Create color gradients

Adding color gradients to artwork in Illustrator is another great way to add interest to your designs.

Gradients are a graduated blend of two or more colors or tints of the same color, that could be applied to the Fill or Stroke of artwork.

From linear gradients with two or more colors to blend between color and a straight line, to radial gradients which blend between colors in a circular pattern, to a freeform gradient that allow for a more smooth and natural color gradation.

In this tutorial, you'll create and edit both linear and radial gradients.

So, to start, you'll add a linear gradient to the background shape of this postcard.

So, with the Selection Tool selected, click the rectangle.

Now to apply a gradient fill, in the Properties panel click the Fill color.

With the Swatches option selected, you'll see several default gradients saved as swatches.

Click the "White, Black linear gradient to apply it Now the gradient is made up of a blend from white to black.

To edit the gradient appearance, click the Gradient Options button in the panel, to open the Gradient panel.

In the Gradient panel you can see the Fill is selected or on top, since that's what you're currently editing.

In this panel you can make appearance changes to the gradient.

You can switch between Linear, Radial and Freeform gradient here.

You can change the Angle of the gradient any artwork, and down here, the Color.

These white and black circles are called color stops.

And they represent the colors that make up the gradient.

This bar called the Gradient slider, shows the gradient.

Now, to edit the white color, double click the color stop to open a panel where you can mix a color, you can choose a color swatch, or even sample color from artwork.

With the Swatches options selected, select this purple color.

To edit the black color, click in the panel to hide the colors, then double click the color stop, and select this pink color.

For gradients, you can also add more colors than just two.

Press the Escape key to hide the color swatches.

Move the pointer just below this Gradient slider and click when you see a +.

Now you can change this color by double clicking like we just did and even make it transparent or see-through by changing the Opacity here.

You can also move it to change the appearance of the gradient overall.

If you want you can keep this third color, but I'm going to remove it.

So, to remove a color from a gradient you can press and drag it away from the Gradient slider, and release.

Now that the colors in the gradient are set you can adjust the position of the gradient in the artwork.

You can use the Gradient Tool in the Toolbar to do that.

So, select the Gradient Tool on the left.

And in the artwork, you should now see the Gradient Annotator, it's this bar.

You can see the same color stops as in the Gradient panel.

You can drag to reposition or double click the stops to edit the color directly on the artwork as well.

Now, with the Gradient Tool you can adjust the length and direction of the gradient by drawing it.

We need the gradient to go vertically in the shape.

So, move the pointer toward the bottom, press and drag up.

When you think it looks good, release.

You can continue to redraw the direction and length as many times as you want, but now you'll notice that the colors are actually opposite of what we need.

So, in the Gradient panel you'll see this Reverse Gradient button.

Click that button and the colors are reversed.

Lastly, you'll save this gradient as a swatch so you can apply it somewhere else.

So, select the Selection Tool so the whole shape is selected, click the Fill color in the Properties panel and then click the New Swatch button at the bottom.

You can name the gradient and click OK.

Now, you'll apply the same gradient you just saved to this gray circle.

But this time you'll create a radial gradient.

Click the gray circle to select it.

To apply the gradient, click the Fill color, and then select the gradient swatch.

You can see that it's applied as a default linear gradient.

To convert the gradient to a radial gradient, you can click the Radial Gradient button in the Gradient panel here or in the Properties panel over here.

You can see that the color radiates from the center now.

To reposition the gradient within the shape, select the Gradient Tool in the Toolbar.

And then, starting somewhere over here, press and drag, until the gradient looks something like this.

The same rules apply to a radial gradient as far as adding, editing and removing color stops.

Gradients are a really fun and creative way to add color to your designs.

Why don't you try experimenting with some of the color and the gradients, or even make your own?