Adobe illustrator Class 7 Learn Gradients and Create Realistic Pencil :

Hello everyone !!!!!!! welcome to Tech Learning 4U . I am your teacher Zohaib
and today is our 7th class of adobe illustrator
and today we will study GRADIENTS
along with it we will study color panel also to make gradients easily understandable
with the help of gradients we will make PENCIL today
so that you can easily apply gradients
so lets start

I am making a rectangle first
so that i can show you how to apply gradient.....
that what actually gradient is or what kind of object is needed for it
so I am opening the panel box
and even if you do default or reset your workspace
reset it
and close this and open this panel
you can see that gradient is showing up by default
and here on the right you can see your color panel
right now my file is on CMYK
so CMYK colors are showing up here
but then we will see this in a while
before that come to the gradient panel
I am placing this panel right over here
and side by side I am also placing this color panel here
and now we don't need these so I am closing them
fine
in colors panel you can see these colors
this is showing up by default
we just have to look up to this fly out button.........
click on it and click on show options
as soon as u click on show options you will see CMYK sliders
as now my file is on CMYK
and how do we know this?
whenever you take a new file
it asks you here only about the kind of color mode you want
so by default it is CMYK ....let it be CMYK
it is not a problem
what is CMYK AND RGB ?...........
i will soon tell about it in a separate theory class
in which u will get ample of knowledge about colors
it is a class on color theory
i will tell you about color schemes too
so that you can definitely make proper use of colors
so I am closing it
here we have CMYK file
so by default it was showing CMYK file only
but then you can always change
you can either put it on grey scale or
on RGBV , HSB or CMYK. fine
so right now I am taking only CMYK
now apart from this color panel
you have one more thing that are SWATCHES
drag them outside
I have a habit of keeping only those panels outside which I need
to avoid the mess
one more interesting thing is that you can merge your panels
you can see a blue indication when I am bringing this near
now these are joined and are moving together
if u wish u can join this gradient panel with them
now this has been converted to one panel of colors
there is one more interesting thing about workspace
usually i skip from one topic to the other
this is because i feel it necessary to tell you about all this
so........ workspace that i have shown you here
how I have used reset essentials
if u want you can also create your own workspace
for example ..... like I have make this workspace especially for colors
so if u want....... press windows/ workspace/ new workspace
click here and give it a new name
colors
ok
now this will give u one advantage......
if I go to reset or essentials.....
and reset it
ok
and if i need my colors workspace again
then i will simply go to windows/ workspace
and see this ....colors ....it is already appearing on the top
as soon as i will click it my color panel will appear in front of me
so this is called workspace
as u will proceed further u will get to learn it gradually
it is not a big task
but even if u want me to explain you the whole concept of workspace
write in the comments. i will do it for u
but i don't think so it is much needed. anyways
like here i told you that u can choose your colors from this panel
you can see these sliders.....it is not difficult to understand these
if you see it closely I have made it green
and every possible color that can be made with green color will appear on the sliders
for example K stands for Black
ah...
why Black ????? because in RGB
B stands for Blue
similarly in CMYK last letter of Black is taken
but at some places black is also called 'Krypton' and at some it is also called 'Kelvin'
but remember as black only
OK...so....
black is K
so if in this green I increase the value of K
I can see the darker tone
as I will keep on sliding it will become more dark
if i want a yellow tone
I can see yellow in CYAN panel
i will bring it here ..it will become yellow
it is very easy to make colors here on this panel
alright....ok.......
if u will come downward.....
towards swatches panel, you can see some ready-made colors
you can directly choose any color u want
and you can do one more thing
you can directly drag your color on the object
ok.... this is another easy way to fill colors
for example
if many objects are there
you can easily drag and drop
you can also add your own colors in swatches
for example
i have made this color
drag it and drop it here
you can see it has been added here
it is not a difficult task
you can make any color and can drag and drop here
ok

and here are some more details which i will tell you later
some very important things are there
but for now if u want to make any color
simply make color from here and drop it here
and it is not necessary to make color from here only
till now we were taking colors by double clicking the options
now you can take any color
for example I have taken this
ok... now I want this color over here
so there are two options
either drag from here and drop it here
second is.....
whatever color you have taken ....
