How to Add a Texture or Gradient to a Stroke | Designs By Miss Mandee

How to Add a Texture or Gradient to a Stroke

By | Downloads, Tutorials

Hey everyone! Hope you had a good weekend. Have anything exciting planned for this week? My work is sending me out to Vegas for a conference over the next couple days. My hubby and I decided to make a mini vacation out of it, so he and our little guy (almost one year old now…crazy) are tagging along—it should be fun! Little Davian has never been on an airplane before though…so we’ll see how that goes. I’m pretty nervous about it—he’s not much a “lap-sitter.” He likes to be free, walk around, yell at the top of his lungs, that sort of thing. Any suggestions for me? And, speaking of suggestions, I’ve got a super quick video tutorial to share with you today. Watch this short video and learn how to add a texture or gradient to a stroke in Adobe Illustrator.

How to Add a Texture or Gradient to a Stroke

I recently had a reader tell me that she enjoyed my last video tutorial, and would be interested in learning some more Illustrator tips and tricks. I’m open to doing as many of these videos as you guys find useful (as long as you don’t make fun of me too much;).  I work with Illustrator literally every day, so if there is anything you’re not sure how to do or something you’d like to learn more about, leave me a comment and let me know.

One of by biggest pet peeves about about Illustrator is that you can’t add gradients or make clipping masks with strokes. It took me a while to find a way around this, but I remember that when I finally figured it out, it made my life a whole lot easier. This tip also works for keeping strokes the same visual width as you scale them. So, check out the video, and learn this quick and easy tip for yourself.

Note: I used CS5 in this tutorial (I know, old school), but it works the same for CS6 and Creative Cloud.

Happy designing!

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Mandee is a professional graphic designer, amateur bird watcher, and rollercoaster enthusiast. She is a wife to hardworking high school teacher and mommy to three adorable little humans. She fell in love with graphic design when she started working on a comedy website with a guy she met her freshman year of college. Design wasn’t the only thing she fell in love with, and they were married a year and a half later. She created Designs By Miss Mandee to be a place where she could merge her passion for design with her lifelong love of crafting.
11 Comments

11 Comments on How to Add a Texture or Gradient to a Stroke

  1. Damla
    February 23, 2015 at 4:17 pm (5 years ago)

    Oh my god! Mandee thank you so much. You are so kind. I am very new at Illustrator. I want to do a lot of things but when i am not capable of doing what i desire to do then i become disappointed. With your blog i can learn a lot of things. But this video especially very good because i couldn’t do that too. 🙁 🙂 I am so happy to find your blog. I look at everyday. Again thank you so much. You are amazing. I am looking forward next ones 🙂 And by the way don’t worry the plane because everyone in the airplane will definitely love Davian. He is adorable ! 🙂

    Reply
    • Mandee
      February 24, 2015 at 2:07 pm (5 years ago)

      Thank you SO much for your comment Damla! You are too kind. I’m so glad that at least one person finds my little tips useful. 😉 I know how stressful it can be to not know how to do something in Illustrator—especially when it seems like it should be so easy. And thanks for the well wishes about our trip!

      Reply
  2. Andie Conn
    February 25, 2015 at 2:46 pm (5 years ago)

    I love how short but to-the-point this tutorial is! My kind of instructions.

    Reply
    • Mandee
      February 27, 2015 at 10:58 am (5 years ago)

      Haha, thanks Andie! Glad you thought so—I’ also a big fan of tutorial videos that just get to the point. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Amanda
    February 27, 2015 at 8:13 pm (5 years ago)

    Thank you so much for this tutorial! Illustrator and I are not always friends so I’m always excited when I learn new techniques in it. Can’t wait to see another tutorial.

    Reply
    • Mandee
      February 28, 2015 at 1:09 pm (5 years ago)

      You are very welcome Amanda! Yeah, I know what you mean—Illustrator and I have a strained relationship sometimes too.

      Reply
  5. Lou Lou Girls
    March 2, 2015 at 1:34 pm (5 years ago)

    Great tutorial! This looks so amazing. Pinned and tweeted. We love to party with you, so I hope to see you tonight at 7 pm.. Have an amazing day! Lou Lou Girls

    Reply
  6. Christie
    March 2, 2015 at 2:06 pm (5 years ago)

    What a great tutorial! Thanks for sharing it at the Totally Terrific Tuesday Link Party! #tttparty

    Reply
  7. damla
    March 6, 2015 at 6:49 pm (5 years ago)

    Hi Mandee! Me again 🙂 i have a question for you. Where i can download these kind of glitter backgrounds? any tips? free would be great 🙂

    Reply

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