From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
777 Freeform gradients: Points versus lines
From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
777 Freeform gradients: Points versus lines
- Hey gang! This is Deke McClelland. Welcome to Deke's Techniques! Now this week, we're still inside Illustrator CC 2019 working with freeform gradients, which by default allow you to position independent points of color inside of an object. But now, we're going to connect those points with line segments in order to create organic color transitions. And specifically, we're going to take this artwork right here with this pepper and its stem over here on the left hand side and we're going to turn them into these beautifully, sculpted shapes right here. Here, let me show you exactly how it works! Alright, here's the final version of the artwork just so you can see it onscreen and at the risk of repeating myself, this guy right here is the product of a gradient mesh in advanced maneuver achieved in part using the mesh tool. And this guy is the product of the new freeform gradients here inside Illustrator CC 2019 and I presume going forward. Alright, so I'll go ahead and switch to this base document and I'll select that foremost pepper shape which is currently filled with a solid color quite obviously red. As a result, I'm not seeing any gradient controls up here in the control panel. To make those controls available, I'll just go ahead and switch over to the gradient tool which you can get by pressing the G key and then I'll simply click inside that shape at which point, in my case anyway, I end up with a linear gradient. I also have access to my three gradient type icons. Linear gradient, radio gradient, and the new freeform gradient. I'm going to go ahead and click on that third icon and I see that Illustrator has automatically added two color points to the shape. Your results may vary. I'm going to go ahead and drag this guy upward like so and then I'll double-click on it in order to bring up my swatches and notice that I've created a couple of red swatches in advanced here including this guy pepper hi for highlight. If I were to click to set another point, notice that by default, I end up with a unique color stop that is separate from the first one. However, I can draw them in lines instead. So I'm going to get rid of that new color point either by pressing CTRL+Z or CMD+Z on a Mac to undo, or I could just press the backspace key or the delete key on Mac. Notice up here in the control panel, that we have two radio buttons, points, and lines. These are also available in both the properties and the gradients panel. So I'm going to go ahead and switch to lines and then I'll click on that first point there in order to select it and now notice as I move my cursor away, that I am drawing a straight line. At least until I click to set a second point. After that point, then the line begins to curve as we're seeing right here. Notice, that's going to curve that first segment as well. We have the same behavior that we get with the relatively new curvature tool. If I were to click to set another point over here, you can see that nothing is happening and that's because I'm too close to that first line. I need to move my cursor down until I see that segment preview right there and then I click. But I don't actually want to add more points to this existing line so I'm going to press the backspace key or the delete key on a Mac to get rid of that most recent point and to deactivate this first line, I'll press the escape key. That way if I click again, I will start a new line as we're seeing here. Now I can continue to add more points like so and they will be connected to each other. But in my case, the colors are all wrong. So I'm just going to press CTRL+Z or CMD+Z on a Mac a couple of times to get rid of those most recent points. I'll double-click on this first guy and I'll select the other red swatch, pepper lo in order to apply that color and then I'll press the enter key or the return key on a Mac to accept that change and I will click a couple of additional times in order to create another line of color like so. Now notice what happens if I click on an existing point. I'll connect it to the last point. Which is not actually what I want. So I'm just going to get rid of that point by pressing the backspace key or the delete key on a Mac and we end up with a bunch of blackness at the bottom of this pepper. I'll go ahead and click right there in order to start a new line. I'll double-click on that guy and change its color to pepper hi this time around, press the enter key or the return key on a Mac to accept that change. Click down here in order to create another point then I'll click right about here and I'll drop down to the mid-section of the pepper and click there. And I'll click right about there. Now let's say I want to change the color of this point right here, it appears based on that segment preview as if we're going to join the points together but that's not actually going to be the case. Notice if I double-click, that just goes ahead and brings up the swatches panel once again at which point I will select pepper lo. While these controls are pretty easy to use, they do take some getting used to. Now I'm going to start a new shape right here and I'm calling it a shape because I'm going to trace all the way around this time and I'll bring it back up to right about there and notice the appearance of my cursor. Right now it looks like a little circle with a wavy line next to it? As soon as I move over the first point, that wavy line becomes a tiny little circle showing me that I'm going to close that little shape. I'll go ahead and click at this point, and double-click on it because that's the wrong color. I want it to be pepper hi once again. Then I'll click right about here and perhaps down here is going to work nicely. Now I'll move my cursor over to