Tutorial: A Gradient Brush?

I often see questions about making a “gradient brushstroke,” that is, a gradient that will follow a path, rather than fill a shape. If you’ve tried to make a brush out of a gradient object, you know that it can’t be done. But there is a way to acheive the look of a gradient brush, and it’s really easy:

First we create a blend. You can start with any shape. Here I’ve used three squares of different colors (you can use two for a simpler gradient look). Select them all, then go to Object>Blend>Make. (If your blend doesn’t look smooth, double-click the blend tool and choose “Smooth Color” as the spacing method, then make the blend.

Select the blend and the path you want it to follow, and go to Object>Blend>Replace Spine:

Depending on the path (and whether you’ve used squares), it may look blocky, SO … 

… With the path selected, double-click the Blend tool and choose the Align to Path option under Orientation (it’s the second icon). Now as you can see, the square follows the curve of the path.

But you wanted a brush, right? So take the blend and drag it into the Brushes panel. Choose “New Art Brush.” You can leave everything in the Art Brush Options box as it is, or experiment with different colorization settings.

Now simply paint with the brush as you would any other.

Be warned, however, that if you decide to expand the brush, you’ll end up with hundreds of the original shape you used. Yikes!

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