
  1. Design & Illustration
  2. Gradient Mesh Tool

How to Draw a Hamburger and a Hot Dog in Adobe Illustrator

Final product image
What You'll Be Creating

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the Mesh Tool in Adobe Illustrator to create a hot dog and a hamburger!

If you want to skip the tutorial and just use these items in your work, you can purchase the Hot Dog and the Hamburger from GraphicRiver!

Hot Dog
the Hot Dog
the Hamburger

1. How to Create a Hot Dog Mesh

Step 1

Let's start off by drawing the top bun with Gradient Mesh.

Create an orange rectangle—the color is #CF6822.

Next, grab the Mesh Tool (U). By clicking, create nodes, which in turn create a Mesh Grid. When you have four rows and four columns of mesh, grab the edges of the rectangle and move them to make the shape rounder. It should resemble the top half of a bun.

Once you're done with the shaping, select the bottom two rows of nodes and color them with #F5CD99.

Finally, color the top two rows of nodes with #A3320E.

begin drawing the bun with mesh

Step 2

Finish off drawing the top visible half of the hot dog bun by placing more Mesh nodes and coloring them as in the screenshot below.

Always look for the nodes that are selected in each step and color them with the hex code that is present under each image.

You will need these colors:

  1. #E19843
  2. #F0AF4B
  3. #F6D4AF
  4. #DB9559
draw top mesh bun

Step 3

Begin drawing the bottom part of the bun. Follow the screenshot, as in the previous steps.

  1. #CF6822
  2. -
  3. #A0330F
  4. #EDC089
draw mesh bun

Step 4

Finish coloring the bun.

  1. #F3BE5E
  2. #F9E3C0
  3. #E2A36A
  4. #8F2609
create bottom bun

Step 5

Begin drawing the sausage in the same manner.

  1. #C94D21
  2. -
  3. #89190C
  4. #F9ECE8
color mesh sausage

Step 6

Add a few more touches.

  1. #D37550
  2. #6D0800
color sausage

Step 7

Change some colors on the right tip of the sausage.

  1. #A0321A
  2. #881E0E
finish sausage tip

Step 8

Color some nodes with #BD4E31.

Then, modify the nodes on the right and left tips of the sausage as indicated below.

finish sausage

Step 9

Let's draw the mustard!

  1. #FBD020
  2. #D6560A
draw mustard

Step 10

To make it wavy, create some more Mesh nodes. Then, select every other column, alternating them, and press the Down key a couple of times, moving the nodes downwards.

Repeat until the image looks like a wavy strip of mustard.

change mustard shape

Step 11

Tweak the shape and the colors a bit more.

  1. #D98911
  2. #FFFFFF

Step 12

Now we need some shadows. Draw two shapes and fill them with #5B1B0C and #C94D21, as indicated below.

Place the smaller shape inside the bigger one.

make shapes for blend

Step 13

Change the Opacity of the big shape to 0%.

change opacity

Step 14

Next, select both objects and go to Object > Blend > Blend Options. Set the mode to Specified Steps with an amount of 30Object > Blend > Make to create the shadow.

make blend

Step 15

Create a thinner copy of the Blend. Change the Transparency of both objects to Multiply.

create copy

Step 16

Place the shadows under both buns.

place shadows

Step 17

Add the sausage in the back and the mustard strip on top.

add sausage

Step 18

Let's draw another shadow! Use #5B1B0C and #FFFFFF.

circles for shadow

Step 19

Create another Blend like we just did in Steps 13-14.

make blend

Step 20

Place the shadow under the hot dog!

place shadow

2. How to Create a Texture

Step 1



Select and isolate only the indicated cluster of paths, as indicated in the screenshot below.

isolate texture

Step 2

Clone this particular part until you create a fairly long line.

clone texture

Step 3

Group (Control-G) these elements, and then change their Transparency to Overlay and Opacity to 50%.

change opacity

3. How to Draw the Hamburger

Step 1

Begin drawing the top bun with Meshjust as we did with the hot dog.

  1. #FDCC8D
  2. #933800
  3. #D8883B
start top mesh bun

Step 2

Continue coloring.

  1. #BC681E
  2. #FFF1C6
  3. #FFBF6A
top bun

Step 3

Add some more final touches.

  1. #FFCC82
  2. #7E2403
  3. #E1C5B2
finish bun mesh

Step 4

Modify the nodes on the bottom edge to give the bun a more realistic look.

modify bun

Step 5

Draw another Blend shadow, just as we did before in Steps 12-14 of the previous section.

  • #5B1D07
  • #AA4B0B
make blend

Step 6

Place the shadow under the bun.

place shadow

Step 7

Draw the first piece of cheese.

  1. -
  2. #FFE885
  3. #CB7B0E
  4. #CC7D10
  5. #FCC94E
draw mesh cheese

Step 8

Finish the cheese.

  1. #FFFBEC
  2. #FEF1B4
  3. #CF7F12
  4. #520300
finish melted cheese

Step 9

Draw the cucumber.

  1. #437000
  2. #8EA456
  3. #567902
draw cucumber

Step 10

Finish the vegetable.

  1. #8BA152
  2. #2C4500
  3. #365900
draw cucumber

Step 11

Create two copies of the Mesh side to side. Then, draw a green ellipse representing the top of each cucumber.

finish cucumbers

Step 12

Place the ingredients under the bun.

add elements to the burger

Step 13

Draw the tomato.

  1. #D10C07
  2. #FD6853
  3. #690100
mesh tomato

Step 14

Finish the tomato.

  1. #3A0000
  2. #FFFFFF
  3. #B90100
draw tomato

Step 15

Add a #A51500 top to the tomato.

finish tomato

Step 16

Begin the second piece of cheese.

  1. #FFE36C
  2. #E59000
  3. #A42B08
draw mesh cheese

Step 17

Color the cheese.

  1. #913B00
  2. #FFFFFF
  3. #FFF49B
draw cheese

Step 18

Draw the meat.

  1. #874115
  2. #340902
  3. #A6591D
draw meat with mesh

Step 19

Finish the meat.

  1. #FFE36C
  2. #E59000
  3. #A42B08
finish drawing meat

Step 20

If you made the texture before, apply it to the meat.

add texture to meat

Step 21

Draw the onion.

  1. #FAF5C8
  2. #3D1506
  3. #FFFFF2
  4. #E9E1AC
  5. #E3CC98
draw onion

Step 22

Add the ingredients to the burger.

add elements of burger

Step 23

Finally, draw the bottom bun.

  1. #FBCE73
  2. #EB9626
  3. #A75C1D
  4. #A0780D
draw bottom bun with mesh

Step 24

Finish the bun.

  1. #945D1B
  2. #F9DC9B
  3. #EB982A
  4. #B5681B
draw bun

Step 25

Draw the seeds for the bun.

  1. #ECB369
  2. -
  3. #FBEDAC
  4. #FAC781
draw seeds with mesh

Step 26

Finish drawing the seeds.

  1. #FDE5A1
  2. #D89748
  3. #C4711E
  4. #E5A75B
draw seeds

Step 27

Add seeds on top of the burger.

add seeds

Step 28

Grab the shadow we created for the hot dog and place it under the burger!

add shadow

Awesome Work, You're Now Done!


In this tutorial, you learned how to create a pair of fast food items using the Mesh Tool.

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 items (Hot Dog, Hamburger) as well as other similar designs in my portfolio on GraphicRiver.

Hot Dog
Hot Dog
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