this location. Notice as soon as I move outside of this shape that I lose my segment preview and that's because Illustrator's not going to let me cross one line over another. You might think you could just click to start a new line but instead you have to press the escape key and click. Notice, anytime you're seeing a circle cursor with a little plus sign next to it, that means that you're going to begin a new line. So I'll go ahead and click here. I do not want white so I'll double-click on a point and switch it to pepper lo this time around. Because I want to create a kind of shadow with this location. Now I'll click here. Anytime you have two points, you're going to get a straight segment in between. If you want curvature, you have to have at least three points. Now I'll move my cursor outside the pepper path and recall from last week, if you want to hide all of that interface falderal, then all you have to do is either press and hold the space bar in order to temporarily switch to the hand tool. Notice that we're getting some very nice contouring here. Or you can press and hold the control key or the command key on a Mac to temporarily access the black arrow tool. Now I want to show you one more thing. Notice that we can actually see that modeled fill at the bottom of the tool box meaning that I can transfer that fill from one object to another. For example, let's say CTRL or CMD+Click on this background rectangle in order to select it, notice that it's got its own special freeform fill. But if I wanted to replace it, I could just switch to the eyedropper tool, which you can get by pressing the I key. Then I would click inside that pepper like so and that is going to transfer that custom freeform gradient to the larger shape. That's not what I want however, so I'll just go ahead and press CTRL+Z or CMD+Z on the Mac to undo that change. That is how you switch between points and lines when creating and editing freeform gradients here inside Illustrator CC 2019 and moving forward. Alright now, if you're a member of LinkedIn Learning, I have a follow-up movie in which I show you a couple of freeform gradient gotchas. Specifically, you can't drag a point outside of a shape. Why would you want to? I'll show you. And you can't cross the lines. If you're looking forward to next week as well you should, I'm going to show you how to crop and develop a great white shark! I shot this! In Camera Raw or Lightroom! Ah, 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
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767 Mandala patterns in Photoshop CC 20191m
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768 Painting a free-form mandala pattern9m 5s
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769 Painting mandala-style dot patterns6m 56s
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770 Coloring your mandala pattern7m 48s
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771 The final full-color mandala6m 27s
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772 Illustrator CC 2019 new preview mode1m 1s
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773 Illustrator CC 2019 presentation mode3m 21s
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774 Global edit in Illustrator CC 20196m 30s
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775 Applying a global edit from the control panel4m 8s
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776 Freeform gradients in Illustrator CC 20198m 29s
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777 Freeform gradients: Points versus lines8m 10s
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778 Freeform gradient limitations6m 29s
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779 Crop and develop a great white shark8m 54s
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780 Sharpening your great white shark6m 11s
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781 Low vibrance and high saturation9m 3s
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782 Vibrance, saturation, and sharpness9m 11s
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783 Actioning a full-color hedcut in Photoshop1m
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784 Recording an action to play all actions9m 37s
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785 Draw something, color the outlines8m 46s
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786 Combining multiple works of line art7m 3s
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787 Group your line art, clip to the group4m 9s
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788 Coloring outside your line art in Photoshop6m 32s
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789 Flip horizontal view in Photoshop CC 20191m
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790 Creating a White Walker in Photoshop1m 59s
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791 The White Walker begins9m 25s
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792 Giving a guy a digital shave in Photoshop3m 58s
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793 Carving deep wrinkles or scars into skin8m 37s
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794 Shading the White Walker’s deep-set brows6m 21s
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795 Creating pale, lifeless lips in Photoshop5m 57s
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796 Giving your White Walker glowing blue eyes10m 46s
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797 Adding some creepy lifeless pupils6m 40s
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798 Adding a cold and gloomy background12m 18s
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799 Adding cold and brittle snowflakes6m 25s
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800 Using the Transparency Shapes Layer option5m 29s
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801 Combining a radial filter with a range mask8m 35s
