As you may already know, there are a number of different ways to blend colors together in Illustrator. Most designers typically gravitate to the Gradient window and the Gradient tool, but both of these options have their limits. There are other ways to create perfect, custom color blends.

Let’s look at the typical way first, then we’ll get you acquainted with other possibilities.

The typical way­­ - the Gradient window

As we’ve already noted, the Gradient window and Gradient tool are one option. To create a custom gradient, simply drag a color from the Swatches window, or from the Fill color in your Tools window, and drop it onto the gradient bar to add a color (A).



If you want to change or adjust a color in your gradient, click once on a colored gradient slider in the gradient bar to select it. The tip of the colored gradient slider will fill with black showing it has been selected. Then adjust the color sliders in your Color window until you make the color you need. The gradient updates with your new color. These steps are shown in (B).



To change a color in your gradient to one of the colors in your Swatches window, click once on a colored gradient slider in the gradient bar to select it. Then press the Open Apple key [Alt in Windows] and select the color in the Swatches window. Your selected gradient slider will fill with the chosen color (C).



An Object menu blend

A smooth transition between colors in round or organic shapes can be tricky. Oftentimes, the Gradient window just doesn’t work for creating this type of color blend.

Draw three circles: large, medium, and small. Make sure one is atop the other and offset their centers. Choose different fill colors for each circle and set their strokes to none. Use the Selection tool and marquee across all the circles to select them as a group. Go to Object > Blend > Make. Now, go to Select > Deselect or click in a blank area on your pasteboard to unselect all your circles. Your color blend result should be similiar to ours (D).



To adjust the direction of your blend, use the Direct Selection tool and select your small top circle. Move the circle using the Direct Selection tool or the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can use this same technique to move any of the circles in your blend to create interesting effects (E).



The Blend tool

Another tool to create color blends is the Blend tool . Double-clicking on the Blend tool will open its options (F). Smooth Color will auto-calculate the number of steps in the blend. Specified Steps enables you to enter the number of steps in the blend. Specified Distance controls the distance between the steps in the blend. The orientation options will align the blend to the page or to the path. These options are also under Object > Blend > Blend Options.



In the Blend Options, choose Smooth Color and Align to Path and click OK. Create three different colored lines. We chose red, purple, and blue (G). Select the Blend tool and hover over the top point of your left line. An “X” will appear at the bottom of the Blend tool when you are aligned over the point. Click once and move to the top point of the middle line. When you’re aligned correctly, click once and you’ll see the first blend span the two lines. Now, move to the top of your rightmost line and click one last time. The color blend is complete (G). You can use this same technique between shapes of different colors.



To adjust the blend, use the Direct Selection tool and select the middle line. Move the line using the Direct Selection tool or the arrow keys on your keyboard.

The Gradient Mesh tool

The Gradient Mesh tool is by far the most powerful color blending option in Illustrator. It is also the hardest to learn. The best way to learn this tool is to experiment with it. You can create photo-realistic color blends using gradient meshes. We’ll demonstrate how to create a simple mesh and make color adjustments to it.

First, draw an organic shape. We used the Pen tool and drew a bean shape and filled it with a light brown color. Select the Mesh tool and click once inside the shape you drew. A new mesh point is added inside your drawing (H). The new mesh point adds a grid (the “mesh”) to your shape.



With the mesh point still active, select a color from the Swatches window. We chose a bright blue. Now our bean shape has a color blend from light brown to blue and the blend follows the contour of our shape (I).
Add another mesh point in the bottom of your shape. Select white from the Swatches window. As you can see, all the colors are blending smoothly with one another (I).



If you need to adjust the location of a mesh point, use the Direct Selection tool .

Select the point and just drag it to a new area (I). You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to precisely move a selected mesh point. We added a few more mesh points and changed colors. We moved the mesh points around to add shadows and highlights to illustrate cashews (J).