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Spring Flowers and how to use the Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator

03/21/17  |  Posted by LeAnn Troutner  |  Posted in Digital Creativity

Monday marked the beginning of the 2017 spring season. What you see in the spring is flowers. Making flowers is very easy to learn using the mesh tool in Adobe Illustrator. This tutorial will teach you how to create flower petals, stamens, leaves, twigs and the background. There are a lot of small steps but you will get this lovely spring image.

Flower Petals.

1. Start by creating a pink(#FAE8E6) ellipse using the Ellipse Tool (L). I am going to be providing color number IDs for all the colors, but you are free to experiment with your own colors. Create a node in the middle by clicking with the Mesh Tool (U).

2. Modify the shape to look like the picture provided by dragging nodes with the Mesh Tool.

3. Create a similar mesh to the image provided by adding and manipulating nodes.

4. Color the individual nodes.

5. Create a few copies of the finished petal and rotate them to look like a flower.

Flower Stamens (The middle of the flower).

1. Start by creating a narrow rectangle with the Rectangle Tool (M). Create a Mesh Node in the middle, just as we did in the previous section of the tutorial. Add color, brown is natural.

2. Create more Mesh Nodes and color them as well.

3. Now warp it using "Effect," "Warp, and "Arch." Here, you can edit as you please, but I am providing the settings used in this tutorial.

4. Expand apperance of the shape using "Object," "Expand," and "Apperance."

5. Copy and arrange the bent shape to look like nature.

6. Create a smaller copy of the shape and arrange it as shown. Change the color with "Edit," "Edit Colors," and "Saturate." Set the Intensity to -20%.

7. Move the second group under the first group.

8. Create an ellipse with the Ellipse Tool (L) and fill it with a color for the center of your flower. This color and the previous color should be in the same color family.

9. Create a mesh in the shape using "Object," "Create," and "Gradient Mesh." Set the number of Rows to 4 and the number of Columns to 5.

10. Color in the Mesh by selecting the nodes, like how you did the petals.

11. Add the finished ellipses to the group we finished in step 7. You can arrange them however you wish.

12. Create a copy of the finished creation, rotate it, and scale it so the result looks similar to the image provided.

13. Making a shadow for our stamens starts by creating an ellipse and filling it with a radial gradient with colors similar to the stamen.

14. With the Gradient Tool (G), stretch the gradient so it follows the shape of the ellipse.

15. Set the Transparency to Multiply and the Opacity to 80% in the Transparency Panel.

16. Finally, arrange the objects created with the petals from the previous section.

17. Be creative and create a couple more different versions of the flower. Rotate, add, or take away petals, arrange them differently, adjust opacity and saturation, or even change their colors completely in "Edit," "Edit Colors," and "Adjust Colors."

Leaves

1. Create an ellipse and fill it with green.

2. Follow the image to creat a mesh and color the mesh.

3. Draw lines for the leaf with the Pen Tool (P). Apply a green stroke to it and assign Width Profile 4 in the Stroke panel.

4. Select all the lines and unite them with "Window," "Pathfinder panel."

5. Put the lines on top of the ellipse. Create an organic shape for the outside of the leaf. Select all of the elements, right-click, and choose "Make Clipping Mask" in the menu.

6. This is how your finished leaf could look depending on your shape for the outside of the leaf.

7. Create a copy of the leaf and "Edit," "Edit Colors," and "Adjust Colors" to make it look lighter.

Twigs

1. Create a narrow rectangle and fill it with a dark color.

2. Creat a single Mesh Node in the middle with the Mesh Tool and color it with a dark brown.

3. Bend the shape with "Effect,"Warp," and "Arch," applying 10% bend to it. Add and Expand Appearance to it as before.

4. Create a couple of Mesh nodes and drag one of them so it looks like the picture provided.

5. Create more Mesh nodes to mimic the image.

6. Color the twig like the image.

7. Create another rectangle, this time filling it with a green color.

8. Warp it as we did in Step 2 of this section and Expand Appearance of the object.

9. Color the object using the Mesh, and follow the picture provided.

10. Attach the newly made shape to the twig we finished in Step 6.

Background

1. Create a rectangle and color it.

2. Using the Mesh Tool, create a Mesh as shown.

3. Color the different nodes like the provided picture.

4. Grab all of the objects we have made and arrange them to make one or two beautiful branches with spring flowers and leaves.

5. Take the background you made and put your flowers on top of it. Next create a rectangle on top of all elements. The rectangle should include everything you want in the final picture. Select all elements (Control-A), right-click, and choose "Make Clipping Mask."

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