 Step 1
Use the shape tool to make a rectangle. Fill it with a medium color (not too dark or too light). For this example I used a light brown.
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 Step 2
Select the shape and click on the Gradient Map tool. Click anywhere in the shape to set a color stop point. The blue lines you see are the contours of the shape (think of it as a 3D object now). If you look closely you will see vector handels to change the contour, we'll go into that in a later tutorial. |
 Step 3
Continue to add stops, I have added 3 more bringing the total to 4. You'll notice, though, that ther are way more than 4 that is becuase wherever a contour intersects another Illustrator automaticly makes another point. It's beginning to look confusing, but its really not. |
 Step 4
Using the direct selection tool (the white arrow) click on any one point. With that point selected, change the fill color like you normaly would. However you'll notice instead of the whole shapes color changing just the one points color will change. As you can see I used a darker brown. |
 Step 5
Continue to change all your color stops to the desiered color. I used dark colors on the bottom, and went light as I went up with a tan color for the top most points. |
 Step 6
Done
Click off of the shape to see your finished piece. And that's the basics of the Gradient Map tool.
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Extra Info
In this tutorial I had you put in all your stops before changing the color. The reason simply, is because that's how I do it. You can, if you prefer, add a point->change the color, add a point-> change the color, etc. It's personal perference. |
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