Creating Coffee Steam - Illustrator CS2 Tutorial
Jacquelin Vanderwood

October, 2006

Here's my cup of coffee and I want to make it look like it's steaming.

So the first thing we need to do is to create a vertical rectangle.

With the rectangle selected, select Create Gradient Mesh.

We'll make 6 rows and 1 column to start.

Use the Direct Selection tool to move points around to make it look like a path of steam.

With the Gradient Mesh, set in more columns.

Select every other column with the Direct Selection tool and give it a gray color.

Then set the Transparency to about 57%.

Next Rasterize the column of steam and apply a Gaussian Blur to it.

I reduced the size of the steam and called it finished.

Copyright (c) 2006, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved