Gradient Mesh vs Freeform Gradient - Adobe Illustrator CC Tutorial

One of the coolest new features of Adobe Illustrator CC 2019 was without a doubt the Freeform Gradient. We covered it already in a few other Illustrator tutorial videos, but this time I decided to compare it to the Gradient Mesh. They are surprisingly similar and yet different. So let’s see if we can find out which one is better!
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0:00 Intro
0:27 Freeform Gradient example
4:35 Gradient Mesh tips
5:38 Freeform Gradient tips
9:12 Handle points Gradient Mesh
11:07 Gradient Mesh example
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[@YesImaDesigner]

Which tool do you prefer: Gradient Mesh or Freeform Gradient?

[@mun336ya]

Freeform Gradient

[@aderyan5164]

thank you, your video was very helpful. [ASK] if I have a design with AI CC 2019 using "freeform gradient", then my friend wants to open in AI CC 2015 or below, how can I make my friend edit the design that I made? is there any way besides using "mesh tools"? because I've tried, the "freeform gradient" that I sent became a raster image . thank you

[@loveinthespace]

Freeform Gradient, of course! :)

[@Bunn4492]

Gradient Mesh :-)

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@TheTrippleTKA]

i'd love to have seen you recreate the shapes just like the original in both forms to it's entirety just to see how you handle it, but still appreciate the breakdown :)

[@christinet8638]

Dude I just want to say thank you for your channel. I'm just starting out and my confidence is really rocky. Finding your channel has given me more hope that there's avenues for me to learn, so again, thank you!

[@kingajpg8635]

Thank you for your help! I've already started experimenting with the mesh tool and loving it so far!

[@seek4change]

You are my mentor, I watched your course on Adobe Illustrator 2+ years ago and I started my career as a designer since, changed my life really, Thank you so much.

[@YesImaDesigner]

So glad to hear! Good luck with everything 👏

[@andydotorg]

Learning that colors can be drawn on a curve/line in the freeform gradient tool was a game changer!!!!! Thank you!

[@misty-rozekrukoski362]

I'm a big Gradient Mesh user, and now with the addition of the Freeform Gradient tool, my mind has been blown! Thank you for an amazing tut!

[@jackstewart8700]

how do I get the gradient mesh to interact with the freeform gradient like he's doing with those 3 dimensional blobs?

[@vidhidhrangdhria3846]

can we copy the mesh to different object?

[@clairewei7963]

This is one of the best tutorials that I have ever seen. It's so informative and engaging. Thank you!

[@Shadow_Lifeman]

Just wanted to say thank you for introducing me to the Curvature Tool, Gradient Mesh, and the line option in the Freeform Gradient. Those are 3 tools I've always dreamed of having when I learned Illustrator in university and now in my freelance work, but never knew about until now.

[@user-pb2iv7kt8u]

Thank Martin, it help me a lot, you is best tutor i ever seen in youtube channel !!! Everything is detail and explain well!!!

[@gren1977]

Came for the gradient, went home with the curvature tool.

[@Soumyajn]

Thankyou for such an easily explained amazing gradient tutorial. You made it all appear so easy.

[@MookyCookieOfficial]

Such a great comparison and you explained it well! 👍 Thank you!

[@diackone]

You are an excellent teacher and your use of visual aids helped greatly, thank you.

[@frayedsanity]

Awesome! I never even knew about this feature in illustrator. It's going to help me alot with making things look 3D in my technical artwork. Can't wait to try it out now!

[@celeste9455]

This is so dope! Thank you!

[@loveinthespace]

You're the best graphic designing tutor I have ever seen in my life!! Your English has improved a lot as well!! I can comprehend your videos more than anyone else's, thanks a lot, Martin!!

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@JayTheAuthor]

Amazing explanation as always, thank you!!!

[@unofficialSummer]

Daang, my life was already good with my Gradient Work Process, but now with that FreeForm, everything became even better, thank you for both videos about the FreeForm. The funny part is that I knew about the Gradient Mesh already, but it didn't work well and I ended up thinking that it was the only other alternative to Gradients, that was, until I found that other video you made about the FreeForm.

