Follow this Adobe Illustrator tutorial if you want to learn how to draw a realistic mango. Everything here is made using the Mesh Tool therefore if you want to master this tool better, this is your chance. Let’s get started!

Draw the Shape of the Mango

1. Open a new document. First, take the Pen Tool (P) and draw a mango-shape like in the image below. If you believe that it is easier, you can search for a photo with a mango fruit and use it to trace the outline. Before you continue, make a copy of the shape because you will need it later. Now, take the Mesh Tool (U) and click somewhere in the middle of the shape. As a result you will obtain the first vertical mesh line and the first horizontal mesh line.

Next, focus on the vertical mesh line and using the Mesh Tool (U) click on it in the spots indicated to add three more horizontal mesh lines on the top half. Do the same thing at the bottom and add other four lines.

2. Now, let’s add more lines on the left side of the first vertical mesh line. Click on the mango-path in the three spots indicated to add the vertical lines then zoom in on the area shown in the close-up. Add 5 mesh points very close to each other as indicated and you will obtain 5 more vertical lines.

3. In the right side of the first vertical mesh line, click in the four spots indicated to get the last 4 vertical lines. At this point, you are done with the Mesh Tool (U) and all that is left to do is to adjust some of the handles in the areas where it is necessary.

4. In the image below you can see the main areas on the surface of the mango based on the color shades that I’ve used.

5. Taking into account the areas shown above, I chose the most important color shades used in order to exemplify. If you need all the colors, please check the Ai. file for reference because it would have been kinda difficult to indicate every color that I’ve used for all these points and also quite tedious.

Create the Texture

6. To make the Mango fruit look not artificial, we need to create a texture. Open the Symbol Libraries menu and under Artistic Textures find Charcoal. Drag it into your working area and press the Break Link to Symbol button. Having the resulting texture selected, from the fly-out menu of the Transform Panel choose Flip Vertical then scale it about 130%.

7. Put this texture over the mango (black) then make another copy (blue) and arrange it above the first one as in the next image. Now, select one of the textures, go to Effect menu > Warp and apply the Arc effect. The settings that I’ve used for the black and blue textures are shown below. At the end, select Expand Appearance from the Object menu for both.

8. At this step, you need the copy of the mango-shape drawn at the first step. Bring it in front then make another copy. Now, select one of them and also one of the textures and click Crop from the Pathfinder Panel. Do the same thing for the other texture using the second copy of the mango-shape.

9. Fill the two texture groups with a linear gradient from white to black. Set the texture from the top to Soft Light and lower the Opacity to 50% then set the other one from the bottom to Lighten and reduce the Opacity to 13%. You are done with the mango for the time being.

Draw the Stalk of the Mango

10. Let’s continue with the stalk of the fruit. Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a rectangle having the dimensions shown then give it any fill color. Now, take the Mesh Tool (U) and add the first mesh point right in the center, which will also generate the first horizontal and vertical mesh lines. Above the horizontal line, add 3 more lines by clicking with the Mesh Tool (U) on the path as indicated. Then add two more lines under the first horizontal lines.

11. Now it’s time to shape the stalk. To obtain the wavy sides, simply select using the Direct Selection Tool (A) the mesh points individually and move them towards the inside and also move the handles if needed. For the corner points, you can use the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift+C) or the Convert selected anchor points to smooth option.

12. Use the Mesh Tool (U) to add other two vertical lines by clicking in the spots indicated, one on the left and one on the right side of the first vertical mesh line. The stalk-shape is ready and you can see in the image below the main areas that we will color next.

13. Select each mesh point individually from the highlight area, using the Direct Selection Tool (A) and change the colors following the numbers written next to each one. Continue with the other mesh points and use the colors indicated.

14. In the next image, you can see how to color all the other areas. Follow the numbers and the colors indicated to finish the stalk.

Draw the Leaf

15. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and draw an oval shape having the dimensions shown. Select only the left anchor point using the Direct Selection Tool (A) then press the Convert selected anchor points to corner option. Next, take the Mesh Tool (U) and click in the center of the shape to add the first horizontal and vertical mesh lines. By moving the points individually and also their handles you will obtain the leaf shape as in the image.

16. Next, take the Mesh Tool (U) and click on the existing vertical mesh line in the spots indicated to add the four horizontal lines. Zoom in to the middle area of the leaf and add two mesh points very close to the center point, one above and one under it, as shown in the close-up. As a result, you will get two new lines right next to the first horizontal mesh line.

