Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

Figure 7-4 .

Points in a gradient mesh behave just like anchor points in a path.

You can move them, adjust their control handles, and otherwise

modify them as selective points in a larger whole.

The beauty of both blends and gradient mesh objects is that they are

forever editable. Change the color or shape of a blended path, and

all pieces of the blend update immediately. You can even change the

path of a blend, so it slows down, speeds up, or curves on its way

from one shape to the other. Plus, you can blend between multiple

shapes, fi ll and stroke attributes, and levels of transparency. Mean-

while, each and every point in a gradient mesh lies forever in wait

of your next edit, whether it be one of position, curvature, or color.

I demonstrate how to create and modify gradients with the gradi-

ent tool in Video Lesson 7, “Gradients.” In the exercises that fol-

low, I show you how to exploit the power of blends, masks, and

gradient mesh fi lls.

Blending Between Paths

The primary purpose of a blend is to create a custom gradient, in

which colors fl ow in controlled patterns. Because a blend trans-

forms one path into another, you need a mechanism for placing

those paths inside a larger shape. Hence the clipping mask, which

is a shape that crops the boundaries of the blended paths below it.

Although blends and masks rank among Illustrator’s

oldest features, they are some of its most powerful

as well. I show you how to create a blend in this ex-

ercise. I explain how to mask that blend in the next.

1.

Open an illustration with a gradient

background. Open Lone ghost.ai, found

in the Lesson 07 folder inside Lesson

Files-AIcs5 1on1 folder. Pictured in ,

this fi le is the sequel to the ghost robot you built

in Lesson 6. He’s shrieking the spooky “2oo!”—in

case you read it as the large number 200, which

would be a curious non sequitur even for a ghost

robot. Notice that I’ve restored some of the origi-

nal path outlines—including those in the smock,

shoes, and ball—so that we can rebuild those de-

tails using masks. The fi le also features a gradient

background, which we’ll replace with a blend.

206

Lesson 7: Blends, Masks, and Gradient Mesh

2. Select the large gradient rectangle. Scroll to the

bottom of the Layers panel and Alt-click (or on

the Mac, Option-click) in the second column to

the left of the Backdrop layer to lock all the other

layers in the illustration. This will make it easier to

navigate inside the illustration without selecting the

wrong objects. Then, using the black arrow tool,

click the outline of the largest rectangle to select it.

3. Select the gradient tool. Click the gradient tool

in the toolbox, as demonstrated in Figure 7-5, or

press the G key. Illustrator shows the gradient

annotator (also on display in the fi gure), with the

circular origin point at the top and the square ter-

minus point at the bottom.

If the gradient annotator gets in the way of seeing your

artwork, you can hide it by choosing View

→Hide Gradient

Annotator or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+G (

-Option-G). To

bring it back, choose View

→Show Gradient Annotator.

4. Examine the color stops. Hover your cursor over

the gradient annotator to see a total of three color

stops, one each at the top, middle, and bottom.

Double-click a color stop to bring up a pop-up

panel with CMYK values.

The existing fi ll pattern is a simple linear gradient,

progressing from a deep purple to blue and fi nally

ending in peach. The colors are fi ne, but I’d like

to introduce some moderate wave action to the

gradient using a blend.

5.

Switch to a solid fi ll. The next steps will show up

better if you eliminate the existing gradient. Go to

the Color panel (if you don’t see it, press F6) and

click a green in the spectrum bar at the bottom of

the panel. Although the exact shade of green isn’t

important, I opted for CMYK values of 100, 0,

100, and 35, respectively.

6.

Turn on the objects. In the Layers panel, twirl

open the Backdrop layer. Then click the fi rst col-

umn in front of the group called Objects to display

the three paths of color pictured in Figure 7-6.

Figure 7-5 .

Figure 7-6 .

207

Blending Between Paths