is showing up in the fill
and here also the same color is being displayed
and here too the same one is displayed
so for now when you click on new swatch and click ok
you can see the values of the same is stored here
press 'ok'
you can see your swatch is added over here
but it is more easy to drag and drop only
now
come to gradients panel
you can see that the tube has white to black colour which is set by default
now what is gradient? let me tell u
gradient is the blend of two or more colors
ok
now what is blending?
when one color merges into the other one smoothly
this is gradient.....ok....
now if I want to put gradient into something.......
it is quite simple....here you can see some default gradients in swatch panel
so if u want u can use them too
but if you want to make your own gradient you can add it into the swatch panel...ok
now
we will....
see gradient here is closed now
as i was telling u that by default this tube has black and white gradient
let me undo it
this is very important
you can see that default gradient....
if i just click on it........it is important to select the object on which i want to put the gradient
keep it selected
and come to gradient and click it
and you can see that gradient will be applied on the object
now you can see the two sliders below
these are gradient sliders
this is your white and this is black
and if i move theses sliders
you can see that colors will be automatically added to the object likewise I am moving them
just keep one thing in mind.......avoid putting default gradient in the object
normally we put it
but i am giving you this small tip
i tend to use gradient in my work only when i need to show light effect on my object
now what is the use of showing light on the object
the depth that we see in the object is due to the effect of light
the effect of the light determine its size and position....how far the object and likewise...
it creates shadows
where there is ample light on the object are called 'highlights'
and the middle part of the object where there is less light are called 'mid tones'
now what we have to do is......
first of all we have already applied the gradient
and if we see the sliders.....
we will discuss the effect of light and dark afterwards later in this class only
but in simple words....if u click on this
or if u want u can drag the color
and drop it here directly....
just on the slider
like i have put yellow and here i put orange instead of black
and you can see your gradient gets changed automatically
second option is,.....
that u double click these sliders
a panel will appear here like above
now i would like to tell you one thing by taking a new file
so in a new file i take this
when i click on the gradient ....by default the colors are not appearing on it
and when i double click it ...even then the colors are not displayed
now what is the solution? how will we put colors in it?
just like that as i had told you
you have cmyk ....as soon as you select cmyk colors will appear
and now you take any color ...it will appear
remember to select sliders first....
and then open cmyk and apply it
and then add color in it...ok...
so for me it is easier to drag and drop color from the swatches
and then make the necessary changes
here you need minimum two sliders
and for maximum limit u can put as many as u want
and sometimes when u try to put many colors it becomes too gaudy
so i wont recommend to use too many gradients at one time
it looks really very bad
i will cover these things in color theory also
but for now
don't put much colors in the gradient
now i will tell you some basic things
lets suppose ...
i have made this green gradient
light to dark...
i am changing the tone of green
a bit dark...ok....
one more thing.....
this slider
will help to spread the selected color
ok
usually we keep this in middle or from here we can select the value i.e. 50 percent
but make sure to click it
from here it is easier to select its value
if u want you can change the locations of these two also
opacity column is here too...but for now i am not discussing it
we will discuss it later ....for now
we have put our gradient here .....and the same u can see here too
left to right.....light green to dark green
and if i want to change its direction
then one thing that comes in mind
is that ....to move the sliders in the opposite directions
but this not the right way to do it
one thing more
whenever u make your gradient ,try to put light color on left side and dark color on right side
it will make things easier
now wen u have already applied your gradient
and u want to change its direction
one method is to change its angle from here
right now 0 degree angle is showing up
now i want to reverse it
so put 90 degree
but this again is bit complicated
so we don't usually do this rather we use this gradient tool
when i click this a line will appear
and if u bring your cursor on it
the same sliders will appear here also
and u can adjust your gradient from here too
this line will also help in changing the direction of colors
it is very simple
u can click and drag your mouse in the direction from where u want to move your color
how? ............. for example
i want to shift my colors from upper to lower side
so click it here and drag the mouse to the lower side
like i have clicked it from upper to lower side ...my gradient too shifted in the same direction
as i have told u to keep light color on left side and dark color on right side
this gives u one advantage.....from where u are clicking it becomes your starting point
and gradient always starts from left
so light color appears from where i am clicking and dark color follows where i am dropping
right....this much we can do
but again this is your personal choice
but i prefer to use light color on left side
alright....so we can simply change direction like this
plus ....when u drag it
take your cursor little bit outside....you will notice rotate option
and by clicking on it u can easily rotate your gradient
but please remember
the line is too big here , so the gradient is spreading outside
if I take it slightly outwards ...you can notice that the gradient is getting more lighter
but if I take the line within the box , it will give a proper colour ....this one and this one
so I hope it is clear up till here
now
we have one more type of gradient
i.e. RADIAL gradient....now what is radial gradient?