17. Follow the numbers and color each of the mesh points as indicated. You can see the result in the second part of the image.

18. Continue with all the other points and finish the leaf.

Draw the Stem of the Leaf

19. Start by drawing a 34×2 px rectangle then take the Mesh Tool (U) and click in the center. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select only the three points from the middle and move them up. Also using the Direct Selection Tool (A) select only the two top corner points and drag the handles as in the image. Do the same thing with the other two points indicated from the right side. Finally, move the three points from the left side as shown below.

20. Let’s add more mesh lines. Zoom to the middle area of the stem and click on the existing vertical line using the Mesh Tool (U) to add the two points, one above the center point and one under it. As a result you will get two more lines. Also click in the spot indicated on the left side to obtain a mesh line as in the image. The stem is ready and you can start coloring. Follow the numbers next to each mesh point and fill them with the colors indicated.

21. In the next image you can see the colors that I’ve used for the points on the left side of the stem. In the second part of the image you can see the final stem and now you can attach it to the leaf.

22. Place the stalk of the mango as in the next image then arrange the leaf and the fruit is ready.

Draw the Slice of Mango

23. First, use the Pen Tool (P) to draw a shape that looks like a slice of mango. Next, take the Add Anchor Point Tool (+) and add the four points, two on each side as shown in the image. The reason why we need to do this will become clear at the next step.

24. Use the Mesh Tool (U) to add the first mesh point very close to the top edge of the shape and you will get the first horizontal and vertical mesh lines. Zoom the right side and select using the Direct Selection Tool (A) only the mesh point indicated and move it over the point from the corner as shown in the close-up. Do the same thing to the other side.

Note: Without the points added at the previous step, at this point the bottom curve of the slice would have been distorted. We don’t want this to happen because the slice-shape must remain unaltered.

25. Take the Mesh Tool (U) and add another point very close to the first one. Using again the Direct Selection Tool (A) move the resulting points from the sides over the ones from the corner as you did at the previous step. Do the same thing three more times then continue up to the bottom. At the end all the horizontal mesh lines should look like in the image below, like they all would start from the top corners.

26. Zoom in the area indicated and add one more mesh point very close to the last one added at the previous step. This new line defines the edge between the pulp of the fruit and the skin.

27. Let’s continue with the vertical mesh lines. Take the Mesh Tool (U) and click in the spots indicated to get the two lines on the left side then add the other three mesh lines. At this point you can adjust the handles of some of the points if needed to obtain smoother lines, as shown in the second part of the image. When you are done, add the last three lines on the right side by clicking in the spots indicated and the slice is ready to be colored.

28. First, take the Direct Selection Tool (A) and drag the cursor over all the points from the top left corner and color them using the shade of yellow indicated. Do the same thing on the right side. In this case also, I chose only the main colors that I’ve used in order to give you an example on how to color it. The mesh points are too many therefore please check the Ai file if you need all the colors.

Final Image

Here is the final image. Let me know what you think of the tutorial. Hope you like my mango.

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I am writing this advanced car tutorial for intermediate illustrator users who want to attain an expert level. In this tutorial, I will reveal lots of secret tricks on gradient on how to draw objects with photorealism in Illustrator. This is a great car tutorial not to be missed!

Difficulty: Intermediate – Advanced tutorial
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This tutorial will take you through the process of creating a classy headset step by step. Most of the process is based on Gradient Mesh tool. And this tutorial will show how to use the Gradient Mesh tool effectively and also some tips on creating raster effects like Gaussian blur.

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In this tutorial, we will create a cozy looking wooden house surrounded by greenery and bright yellow wild flowers.

We will build the house step by step using basic drawing tools and simple techniques. Then we will create the background with the bright blue sky, the meadow and the conifer trees. In the end, we will enhance the surroundings by creating the grass patches and bright yellow wildflowers.

So let’s start building our house!

Drawing the House

Our house is made up of four main parts – the wooden walls, the roof, 3 balconies and doors and windows. We will begin by building the walls which is the basic structure of our house.

The Walls

1. Create a new document in Illustrator with width 2800px and height 1900px. This will give us ample space to create the entire scene. Draw two separate shapes with the Pen tool (P) for the two walls as shown. I have drawn the dotted grey lines just for reference. The furthest end of each wall will be narrower because of perspective. Make sure the vertical lines of the walls are parallel to each other.