[@EkrimaAljaali]

Thanks so much for this amazing tutorial. I never thought of using the achor point tool to adjust the handles in mesh individually. The freeform gradiant is so handy easy to use, but I still think that the gradiant mesh has more possibilityies

[@mun336ya]

For sure i am willing to join the Courses. Your English is absolutely great to understand without CC.

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@StMadga13]

Best tutorial, thank you, it really helped me a lot!

[@pooryaheydari6922]

You explained it very well! thank you it really helped

[@princenduka4371]

I've not watched this video but I already love it. This is the best tutor ever, and ii think he's favorite color is red

[@KokoRicky]

Excellent tutorial, thank you!

[@stefanymendes5135]

this is amazing! thank you!

[@drmindriot]

Thank you, this was great!

[@cn728]

COOL! Thanks for showing!

[@saikatehossain9366]

very detailed comparison.. well done. thanks.

[@DebjitMajumdar]

Bought both of your masterclasses. Have high hopes !

[@YesImaDesigner]

Debjit Majumdar great, have fun learning buddy! 👍

[@trangtram915]

Amazing, thanks for this lesson.

[@redtraveler809]

Thank you for being a great mentor!

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@kian8683]

thank you! it's really helpful, make my life easier!!!

[@andrewabdallah3009]

Brilliant instructor and to the point Subscribed Thanks man

[@thomasherman79]

wow, you have the most comforting instructional voice. thank you for the great video! :D:D

[@poster242]

This video was definitely informative. Thank you.

[@thecreativealexandria]

Thanks for the tutorial! It was quick and too the point! I cant believe its taking me this long to learn how this works! lol

[@channelle325]

Super helpful, thank you!

[@drefloresca95]

how come yours looks so good? mine looks like neon potatoes :(

[@cw4608]

Thanks for the visual and smile

[@ValdairLeonardo]

Thank you so much!

[@tanhandesign]

You are amazing, thank you for this lesson well explain

[@alderusan]

This is Amazing!!! Thank you

[@ourfamilymanagement]

Great Tutorial, exactly what they searched for.

[@bigmusic3406]

This is amazing. Thanks

[@greniersz]

Amazing, first video I hace watched from you and I'm already suscribed.

[@YesImaDesigner]

Glad to hear it, have fun learning 🙌

[@MawarniStudio]

Wow its cool. very helpful for beginners. thanks

[@takethreestudio]

great tutorial dude!

[@ObjectBarns]

Very good tutorial, thanks

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@jorgepavonrojas]

Thanks a lot!

[@kove5762]

Thank you for your videos!

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@katwinart]

Awesome!!!!!! Thank you!!

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@edouarddeflandre]

Nice, thanks

[@arshdeepsinghbrar4148]

Thanks

[@mathewphilip6436]

Thank you so much

[@basharstime1295]

Thank you

[@mahmoudali6205]

Thanks Martin so much

[@annatsoibeauty]

Awesome video!

[@pasha6179]

Thank you Thank you thank you!!!

[@alecrash96]

Awesome tutorial 👍👏

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@asadujjamannur2738]

If you show the full stable document I mean to say A-Z about freeform Gradient by creating the theme in your video that may be very easier for us.

[@jro1000]

Very cool!

[@eedesign878]

You sir are the best.

[@manublackmetalkitty2570]

Dude, I love your t-shirt! Please tell me where to get it! :D Also really great tutorial, as usual. Thank you so much!

[@Leonelritchie]

Wonderful

[@jasonpooltable7099]

Gradient meshes don’t work well with complicated shapes. They tend to break or look very distorted. There’s different ways to get around it but I guess the freedform tool was Adobes answer to gradient mesh like gradients on complicated shapes.

[@Red_Rebel]

You are amazing and this is amazing!!!! OMGosh!

[@TebzTv]

Nice info

[@mmatt6573]

Can we use the free form gradient, to render vehicle designs on photoshop? I am having trouble rendering things, because of the complex shapes I devise all the time. I. Think this could help with determining the reflections better?

[@mouahmed6203]

wow...great

[@user-bs3jd2hj3z]

how to blend two shperes with freeforn gradient?

