Creating the Shape for the Mesh

1. Open Illustrator and create a new document selecting the standard letter size document (8.5 x 11 inches) in landscape mode, with RGB Color.

! TIP: The first thing I like to do when working with an image is to hide the page tiling and art board. This eliminates confusion when you get into the thick of things with your image later on and are looking at multiple lines. If you find that you’ve created your image too big, or off the page, you can easily move it or resize it. If you prefer leaving the art board and page tiling visible, that is fine too.

2. Delete any unused swatches in your color palette. We will be building a palette of color swatches as we go along. There should be no color swatches left except for black and white. Be sure your color picker palette is visible, along with your layers palette. We will be using those often, in addition to the swatches palette.

3. Chose a base color for your first shape that will be the basis for the colors in that part of your image.  For the drape we are making I selected a baby pink color (RGB 242, 183, 208).  Add it to your swatches palette since we will be using it often once we start adding the mesh.

4.  With your newly created color selected as the foreground color, begin drawing the basic shapes of the drape as shown in the image below.  I made a few Bézier curves and straight lines to create the left drape then copied and reflected the left drape to make the right drape.  I decided I would make a window type scene, so I added a drape across the top for aesthetics and placement.

You can create the drapes using whatever tool and method works well for you.  However, if a shape is going to be turned into a gradient mesh, I found that the pen tool works best because of the smooth lines and simple points it creates. (Click the image below for a larger version that will open in a new window)

Each of the parts of the image above are separate shapes.  I've outlined them with a 1 point stroke of black to make it easier to see, but for your image, do not use a stroke.

! TIP: In my image of "Ghost Dancer" (final image shown here ), I created the foot, ankle, and laces as separate images. This made it easier to "mesh" each section without worrying about overly complex shapes and colors.  How many shapes you use to make up your image depends on how complex the shape and color of your final image will be.  When working with detailed, complex images, it is sometimes better to use separate shapes that you can layer then to try to fit everything into one big mesh.  Using various smaller shapes results in a more controlled environment that you can create your image out of.

At this point, we're not concerned with the finer details of the image, various shades of colors or the exact shape. We just want to get the basic shape, layout and idea of the image down.

5.  This step is one of the most important steps in working with gradient meshes.

Select your entire image (using the Select all option from the menu), and make a duplicate of it.  Copy it to a new layer, name the layer “backup” (or something similar) and hide and lock the layer. This is your backup should you need to revert to it. You could save it to a new file, but I like to save the shapes to the same file and then hide them so it is handy if I need it later.

Once you create the gradient mesh, you will not be able to go back to the “unmeshed” version of your image. Sometimes you may find that you need to abandon the mesh and start over with your basic shape. If your shape is a difficult one to make, or an odd shape, this could be very discouraging.  Creating a backup of your "raw" shapes and image before starting to add the mesh will save you countless hours of work and frustration in the long run.

! TIP: At this point, it's helpful to select what section of your image you want to mesh first, then select the remaining shapes in your image and lock and hide them in the layers palette.  This eliminates the amount of artwork on your screen (which can speed up redrawing if you need to zoom in and out), and will eliminate accidentally clicking on the wrong shape when working with the mesh.

Now, the moment you've been waiting for...adding the mesh!

Page 3: Adding the Gradient Mesh