2. As the walls are made of wood we will color them in shades of brown. Select each wall individually and with the Gradient tool (G) fill gradients as shown.

3. For the lines on the wall, draw two lines with the Line Segment tool () at the top and bottom of the wall as shown below (green lines). Keep the line weight 5pts and line color # 471A0F. I have used green lines for ease of explaining. We are going to use blend to create the lines in between. For this, first specify appropriate options for the blend. Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options and enter values in the dialogue box as shown. Click OK.

4. Now select both the lines and go to Object > Blend > Make. The lines will blend in 12 steps to create our desired effect. Your result should look something like this but with brown lines.

5. We will repeat the same process for the smaller wall now. As the upper part of this wall is very narrow we will have to use 2 separate line blends for the top and bottom part of the wall. For the bottom part draw two lines as shown with line weight 5pts and line color # 754C28. Select both lines and go to Object > Blend > Make. The lines will blend in 12 steps. Illustrator uses the same blend options you specified the last time you have used blend.

6. For the top part of the wall we need lesser lines, so we will specify only 2 blend steps. Draw two lines as shown, keep the same line weight as before and make the line color # 3B2314. Click OK. Our walls are ready!

The Roof

7. The roof of the house is made of very simple shapes that can be drawn with the Rectangle tool (M) or even the Pen tool (P). Draw closed shapes as shown below.

8. Color each part of the roof separately. We will assumr that the light is coming from the left side in our picture. Notice how all planes that face left are lighter.

9. For the little house like structure over the roof, use the Pen tool (P) and draw shapes as shown.

10. Fill colors as indicated below.

11. To create the line texture on the wall, use the same blend process as before. Draw a line each at the top and bottom of the wall with line weight 5pt. Keep the line color # 3B2314. Select both lines and blend them in 5 steps this time.

12. Draw the grey part of the roof with the Pen tool and color it as shown.

Roof Windows

13. For the topmost windows, draw a rectangle with the Rectangle tool (M) (as step 1 below). To get the perspective of the window right, tweak the corners of the rectangle to match the line texture beneath it (step 2).Now duplicate this rectangle 3 times, scale it to make it smaller and arrange each one on top of the other as shown (step 3). Fill each rectangle with colors values as shown in steps 4 to 7.

14. Draw a skewed rectangle as shown in step 8 and then select all the shapes together and click Window > Pathfinder > Divide. Delete the unwanted parts of the window. Unite the parts that we do not want divided using the pathfinder panel. Delete unwanted nodes and shapes thoroughly. Fill colors as shown in step 9 to complete our window.

15. Duplicate the window two times. Scale the duplicated windows to make them smaller and arrange them as shown.

The Chimneys

16. The two small chimneys are nothing but two vertical rectangles. Draw the chimney walls as shown with the Rectangle tool (M). Tweak the rectangles by moving nodes with the Direct Selection tool (A). Color them as shown. Duplicate the chimney once, scale it a bit to make to smaller and place it behind the top roof.

17. This is how our house looks at this stage.

The Red Windows

18. We will build the red windows along the textured lines of the side walls. Let us start with the closed window first. Draw a rectangle with the Rectangle tool (M) (step 1). With the Direct Selection tool (A) tweak the corners of the rectangle to match the lined texture of the wall (step 2). Duplicate this rectangle twice, scale it to make it smaller and arrange each one on top of the other as shown (step 3). Color each rectangle with color values as shown in steps 4 to 6.

19. Draw a vertical thin rectangle to make the division of the window and color it a darker red. For the texture on the window doors use the handy blend option and follow the steps we used before (for the texture on the walls). For the lines I have used line color # 981B1F. Duplicate this window 2 times, tweak its perspective to create the remaining two windows. Always follow the texture of the walls for correct perspective.

20. To create the open windows, simply follow the steps as shown below. Draw rectangles with the Rectangle Tool and tweak them with the Direct Selection tool (A) (step 1). Fill colors as shown (step 2). Draw 2 more triangular shapes for the shine on the window glass (Step 3). Color these shapes as shown with a white gradient from Opacity 100% to 0%.

The Doors

21. The doors are similar to the windows but taller. For the closed door, follow the same steps used for the closed windows. For the opened doors follow the steps and colors used for the open windows. Again, use the lines on the walls for correct judgment of drawing.

