Bringing the Image to Life

Now we are going to be adding some highlights and shadows to bring out the "folds" of the drape. 

The first thing to do is add another color to our swatch palette.  Using the color picker, create a burgundy pink color.  I used RGB 114, 0, 5.  That may be a bit too dark for your tastes, so feel free to adjust it as you see fit.  Once you've mixed this color, drag it to your swatch palette for handy use.

Click the upper right point of the drape with the direct selection tool (shown in the red circle below) to select that mesh point then click the swatch of the new color we just created (burgundy color).  As you can see from the image on the right, the edge of the drape was accentuated with the very dark pink color.  However, it does not extend the length of the drape, or even to the middle.  As mentioned earlier, this is due to the placement of the point.   The way to fix this is to add more points along the edge of the drape that you can add color to.

With the mesh tool selected, and the very dark pink selected as the foreground color, click on the right edge of the drape to add the dark color and mesh points the length of the drape.  You will notice that this places horizontal lines across the drape, and that it also extends the dark color down the edge of the drape as well.  This is exactly what we want.

Placing the mesh points	After the mesh points are placed

Drapes normally have dark areas where the folds (or pleats are).  We added dark color to the inside edge of the drape, but now we need to add some to the rest of the drape to bring out the folds. To do this, add more vertical mesh points by clicking on the top and bottom of the drape, as shown below.  Using the base pink that you originally created your drape with, add the additional mesh points. 

Click to view the image in a separate window

In the image above, I've added quite a lot of vertical mesh points, about three times then what I originally placed.  The reason for this is I knew, as I started adding vertical mesh lines, that not only would I need a dark color, I would need a midtone as well.  Therefore, I added enough lines to allow me to add the very dark color, and the dark pink that we have in our swatch palette.  Don't worry if you didn't add the exact amount of mesh points that I did, or in the exact same spot, the main thing here is to add enough lines to be able to add the proper coloring and shading that we need.

!  TIP Don't be afraid to experiment with placing mesh points in various places, or using various colors on different mesh points.  Sometimes the best results come from accidents and trial and error. 

Next, we will adjust the colors of the vertical lines by adding the burgundy, dark pink, and light pink to shape the pleats.  Using the direct select tool, click on all the mesh points in a single vertical line on the top half only of the drape.  Then click on the colors in your color palette accordingly to add light, medium and dark shades to the drape as shown below.  Be sure to select the intersecting points on each vertical path so that the color doesn't stop halfway down the image.   You can use the direct selection tool and the Shift + Click option to select multiple mesh points or use the Lasso Tool to "collect" the mesh points.

Click to view the image in a separate window

Keep working in this manner adding color until the top half of the drape is done.  Just be sure to add color to the mesh points on the vertical lines, not the horizontal lines.  You can add color to the horizontal lines, if you like, but what will happen is the color will start at the point you add the color, and radiate out from there and may not give you the look you want.

Next, we will add detail to the drape and shading and highlights to the bottom half.  We will also prepare for the final step - moving the mesh to give the drape some finishing touches.  When you are ready to proceed, click the link below.

Page 5: Adding Details