earlier we have studied linear gradient
you can see here .... in the options
you can see linear and radial as well
radial gradient makes the colour change from the center towards the edges
so you can see in center your earlier gradient is displayed
and on the edges the darker one
if u take gradient in this ....there is one technical system here
here u can see that along with a line there is a circle too
this circle helps u to adjust size of the gradient
ok....plus...
with this dot u can make its spread oval in shape
for example ...if u have an oval object
u can use this in it
for example ..if i have to make a ball here
and i want a highlight over here
so i will click here and drag it here
ok.... i am putting off the stroke
now
please remember one thing
if u are working on gradient fills then please keep the fill above
if u will not do this then the gradient will be applied to your stroke
right now we are only putting gradient in the fill only
now i want to do one more thing
i want to put some more highlight over here
so i will drag only this gradient and taking it a little backwards towards the centre
and here i want to add one more slider...it is very simple
just click here , your slider will be added
and i will make its color lighter
here on the CMYK panel there is lot of confusion as to which slide to select to make color lighter
so to make it simple...it is better to use HSB (HUE, SATURATION AND BRIGHTNESS) ,instead of CMYK
HUE IS BASIC COLOR
saturation is the intensity of that color
how much intense the color is
brightness ....everyone knows...how much dark or light the color is
i want to explain hue more extensively...
there are many colors which have different names
for example if you take blue
dark blue, navy blue, sky blue , light blue, ice blue, greyish blue....
one thing is common in all....BLUE
means the hue of all these colors is same
the only difference is that their saturation and brightness is different
u start getting different tones of the same hue
i hope this is understood
now this your saturation and intensity
it is same as television
if u go to the settings of your television and u adjust your color accordingly
actually u are adjusting its hue and saturation and brightness u all know
same is on your monitor screen when you adjust the brightness and all
i don't think so i need to explain this as u already know this....now....
what i want to do is ....i want light green here on this slider so that i can put highlight over here
one option is that ...that i should increase the brightness
but
it has increased only a little....i want to put more light on it
i don't want to make it pure white but slightly light green
so if u look at saturation u can see light colors over here
so i am sliding it backward....excellent
if u see this carefully on zoom level....u can see that the color had blended very smoothly with the base
now i want a sharp edged highlight over here
like the sharp light on snooker ball
so
come down on slider and take this slider towards the right
now see on zoom out level
it is too much ... i am making it more subtle by sliding the slider to the left
that's it
easy right
now
now i think gradient is clear to u
i am coming back to linear gradient
so lets make something
i don't want this right now
i am taking default colors and making a box
remember in our 2nd or 3rd class of direct selection i have made a box
i hope u remember that
so i am making a 3d box out of it
and i want to make u learn something special out of this box
so with direct selection i have adjusted my box this way by selecting these points
ok
making it this way
now
lets make it bigger
now the 3d effect of the box is due to the presence of strokes
but normally we don't have strokes when we make a 3d object in reality
for example if i give some color to it...like this one
and i put off the stroke as well
as soon as i put off my stroke u can see a flat hexagon in front of u..ok..
hexagon....as it has six sides
or can say polygon...ok...
but it was earlier a box which is now not looking like the one......in reality it is the light effect which makes it look like a box
now i want to put light here
and it is certain that it will become dark as we move backwards
so this thing i can do with the help of gradient
we have three different objects here
and we have to apply gradient on each one distinctively
next i select this
now i want this color on my gradient so...
i picked the swatch directly from here and dropped it on the gradient slider
now i don't want this white
so simply delete it ....to delete it click it and drag it outside and release the mouse
so this gets removed from here
now i dont want this black also ...but i cannot delete it ....you know why??
