How to Draw Ears of Wheat With Gradient Meshes in Adobe Illustrator

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Mesh Tool and Warp Effects in Adobe Illustrator to create a beautiful set of ears of wheat!

If you want to skip the tutorial and just use this wheat in your work, you can purchase the Ears of Wheat in front of Blue Sky item from GraphicRiver!

1. How to Draw the Grain

Step 1

Let’s start by using the Mesh Tool (U) to draw our first grain (Grain 1)!

First, draw an ellipse, filling it with #FFFBBB. Then, with the Mesh Tool, place a node in the middle of the shape and modify it by making its top and bottom edges sharp—you can use the Convert Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C).

Create a mesh grid by placing a couple more nodes, and then color the bottom part of the shape with #B3551C.

Continue coloring selected nodes. You will need these colors:

1. #FFFBBB
2. –
3. #B3551C
4. #ESB356
5. #F1CC77
6. #FAB75F
7. #FBF59A
8. #FADFA1

Step 2

Draw Grain 2 by resizing a copy of Grain 1 and coloring a single node with #C28B23.

Step 3

Draw Grain 3 similarly to Grain 1, by creating a mesh grid and coloring selected nodes. You will need these:

1. #F2B04B
2. –
3. #FEE177
4. #E89139
5. #FEAC41
6. #FFED94
7. #F8C861
8. #CA9D30

Step 4

Draw Grain 4 in a similar fashion. You will need to use these colors:

1. #E09A40
2. –
3. #963608
4. #7E1E04
5. #F6BE66
6. #E08D46
7. #F1A153
8. #AA4A1A

Step 5

Finish Grain 4 with these colors:

1. #CC7125
2. #FBEE92
3. #CE7E3B

Step 6

Finally, create Grain 5 out of a copy of Grain 4 by recoloring it.

Go to Edit > Edit Colors > Adjust Colors and apply the following settings:

• Red: 22%
• Green: 22%
• Blue: -12%

Step 7

Draw a stem for the grain by modifying a rectangle with Gradient Mesh.

Use these colors:

1. #CC7125
2. –
3. #C17C0D

Step 8

Apply these colors:

1. #CF8215
2. #F19E20
3. #DD7829

Step 9

Finish the stem using these:

1. #BB6009
2. #EBA851
3. #FAE19F
4. #FDBB3C

Step 10

Draw a final element by creating a line with the Pen Tool and applying a Stroke to it with a specific Profile (see in the screenshot).

Step 11

Expand the figure with Object > Expand Appearance, and then apply a Radial Gradient (#FFEBB5–#D28525) to it.

Step 12

Assemble our ear of wheat out of the different grains we made! Add a stem on the bottom.

Step 13

Add the final elements behind the ear of wheat.

2. How to Modify the Wheat

Step 1

Grab a copy of the grain we made in the first section and apply Effect > Warp > Arc to it, using 30% Bend.

Expand Appearance of the result.

Step 2

Take another copy of the original grain and Warp it as well—this time using 48% Bend.

Expand Appearance of the result.

Step 3

Warp a copy of the stalk we made before, using the same Effect, now with 11% Bend.

Step 4

Draw a new part of the stalk by creating a #F5CA57 rectangle, filling its bottom and left part with #E18E20, and then stretching its right side vertically and changing the Opacity of those three nodes to 0%.

Step 5

Bend this new element with Effect > Warp > Arc, using a 64% Bend.

Expand Appearance of the result.

Step 6

Attach the new part of the stalk to the original by moving them close together, and then coloring the overlapping nodes with the same color: #E18C20.

You can Group (Control-G) the two parts.

Step 7

Create four different ears of wheat out of the parts we created so far.

Step 8

Start creating one last element by bending a #F3BA40 rectangle with Effect > Warp > Arc, using the following settings:

• Bend: 29%
• Horizontal: 26%
• Vertical: 0%

Expand Appearance of the result.

Step 9

Color the resulting shape with the Mesh Tool. Use these colors:

1. –
2. #CD7D1F
3. #E7A931

Step 10

Draw one final part of the element by bending a #E7A931 shape with Arc.

Use the following settings:

• Bend: 17%
• Horizontal: 26%
• Vertical: 0%

Expand Appearance of the result.

Step 11

Color the selected nodes with #D18522, then with #F2B848.

Step 12

Join the last two elements together!

Step 13

Create a final group of wheat ears out of the elements we created in this section.

3. How to Create the Background

Step 1

You can learn how to create this sort of highlight in Step 6 of the last section of my autumn leaves tutorial.

Position them like this:

Step 2

Overlay the highlights on the wheat.

Step 3

Draw a simple background for the wheat, using #D3F8F9 and #F5F2BD.

Step 4

You can also learn how to create bokeh lights with Steps 3–4 in the first section of my sunflower tutorial!

Step 5

Add them on top of the background!

Awesome Work, You’re Done!

Thank you for following along, and please
feel welcome to post your result in the comments. I’ll be looking
forward to seeing it!

In this tutorial, you learned how to
create beautiful, photo-realistic ears of wheat using the Mesh Tool and the Warp Effects.

I
hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and learned how to use some useful
tools for the future! Check out some of my other vector tutorials on my instructor profile.

You can purchase these ears of wheat as well as other similar designs in my portfolio on GraphicRiver.