Hi everyone! I thought that this would be a super cool tutorial for me to recreate for you all. This is a two part tutorial, and this design will go with the next tutorial, so stay tuned for that one!

We will be using Adobe Illustrator and we will learn how to use the Gradient Mesh Tool. I dont know if you have ever used that tool before, but its pretty fun once you figure out how to use it. So anyway, without further ado…

Start by opening a new document in Illustrator. I made mine 11 x 8.5, but you can do any size you like. It’s a flexible design, so no worries. Make sure you put the color mode to RGB. Now make a black rectangle, or square to fill up the back ground. Next is the Pencil Tool. In order to change the option of the pencil, just double click the Pencil Icon, and it will pop right up.

Now you can change your Pencil to the following setting so that you can get smooth edges when you draw your abstract shapes.

Get all your edges smooth and if you mess up a little it’s very easy to correct with the shape still selected.

Now go to Object > Create Gradient Mesh. Give the shape three Rows and three Columns. This will give your shape various points to add color to.

With the Direct Selection Tool, select the four inside points and give them a black color.

Click on the Lasso Tool and make a circle around the edge of the shape make it red, repeat the process all the way around the edge of the shape until it has all the colors you would like to use all around the outside edge.

I ended up using some colors from Swatch Library under “Flowers”. Design another abstract shape, and repeat this entire process. You should now have two abstract shapes, and they should be all colored in and ready to go.

Change the opacity of the two shapes. Go to the Transparency icon on the right hand side of your workspace, click on the pull down and select Screen. This will make the center transparent.

Hold ALT While dragging an object to duplicate it, then change the sizes and rotate them in order to get your abstract design.

Once you start moving and scaling you’ll start to see how the shapes start to design themselves. Fill up the whole art board with these shapes.

Once your art board is satisfactorily full, we are now going to give it even more color and gradients to give contrast. Start by creating a large circle (to get a perfect circle hold Shift), and then fill it with a color>black gradient.

By changing the blending mode to screen the whole circle becomes transparent, you can play with the opacity slider to get the desired effect.

You can make a few circles and give then other colors to make more intrest. I then made one with white in the center and set the blending mode to Soft Light. By changing the opacity I gave the design a subtle highlight which adds interest. Now make a square and cover only the area you want to get into the clipping mask, then select the entire design. Go to Object>Clipping Mask>Make. Or on a Mac the Apple key 7.

You now have a bright vector design! Be proud, its gorgeous!