Finished Gradient Mesh Project

I am so happy to say that my gradient mesh project is finally finished. 

I started out by using the pen tool to outline each one of the cow's spots. For some of the spots I even broke them down into smaller sections because of the difference in color. I then used the gradient mesh tool to fill in the spots with the correct coloring. I then broke down the body of the cow into three separate sections and used the gradient mesh tool to fill each one of them in also. 

I then used the pen and gradient mesh tool to create the neck, handle, and top of the kettle. The silver part of the handle looked dull, so I experimented with a few different effect to try and make them look shiny like the original picture. The plastic wrap effect worked best for this. 

I moved on to the cows head and bell where I also used the pen and gradient mesh tools. 

The head of the cow was still missing a lot of detail so I used the pen tool, shape tool, brush effect, and changed the opacity on parts to make it look like the original photo. 

I used the pen and gradient mesh tool to create the background line at the bottom, and filled the background with the correct coloring. I then created a small layer at the bottom of the cow, filled it with grey, and used the drop shadow effect to create the shadow under the cow. 

This project was definitely a great learning experience, but I am very glad that I finally have mine finished!