| The following tutorial is courtesy of "Illustrator
CS Most Wanted Techniques and Effects" by Matt Kloskowski |
 In
this exercise, you’re going to create a leaf using the Mesh tool.
I must first warn you that this exercise isn’t for the faint of heart.
The Mesh tool is one of Illustrator’s most powerful tools—along
with that power comes complexity. However, I’ll break each step down
for you to make it as easy to follow along as possible. Good luck!
|
| STEP 1 |
|
| This file contains the outline of the leaf
that you’ll use for this tutorial. The first step
in this illustration is to decide if your shape will be
a good candidate for using the Mesh tool. Unfortunately,
this task is very subjective and will depend on the object
that you wish to apply a mesh to. For this exercise, I’ve
decided that the stem of the leaf needed to be separate
from the actual leaf area. In the following reference image,
I’ve created a mesh using the Mesh tool to help illustrate
why. Notice all of the mesh points and lines that exist
in the circled area. If you were to leave these points
as is, it would wreak havoc on your ability to create a
realistic-looking gradient mesh—color transitions
would be too sharp and appear distorted. You can’t
delete them, as you would further deteriorate the mesh.
The solution is to break the object apart into a stem and
a leaf. Follow along to see how. |
|
| STEP 2 |
|
| Duplicate the LEAF layer and name this
copy OUTLINE. Drag this new layer below the LEAF layer.
Also, lock and hide it for now. The next step will modify
the overall shape of the leaf, but you’ll want to
keep a copy of the outline for later use. |
|
| STEP 3 |
|
| Select the Knife tool and slice through
the area that you want to separate; the cut doesn’t
have to be precise. |
|
| STEP 4 |
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| Name the sublayer that contains the stem
path STEM. Name the other sublayer LEAF MESH. |
|
| STEP 5 |
|
| Next, select or target the LEAF MESH and
STEM sublayers. Fill the shapes with R:72 G:185 B:51 and
set the stroke to None. |
| The previous step will aid you
in creating the mesh for the leaf. Now you have a base
color and you just need to modify the highlights and shadows
instead of adding color to the entire leaf. |
|
| STEP 6 |
|
| Select the Mesh tool (U). Using the following
images as a reference, click each of the circled areas
once. Precise mesh-point positioning isn’t required
here, but try to follow along as closely as possible. After
each click, your mesh should begin to match the corresponding
reference image. |
| A mesh basically creates, over your object,
a distorted grid that follows the contours of its shape.
Each time you click with the Mesh tool, you create an additional
row or column for that grid. However, if you click along
the same path horizontally, you’ll only add an additional
column to the grid, and the number of rows will remain the
same. Alternatively, if you add points vertically along the
same path, you’ll create additional rows but not columns.
Finally, if you add mesh points that aren’t on any
of the existing vertical or horizontal mesh lines, then you’ll
create an additional row and column. This is similar to the
first three images in the previous step. |
|
| Next, you’re going to
select mesh points within the leaf object and change the
colors. This will produce a gradual color shift similar
to a gradient. Before you move on to this step, I’d
like to first point out a key concept. The wonderful thing
about the Mesh tool is that the mesh points it produces
are similar to anchor points and paths. You select and
manipulate mesh points in the same way that you would a
path. See the following reference image for an example. |
| STEP 7 |
|
| If it isn’t already selected, select
the LEAF layer using the Selection tool or by clicking
the meatball in the Layers palette.
Select the open arrow Direct Selection tool from the
toolbox. |
| There are actually two methods
that you can use when selecting points on an existing mesh.
You can use the Direct Selection tool, as suggested in
step 8, or the Mesh tool itself. I prefer to use the Direct
Selection tool since it will only select points on the
mesh. If you use the Mesh tool, you run the risk of adding
another mesh line if you accidentally click an open area
within the mesh instead of the mesh point. Since Illustrator’s
anchor points are small and can be difficult to select,
this is a very real possibility. |
|
| STEP 8 |
|
| Click each mesh point that I’ve circled
in this reference image and change the fill color to R: 233
G:255 B:227. |
| Turning on Smart Guides (CTRL/CMD+U)
for the rest of the exercise may aid you in selecting mesh
points.
You can change the fill color by using the Color palette,
the Swatches palette, or by double-clicking the Fill swatch
in the toolbox. |
|
| STEP 9 |
|
| Now select the following anchor points.
|
| STEP 10 |
|
| Change the fill color of these points to
R:192 G:249 B:93.
This should produce a nice color shift along the left side
of the leaf. It looks pretty good so far, but you have a
few more changes to make. |
|
| STEP 11 |
|
| Select the points displayed in this reference image. |
| STEP 12 |
|
| Change the fill color to R:98 G:214 B:60.
Next, select these points.
|
|
| STEP 13 |
|
| Change the fill color to R:51 G:160 B:44. Hopefully, you get the idea. Use this reference image to select the remaining
anchor points and change their colors accordingly.
|
| OK, if you’ve followed along,
the hard part is done. All that remains are the veins that
run through the leaf. You’ll create these using the
Pen tool. However, if you have an aversion to (or fear of)
this tool, the source file includes a layer named VEINS that
you can use without having to actually draw the veins. |
|
| STEP 14 |
|
| Create a new layer called VEINS on top of
the leaf objects. Select the Pen tool and begin drawing the
veins as I have in these reference images. Note that these
aren’t closed paths. When you wish to end your path,
just press the ENTER/RETURN key. |
|
| STEP 15 |
|
| Next, select all of the paths on the VEINS
layer. Choose Window>Brush Libraries>Artistic_Calligraphic.
Select the 3 pt oval brush near the bottom of the palette
to apply to your paths. |
|
| STEP 16 |
|
| Finally, unlock and select the OUTLINE layer.
Choose the 3 pt oval brush from the same palette to apply
to the outline path around the leaf. |
This tutorial was taken from Matt Kloskowski’s book, "Illustrator
CS Most Wanted Techniques and Effects". You can purchase this
book at the Amazon
store
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|
Creating
a leaf with the Mesh tool » By
Matt Kloskowski