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802 Flipping a photograph in Camera Raw6m 20s
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803 An actual dream effect, in Photoshop14m 37s
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804 Augmenting your Photoshop dream8m 45s
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805 Applying distortions as Smart Filters6m 37s
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806 Combining distortions with blend modes10m 5s
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807 Drawing a 24-sided star in negative space12m 48s
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808 Making your star a repeating hex pattern8m 27s
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809 Shading your star pattern in Illustrator6m 57s
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810 Creating a gradient pattern in Illustrator4m 31s
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811 Making one pattern fade into another6m 23s
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812 Welcome to my seamlessly repeating summer1m 35s
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813 Drawing a cubical gobstopper in Illustrator14m 55s
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814 Creating a pattern of gobstoppers7m 23s
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815 Aligning your many gobstoppers5m 54s
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816 Blending line textures in Illustrator12m 58s
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817 Combining object blends with a pattern8m 40s
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818 Carving cubical holes into cubical objects9m 52s
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819 Nesting gradients inside a pattern5m 36s
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820 Drawing 3D isometric arrows in Illustrator7m 33s
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821 Positioning the tips of your arrows7m 17s
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822 Filling in the gaps in a repeating pattern8m 50s
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823 Drawing cartoon teeth aligned to the hair5m 50s
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824 Drawing a triangular cartoon eye8m 6s
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825 Adding windows to the houses pattern10m 46s
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826 Creating a perfectly tessellating pattern4m 32s
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827 Op art experiment 4: Triangle tunnels6m 58s
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828 Expressing your triangles as a hex pattern7m 18s
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829 Adding color to your triangle tunnels7m 55s
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830 Recoloring your triangle tunnels3m 20s
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831 Creating rainbow gradients with blends6m 18s
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832 The downside of using blends in patterns3m 35s
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833 Drawing an impossible trident in Illustrator9m 49s
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834 Shading an impossible trident with gradients4m 3s
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835 Painting paths with opposing gradients13m 51s
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836 Adding impossible shadows in Illustrator6m 42s
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837 Drawing an impossible hex object14m 8s
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838 Creating impossible latticework5m 46s
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839 Painting like Joan Miró in Adobe Sketch9m 46s
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840 Painting a watercolor wash background8m 23s
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841 Signing your artwork like Joan Miró4m 17s
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842 Opening your Sketch artwork in Photoshop9m 1s
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843 Enlarging your Miró to poster size11m 5s
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844 What if Joan Miró had met Jordan Peele?14m 10s
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845 Coloring your terrifying Miró/“Us” scene11m 47s
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846 Painting a Rorschach background9m 22s
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848 What to do when Content-Aware Fill fails?10m 4s
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847 Finishing your “Us” artwork in Photoshop10m 35s
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849 Hand turkey 20191m 56s
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850 Tracing your actual hand on an iPad10m 6s
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851 Drawing a highly articulated hand9m 50s
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852 Adding color to your hand-drawn hand12m 33s
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853 Painting your hand-drawn fingernails9m 3s
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854 A hand becomes a Thanksgiving hand turkey9m 6s
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855 Painting the turkey’s tail feathers13m 30s
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856 What’s wrong with this drop shadow?11m 14s
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857 Introducing Photoshop for the iPad13m 6s
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858 Photoshop for the iPad: Part 29m 13s
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859 Photoshop for the iPad: Part 310m 17s
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