8m 40s
-
818 Carving cubical holes into cubical objects9m 52s
-
819 Nesting gradients inside a pattern5m 36s
-
820 Drawing 3D isometric arrows in Illustrator7m 33s
-
821 Positioning the tips of your arrows7m 17s
-
822 Filling in the gaps in a repeating pattern8m 50s
-
823 Drawing cartoon teeth aligned to the hair5m 50s
-
824 Drawing a triangular cartoon eye8m 6s
-
825 Adding windows to the houses pattern10m 46s
-
826 Creating a perfectly tessellating pattern4m 32s
-
827 Op art experiment 4: Triangle tunnels6m 58s
-
828 Expressing your triangles as a hex pattern7m 18s
-
829 Adding color to your triangle tunnels7m 55s
-
830 Recoloring your triangle tunnels3m 20s
-
831 Creating rainbow gradients with blends6m 18s
-
832 The downside of using blends in patterns3m 35s
-
833 Drawing an impossible trident in Illustrator9m 49s
-
834 Shading an impossible trident with gradients4m 3s
-
835 Painting paths with opposing gradients13m 51s
-
836 Adding impossible shadows in Illustrator6m 42s
-
837 Drawing an impossible hex object14m 8s
-
838 Creating impossible latticework5m 46s
-
839 Painting like Joan Miró in Adobe Sketch9m 46s
-
840 Painting a watercolor wash background8m 23s
-
841 Signing your artwork like Joan Miró4m 17s
-
842 Opening your Sketch artwork in Photoshop9m 1s
-
843 Enlarging your Miró to poster size11m 5s
-
844 What if Joan Miró had met Jordan Peele?14m 10s
-
845 Coloring your terrifying Miró/“Us” scene11m 47s
-
846 Painting a Rorschach background9m 22s
-
848 What to do when Content-Aware Fill fails?10m 4s
-
847 Finishing your “Us” artwork in Photoshop10m 35s
-
849 Hand turkey 20191m 56s
-
850 Tracing your actual hand on an iPad10m 6s
-
851 Drawing a highly articulated hand9m 50s
-
852 Adding color to your hand-drawn hand12m 33s
-
853 Painting your hand-drawn fingernails9m 3s
-
854 A hand becomes a Thanksgiving hand turkey9m 6s
-
855 Painting the turkey’s tail feathers13m 30s
-
856 What’s wrong with this drop shadow?11m 14s
-
857 Introducing Photoshop for the iPad13m 6s
-
858 Photoshop for the iPad: Part 29m 13s
-
859 Photoshop for the iPad: Part 310m 17s
-
-
-