because minimum two colors are required on the gradient slider
so i am pressing ALT and takes its copy
similar to the way we take copy of objects....likewise u can take copy of gradient sliders too
just press alt ,click it and drag it and release the mouse button as well as ALT button
now i an delete this black color slider
now both the sliders are of same color
but the gradient is present here
though its not visible as both the colors are same
now i want to make this color dark
from color panel i am taking HSB
I AM SELECTING THIS ONE AND I AM MINIMIZING ITS BRIGHTNESS AS I WANT THE DARKER TONE
and increasing its saturation slightly
very slightly...that's .it...
so now u see the gradient over here
now i want the same gradient on these sides also
so i am selecting both and with the help of eye dropper i am clicking on the color that i want
eyedropper helps u to pick color from the object that u want to add
select the object in which u want to fill your color and then put eyedropper on the object of which u want the color...ok......
still there is something wrong with this object
because if here is some light then it is not possible to be dark on this side
so i need to change its direction to give a lighter effect
so i am clicking this and move my gradient slider this way
just keep one thing in mind that the slider is very sensitive
if u will not move it properly it will change its angle
it is better to press shift when u are dragging it
ok
like this
similarly on the top also i am taking the slider from here to there
spread it
thats it
now if u want to put some highlight on it
then add it
and make it light very slightly
and same on this also
thats it
for the time being lets leave it
we are making a very simple thing and i dont want to make it difficult
but u got the idea to make such thing using gradient
and in a very simple way we have made a 3d object with gradients
remember few things ...first ....whenever u r making 3d objects dont put strokes on it
the object looks fake if u put strokes on it
in reality stroke does not exist
secondly
spread light with the help of gradients
ok
in the beginning i told u that we will make an interesting thing today with the help of gradients......a pencil
i am taking a new file
leather size
ok
pencil is of two types
one is round shaped and the other is with cuts and groves
if u see the other one from above it will look like a hexagon
and i am making the hexagon shape pencil
now
i am simply making one rectangle
lets start with one color
just remember whenever u have to make something keep in mind its basic color
so fill the basic color and right now u dont need a gradient
now i am zooming it
now with pen tool i am adding a point in the centre
and with direct selection i am moving it downwards
ok
with the help on convert anchor tool give it a slight curve
ok....now take a copy of it by pressing ALT and drag it with shift
remember to keep your smart guides on
so that it can provide u additional help
now after taking one copy press CTRL D TO TAKE ONE MORE COPY
now we have only a flat thing in front of us with some curves at the bottom
the pencil is sharped that is why we can see these curves
this part is in front ...this one on right ...and this one on the left side
the front is facing me
we are assuming that the light is falling here on this side
not here
here we want some highlight in front
as the pencil is glossy so a highlight is required here
or we can say we want a reflection over here
highlight on glossy things is generally a reflection
light that is reflected from glossy things is visible
firstly i am putting this green colour on the gradient slider
and remove this white color
and take a copy of the green color
ok....remove this black color too
i generally take the basic color of the object first on the slider and then i do the variations
now i am making this slider dark in color by increasing the value of K
or lets open HSB
I HAVE MADE IT A BIT DARK AND INCREASED ITS SATURATION TOO
NOT MUCH BUT JUST A BIT
i want the same gradient on the other side as well
i simply selected this and with the help of eye dropper i clicked on the color i wanted on this side too
but i took its spread on the opposite direction
i clicked my gradient tool and with the help of shift i dragged it on the other side
right now the object is very flat in appearance
but after a while it will turn into an interesting thing
i am selecting this part again and i am adding some highlight on it
or you can say reflection
but remember i will not add white color ...rather i am taking light green
light green very near to white
that's it
i hope till now everything is going smooth
but i was thinking to make this side more dark
just a bit not much dark.....i am also increasing its saturation
and also decreasing its brightness
very light
that's it
i want the same color on left also but i dont want the highlight
so with the help of eye dropper i have selected the same color on the right....but you can also see the highlight on left too
i simply will remove this light green from the slider
now its looking better
but it is looking very thick
so i will again select it and make it a little narrow
now
i am sorry my throat is sore today
the curves have shrinked too when i made the pencil narrower
lets do one thing .....with direct selection select these three points
and with help of SHIFT take it upwards
just remember i AM DOING WITH THE HELP OF DIRECT SELECTION
now i want to make the wooden part at the bottom
to make the same i am making a box
your smart guide will tell u the anchor point's position
from edge to edge i have made a rectangular box from the anchor point
so i will change the color to light brown
and send this box to back with arrange option
now
this box should be pointed
so we will convert this into a triangle
with pen tool i am adding a point in its center
keep your object selected and then add the point in the center
if i click the pen tool on the existing point then the anchor point will disappear
so removed these anchor points to give it triangular shape
now a small problem has come
i am showing it to u on zoom level
the wooden part is too narrow and is not matching with the green part...which is wrong...