22. This is how the house should look once the doors are done.

The Balconies

23. As all the balconies are at a different eye level we will first define the base of each balcony. The next step will be to build the railing. The lines of the front wall will be our guidelines for perspective.

24. Draw shapes for the base of the balconies as shown with the Pen tool. Fill them with #404041.

25. First we will create the middle balcony. The other two balconies can be built by following the same steps. The railing for each balcony is made up of 3 stripes. Draw shapes as shown for thickness of the balcony base and the bottom part of the railing.

26. In the drawing above, the green outlined shape is the thickness of the balcony base. The yellow outlined shape is the front side of the railing stripe and the red shapes are the sides of the railing stripe. Color these shapes as shown.

27. Group all parts of the stripe of the railing we just created, copy the group and paste it in front at the same place (ctrl+F). Select it and shift it up by pressing the up arrow key a few times. Repeat this process one more time to make the third stripe of our railing. The railing for the middle balcony is done!

28. Build the other two balconies similarly. Repeat the process followed but with appropriate perspective. Our house is now completely built!

Creating the Sky Background

29. Our house will look even more beautiful with a great background. To create the bright blue sky, make a new layer and place it at the bottom of the layer panel. With the Rectangle tool (M) draw a rectangle covering the entire artboard and fill it with a radial gradient as shown.

30. To make the top part of the sky a bit darker than the rest of the gradient, we will add a linear gradient at the top. Draw a rectangle which covers the width of the artboard. Use a dark blue gradient and reduce the opacity of the color at the bottom to 0%. The new gradient should appear merged with the colors below it.

The Meadow

31. For the meadow, draw the shapes with the Pen tool and color them as shown.

The Trees

32. For the coniferous trees, open the Symbols panels by going to Windows > Symbols in the main menu. Click on the panel menu on top right corner and select Open Symbol Library. Select the Nature library. In the Nature library you will find the ‘Trees 1’ symbol. Drag it onto the artboard on a separate layer. Select the symbol and click the Break Link button that appears in a row just below the main menu. This will break the link of the symbol and you can edit it freely.

33. As the trees are a part of the background, we will make them lighter so that they don’t stand out too much. Apply colors to the trees and arrange them behind the shapes of the ground as shown. Make color variations for different parts of the trees to make them more interesting.

The Yellow Wildflowers

34. For the stem of the plant, draw a slightly bent thick line with the Pen tool (P) and go to Object > Path > Outline Stroke in the main menu (step 1). Fill the resulting shape with a green gradient using the gradient tool (step 2). Draw the leaves with a pen tool as shown (step 3) and fill shades of green as shown in step 4.

35. To create the flower, go to the Symbols panels, click on the panel menu on top right corner and select Open Symbol Library. Select ‘Flowers’ Library. You will find the ‘Daisy’ symbol in the library. Drag it onto the artboard (step 5) and click Break Link button like before.

36. Select the petals and color them in shades of yellow. I have used # F9EC31 for yellow and # FAAF40 for orange shades (step 6).

37. Select the flower with the Selection tool (V). Click on the top middle node of the bounding box and drag it down. This will make the flower a little flatter (step 7). Group the flower plant, duplicate a few times and make different size variations and arrange them on the meadow.

Grass and Clouds

38. To enhance our picture, we will add patches of grass on the meadow and clouds in the sky. Access the Symbol library once again and open up the Nature library. Drag the ‘Clouds 2’, ‘Clouds 3’ and ‘Grass 4’ symbols onto the artboard.

39. Break links to the symbols and make color and size variations in them. Arrange them as you like, but make sure the grass at the farthest end should be smallest in size.

Our cozy looking wooden house is ready!

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This tutorial will take you through the process of creating a realistic diamond. Through this tutorial, you will learn how to use the mesh tool effectively. Also, you will learn a unique technique of drawing variety of objects with dynamic effects. This tutorial will be fun and easy for beginners. A prior knowledge in using the pen tool as well as in creating fills and strokes will be great for the succeeding steps. After this tutorial, you will gain insights on drawing a vector diamond, which can be used in advertising posters or magazines.

Difficulty: Intermediate – Advanced tutorial
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What will you get?

• Instant download of PDF e-book (53 pages, 153 steps)
• Comes with Ai file for easy reference
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Tutorial Screenshots:

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