Painterly colour with the Gradient mesh tool in Vectornation

Some objects refuse to be described by a straight or round gradient. A pear, a cheek, a silk ribbon, a car's curved bonnet: the light wraps round them in ways that a simple blend can't follow. The Gradient mesh tool, on U in Vectornation by Zaweba, is the answer for those, turning a shape into a mesh whose colours blend smoothly in every direction.

What a mesh is

Picture a shape covered by a net of lines that bend to follow its form. Where the lines cross there are points, and each point can carry its own colour. The colours blend smoothly between neighbouring points across the whole net. Because the lines can curve, the colour can curve too, following the roundness of an apple or the fold of a cloth rather than running straight across it.

This is why mesh work is closer to painting than to ordinary gradient work. You are effectively placing dabs of colour on a form and letting the program soften the blend between them, while the result stays fully vector, sharp at any size and editable later.

When to choose a mesh

Vectornation gives you several ways to make smooth colour, and the mesh is the most powerful and the most demanding. Linear and radial gradients are quick and suit most everyday jobs. Freeform gradients place colour at points and blend between them without you having to manage a net of lines, so they are often the easier choice for soft backgrounds and loose shading. The Gradient mesh earns its place when you need precise control over how colour bends round a particular shape, as in realistic product illustration, portraits in vector, fruit, fabric and polished surfaces.

A reasonable rule: try a freeform gradient first. If you find yourself fighting it to make the colour follow a curve, switch to a mesh.

Working method

Start with a clean, simple outline. A mesh adds many points, and a complicated starting shape makes the net harder to manage. Begin with a few mesh lines placed where the form turns, such as the edge of a highlight or the line where a surface moves into shadow. Colour those points first, step back, then add more lines only where the blend needs more control. Fewer, well-placed points give smoother results than many crowded ones.

Work from a reference. A photograph open beside the canvas, or placed on a template layer in the Layers panel, gives you real light to copy. The pipette in Vectornation can pick colours from anywhere on screen, including another program, which is handy for sampling tones from a reference photo.

Building a full illustration

Realistic vector pieces are rarely one mesh. They are usually several shapes, each with its own mesh or gradient, layered together. A piece of fruit might be one mesh for the body, a separate shape for the stalk, a soft highlight on top and a shadow below. The Transparency panel's blend modes and opacity masks help these layers sit together, and Outline view (Ctrl+Y) is a good way to check the structure of a busy piece without the colour getting in the way.

Things to look out for

Meshes can grow heavy. A drawing full of dense meshes takes longer to redraw and makes larger files, so keep meshes as simple as the look allows. For print, check the colours with soft proofing, because bright screen colours in a mesh can fall outside what a press can print. And keep an untouched copy of the original outline, so you can start again if a mesh gets tangled.

Gradient mesh is a tool you grow into. The first attempts can look stiff, but with a few studies of simple objects the technique becomes natural, and it opens up a kind of soft, realistic vector illustration that other tools can't quite reach.