[@ryanstacks1715]

Thanks for the licences

[@SkottWalker]

When i use the freeform it doesnt show me the colours moving while moving the points around like it does on your video, is there a setting im missing for this? I have to click off it to see any changes which makes it harder for me to see whats going on being new to illustrator

[@gabrielmeiguins6720]

SHOW, MUITO BOM!!

[@MOYNULGRAPHICS-dz5vn]

Good tutorial

[@GKEntertainment12]

I missed something how did you add two colors to one point?

[@vighnesh438]

how to save this gradient files in pdf format without loosing gradient ?

[@jackstewart8700]

how do I get the gradient mesh to interact with the freeform gradient like you are doing with those 3 dimensional blobs?

[@slicesofadvice404]

Is it possible to copy paste a Mesh or FreeForm Gradient (and appearance) to another object?

[@madnad9634]

Wow, you made my day, Love It! Hey martin, Please make a video on "how to make a poster design like baugasm" similar to this gradient design. I hope you will read my comment! See ya!!

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@inbedduringcovid3005]

Omg this is.... How do people use this to draw realistic portraits? I'm learning

[@sepidehpainting]

Iove your 🎨

[@ehsan_shardum]

I hv horrible tendency to skip video, but I didnt in this one bcz it was on point and there was no music

[@OlgaProzorova-eg8ji]

Hi Martin! Thank you for the video, it's a great tool and I like it very much. But it seems like there's no way to make it compatible with previous versions of Illustator. I mean there's no something like "expand" for this Free Form Gradient (for example to make a gradient mesh out of it). Is that so? This expand option seemed so obvious for me, I didn't expect I can't do this. But I can only turn it into raster image. Or I'm wrong? Thank you!

[@YesImaDesigner]

Hi, you are right, currently there is no expand option available for Freeform Gradients. It's a good idea to have them turned into Gradient Mesh when using Expand, hopefully they will make that possible in future updates. In the latest update they made Recolor Artwork work with Freeform Gradients, so it shows that there is a chance of seeing future improvements.

[@georgs4656]

EPIC

[@scarlettpham1343]

The gradient mesh is really heavy, so has it anyway to reduce them?

[@BrainMixDesign]

is this also possible in photoshop?

[@ArtesVisuales506]

One more time! 👍

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@kaptainkrim7553]

i love you so much

[@user-mp6by9fv5s]

Well explained and nice vidéo. I have an issue tough when exporting theses gradients in .SVG (the mesh gradients) maybe someone could help me out? Basicly the gradients are rasterized and treated has an image... i have the choice to embed or link the image.... but it's simply a mesh gradient. Am i missing something? or is that the normal behavior that you can't export these in .SVG?

[@Karol_Jaźwiński]

Amazing t-shirt! Where can I buy it?

[@mambramambrai2071]

GOD!!!My broo

[@sendiafirza]

why i didnt find the menu?

[@ngobrolsareng1704]

Best.. my instructor.. take care of health

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@TomFYouTube]

I'm here because I need to create letters like your shirt. Do you have a video for this or can you create a video on this? Thanks...

[@gulesinkurnaz9790]

Hello. When I save in svg format, free gradient doesn’t appear. What can I do?

[@mikecanedo2919]

HELLO GOOD DAY. IM NEWBIE AND BEGINNER HERE IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP. I LIKE YOUR TUTORIAL. I LEARN MORE LESSONS FROM YOU. I SUBSCRIBE YOUR CHANNEL. THANKS, GOD BLESS YOUR TUTORIALS

[@topvideos-jp8zp]

how to fix the operation cannot complete because there isn't enough memory (ram) available illustrator cc 2019???/

[@sivaprakash8683]

I like this tutorial and I found similar tutorial which is very interesting with gradient mesh tool kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5DPkoOLoMSpg68

[@rocko44444444]

Fork handles. :D

[@m.saeidi]

Do you think a fluid gradient works for a logo? I would like to know your comments!

[@angelthman1659]

Seems like you have things already created and just show how to change them. Would have been helpful to see you create.