Designs Dissected: Gradient Studies | Advanced Graphic Effects in Adobe Illustrator
Create exciting complex designs, illustrations & artworks more efficiently by learning how to smartly combine familiar tools in Adobe Illustrator.
More often than not even the most complex-looking gradient-based designs made in Illustrator are quite easy to create, and you can get impressive results by using a clever combination of Adobe Illustrator’s basic tools and looking beyond their obvious functionality!
I've been on a mission of pushing the boundaries of Adobe Illustrator's tools and exploring different techniques for creating vector gradient-based designs since 2017 and been documenting these experiments in my ongoing Gradient Studies series of projects which you can find on my Behance profile. I am often asked how I have created certain pieces in the series, and in this course I am excited to dissect for you a selection of designs which feature some of my favourite tricks and techniques, and share a few tips and ideas for how you can use a combination of Illustrator’s tools in your future projects to create some exciting works easier and faster.
In this 55 minute course, you will learn how to combine and use—in an unconventional way—a range of Adobe Illustrator tools to create:
- Custom Colourful Fading-Out Effects;
- Translucency & Dimension Using Blur;
- Dimensional Elements Using Stroke Gradients;
- Organic Colouring by Layering & Blending;
- Playful Colouring & 3D Look.
Plus, you'll get practice files (.ai) for each technique containing some of the base elements for creating each of the effects and written instructions, or rather ideas, for what you can experiment with when using each of these techniques.
Please note that this course is not a series of step-by-step tutorials starting from a blank page, but rather a deep dive into how certain effects are created—and to quickly get started with the techniques you can use the provided practice files.
If you have taken my Mastering Gradients in Adobe Illustrator course before, you'll definitely learn something new in this course as it has a different format of dissecting examples of my designs and analysing specific effects and how to create them using a combination of different tools, whilst my Mastering Gradients in Adobe Illustrator course provides an in-depth look at using separate gradient-related tools and getting the most out of them.
This class is designed for intermediate and advanced Adobe Illustrator users who know their way around the program well and are proficient users of Illustrator’s core tools and functionality, including Fill & Stroke Gradients, Clipping & Opacity Masks, Blend Tool, Gradient Meshes, Appearance Attributes (Fill & Stroke Attributes, Blending Modes, Opacity) and working with Appearance panel, and Grain & Blur Effects.
Whether you are an illustrator, graphic artist or designer who needs to quickly visualise concepts to pitch ideas to clients or an in-house team, or create final works for print or digital use, I hope this course will spark some new visual ideas and help you create eye-catching designs more efficiently!
— Evgeniya / Attitude Creative
Required Software:
To follow along with this course, you will need any desktop Creative Cloud version of Adobe Illustrator which supports Stroke Gradients, Freeform Gradients and Opacity Masks.
What Students Say About This Course:
"This course was fantastic! As a designer in the field for a while now, I've seen these types of techniques used often, but have never been able to crack how they worked. This course opened my eyes to so many advanced techniques to use tools beyond the obvious. So glad I took the time to learn them, and excited to take more courses from this teacher." — Joshua W.
"I loved the thorough breakdown of how the designs were constructed. There were tons of great techniques packed into a short and concise course." — Jeremy K.
"Great course with easy to follow instructions. You need some prior knowledge of Illustrator. The examples are very pretty, lots of exercise files. It gives you inspiration and motivation to use the news skills in your own work. Thanks you!" — Ewa P.
"This course was full of handy gradient techniques, and was fun to experiment along with! It's great to take it alongside Evgeniya's "Mastering Gradients in Adobe Illustrator" course, as the other course goes into much more depth about how to make good-looking gradients and what goes behind making them." — Maha E.