Illustrator CS6 - Coloring with Gradients

Question

Doing some stuff for this guy... he wants the flag of India...
[img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/fiverr.com-message-attachments/message_attachements/7178601/origin al/IndianFlag_Shape_Refrence.png?AWSAccessKeyId=121YZTR34RRBRSVSBFR2&Expires=1354345477&Si gnature=tuXNiZuhsnQdTpc9A18mZZyvYWE%3D[/img]
to look like this USA flag
[img]http://s3.amazonaws.com/fiverr.com-message-attachments/message_attachements/7178602/origin al/stock-illustration-1648509-usa-flag.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=121YZTR34RRBRSVSBFR2&Expires=135 4345478&Signature=k4ebAvd1U2IEWRHKwS8kipE6LRk%3D[/img]
Done with[I] gradients in Illustrator.[/I]
NO photoshop.
Anyway, this is what I have done so far... and he doesn't like it.
[img]http://sadpanda.us/images/1270125-J603TMG.png[/img]
I've spent about 12 hours trying to get this stupid thing to look right.. What i had to do is make each "gradient section" a different "shape", and make it exactly the right angle to contour with the flag. (IF anyone knows an easier way to do this, let me knowww)
Anyway, the part I cant figure out is... I can do up and down gradients fine (even though it takes forever)
What I cant figure out how to do is the gradients that dont go up and down all the way.
I could do this in about 3 seconds in photoshop, but I'm just about ready to give up in illustrator....
This is what I wanna do in illustrator...
[img]http://sadpanda.us/images/1270121-YIXPUXV.png[/img]
Thanks for any help or advice <3

Answer 1

What i had to do is make each "gradient section" a different "shape", and make it exactly the right angle to contour with the flag...
Traditionally, that's part of  what you do to render realistic shading in vector drawing programs. Before features like transparency effects and gradient meshes, such drawings are basically a combination of the gradient fill types provided by the program (in Illustrator, limited to the most basic two: linear and radial) and object blends. In an illustration like your sample, with compound curvature surfaces, a key to that is understanding that you can create blends between grad fills.
So that drawing could be done using nothing more than those techniques: grad fills and blends. It would not be unusual for it to take 10 hours for a beginner not yet familiar with the tools to accomplish. An intermediate level user could do it in an hour or two.
Transparency effects and gradient meshes provide more options.
The trade-off with use of transparency effects is that you have to be aware of and vigilant about the fact that such effects often have to be rasterized as soon as they leave the drawing program, which--depending on the intended usage--can obviate the whole purpose of doing it in a vector program to begin with.
The trade-off with gradient meshes is that the interface for using them is quite unintuitive and particularly frustrating to beginners.
Beyond that general advice, you'd be asking for specifics on how to draw that partricular image of that particular flag; you'd essentially be asking for someone in a user forum to draw it for you as a custom step-by-step "tutorial".
JET