so to make it correct lets increase the length of the wooden part
with direct selection select this point and with SHIFT take it downwards
not a big problem,........don't worry
ok
if it is looking a bit longer even then it is not a problem
our initial problem has been solved
i am taking a bit downward again
now i want to add gradient in it
like before...simply drag and drop the brown color on the gradient slider
remove the green color and take the copy of brown color
ok...
i am making the right side darker in tone
please take care one thing
....this part is not a flat part ...it is cone shaped
or cylindrical in shape
generally cylinder has two sides darker in tone with the light tone in the middle
so i am making this part cylindrical in shape
take a copy of the dark slider with ALT and bring it on the left side with the lighter one in the middle
that's it....now u can see the there is very subtle gradient in this
but just see one thing the position of the highlight is not matching with the highlight on green part
so simply drag the light part and take it towards right
that's it
now what is missing here ......LEAD
means the tip of the pencil
to make the tip we will use the same wooden part only
with the help of knife tool
take the knife tool and cut it like this
this part has different path now
lets put gradient in it....black color
and
black on both sides and white in the middle
just remember one thing that the tip of the pencil is made of lead which gives a metal like appearance
the shine of metal is quite sharp
so its spread should be less
so i am taking both the side sliders inward
ok....like this
see the gradients applied here are not too bright and gaudy ...they are very subtle
if u want u can pick this one and make it lighter
it will look better
fine
done till here
now lets make the top part
i want to put an eraser on the top
eraser or rubber
installed on a metallic cylinder
so ill make the metallic cylinder first
i am simply making a rectangle
i want to make it golden
golden color has yellow tone so i take the yellow color
and i remove this brown color
darker tone of yellow color gives u mustard yellow
to make mustard color just make the yellow color dark and take its hue on the red or orange tone
don't make it solid red or solid orange. just make it slightly orange
if u want increase its saturation a little
i am keeping the yellow part in middle and i am also taking the copy of orange part on the left side too
this is no doubt a metal ....but i want to keep it subtle thereby giving it a matte finish
i think it has turned quite dark
so i am coming back to yellow tone again
ok...
that's it
ok
alright
now i have to make an eraser on the top
so i am taking a rounded rectangle
edge to edge
in a rounded rectangle ...you can do one thing
whenever u r making a rounded rectangle
i haven't released my mouse button
do one thing
with the help of arrow keys (when pressed downwards) will give u slight curve
or simply if u are using cc version,, just make a rectangle
like this....then select these two points
make a curve...ok....
if u are not using cc illustrator
but using cs6 or the older version
then u can make this with the rounded rectangle
and i will tell u one thing about rounded rectangle
while making it take the help of arrow keys to adjust its curve, before releasing your mouse button
if u will press the upper arrow key , its radius will increase and vice versa
ok....
i want a pink shade inside this
and
lower the saturation level
ok
i am also applying gradient on this the same way
and
i want light tone in middle
so this is our lighter tone
ok
and the copy of dark on the left side
i am adjusting all these colors from here
ok
now send this to back
alright... so we done till here but
this part is looking bad
this part is not flat as we see in a pencil
u have usually seen a design over it
an engraved design
engraved means ...design stretched inside the metal
alright
to make this design i want to teach u some thing important
if i have some object
or a rectangle of the same color
i am changing its gradient
simply straight left to right
or if u want adjust the color diagonally
now what is the use of this?// i want to make something on it
a small illusion
what is an illusion? a false idea or perception
i simply made a square
and i am just putting a flat color in this square
i have taken the light color from the gradient above
i am putting this on stroke
remember this is a solid color not the gradient
i simply took the selection tool and selected this point only
and with the help of keyboard i have deleted this point
as soon as i deleted it the path becomes open now
remember i have not used pen tool to delete it
if i use pen tool to delete it , our path remains closed
but i wanted an open path here
so i deleted it
take the copy of this and rotate it
and keep it here
u must be wondering that i have deleted the thing and then again have placed it this way. then what is the use of deleting it?
yes there is one advantage...u can see that these are now two different objects
i will keep the upper part yellow in color
and in the lower one i need this dark color
simply take the eye dropper
but if u will click here on gradient then the whole gradient will be applied here which i dont want
we want the solid color on the stroke
remember to keep the stroke above
press SHIFT and pick the color from where you want
now you can see that we have yellow on above and the mustard on below line
group both of them
and place it on the box
i am increasing its stroke
so that u can see this clearly
i am placing this box on the top one
as soon as u keep it on this box u can see the embossed effect
this thing has been frequently used in user interfaces
like in old windows version..........
the buttons were made this way only
if i rotate this the other way
i am rotating it by using shift button
now u can see the engraved effect
but why it is looking so?
your brain perceives such a notion about light that the light always comes from above
so that is what you can see a highlight here
and on the below part u can see the shadow
that means the light is coming from above and is highlighting the upper portion
and shadow is visible on lower part
that means this part is embossed
so this is a very interesting illusion and u can use it in many things
now i am taking a copy of this again
rotate it and place it in the upper box in the middle
isn't this looking good?
now
if u keep this illusion in mind
we can play on our pencil too
i am simply making a box with a solid color in it
with the help of eye dropper i am selecting this yellow one
not in stroke but in fill
and
lets zoom it
and i am taking a very close copy of it
and
and i am filling the dark yellow in the copy
with shift
ok
remember i have taken the solid colors
not the gradients
if u will click with shift then the eye dropper will pick only the solid color
i am selecting both of these and group it
i am making them shorter and narrower
again take the copy of the combined object with some gap
then CTRL D
OK.
TAKE SOME MORE COPIES
select all of them and place on the pencil
they are too many in number....so lets make it more narrow
ok
now
select them and group them to make the things more simpler
take two copies of these and place them below the first one
now this is looking better than before
so our pencil is done
we need to write text on it ...but we will do it later as we have not yet studied the type tool
we are soon going to study the type tool in our coming classes
but yes our pencil is ready
now one more interesting thing.......
if i want to change its colors
lets say other than green
then remember one thing that the middle part has no gradient.
so i will add the other color here first
lets say i want orange color
ok
in the right side put the same orange on the gradient slider
and take a copy of it
and will make it dark
usually i increase the saturation when i want to give the darker tone.it looks nice
on left side too i am taking light orange
remember i am not taking white in any case
pick this color with eye dropper
and delete this slider
OK
that's it ..our second pencil is also ready of different color
i hope everything is understood up till here
remember not to make gradients too extravagant and flashy
but use it in a subtle manner with soft tones
u can make many interesting thing with this in illustrator
i hope u liked this
tell me one thing
all my students and viewers are not showing me any of their work...why?
please contact me
if u are not getting anything just let me know
search me on face book
i am on facebook under the name IMRAN ALI DINA
U CAN SHOW ME YOUR ILLUSTRATIONS ON MESSENGER
I AM PLANNING TO MAKE A GROUP ON FACE BOOK SO THAT U CAN PUT YOUR WORK ON IT AND SHOW TO ME
right now i have my page GFX Mentor on facebook but u are not allowed to post your work on it
but yes i will definitely make a group on facebook
which u can join and share your ideas and discuss the issues with me
but please also give comments on you tube too
discuss it here also
but is u want to share your work then you can show to me through Facebook only
so i hope the class is quite easy till here
keep practicing and please like this if you took pleasure in this illustration
i will come again with more interesting things
sometimes in between u will feel that i have not made any practical object
but i will try my best to make something with each tool
right now we are moving towards different level
and by using all these we can create many interesting things
if u have made wrist watch in the last class then take a copy of it and try to apply gradients on it
i hope u will get some amazing results