In this final part of this tutorial, we will add the mug handle, with highlights and shading, to the main cup for the mug, that we finished in Part 3. We will combine it with the cast shadow, and have a finished drawing.
To keep this tutorial as short as possible, we will do things a bit backwards. Above you see our finished version. And because there are so many different possibilities for style of the handle you might have drawn, we will generalize the instructions, rather than show very specific steps.
Below you can see the line drawing of our handle on the left, and the finished version on the right.
Each of the 4 closed colored paths in the line drawing above left, is filled with a gradient as you can see above, right. But different kinds of gradients, for different reasons. The blue and green shaded areas on the left use more typical gradients, as you can see on the right.
But in the pink and orange sections, we have used a special configuration of gradient to create the illusion of a shadow. Usually gradients have very smooth and gradual color changes, like the example below, left. But shadows usually have very sharp edges. See below how we arranged the gradient stops to make a sharp edge. Although we have used a rectangle, for clarity.
You can see 3rd from the left how you could make a somewhat blurry shadow by keeping the gradient stops further apart. But for a sharper edge, move them very close together, like the far right. Using the gradient settings, you can put those stops right on top of each other, and make the sharpest transition possible. Note that this technique only works for a shadow when there is a straight, or mostly straight edge. Otherwise you would have to draw closed paths for the shadows, like we did on the inner surface of the handle.
Because the edge of the handle is catching the strongest possible light (in our drawing), we have used the strokes of the pink section – the edge of the handle. We applied the lightest highlight color from the mug and blurred them. When we are zoomed into the handle, those blurred lines do not work – they look strange. But when we view the handle at it’s finished size, the blur works to make the edge of the handle seem more smooth and rounded. On your handle, you might want to experiment with different widths for those strokes. Depending on the style of handle and overall size of your drawing, it might work better to use wider strokes.
Place the cast shadow that you made in Part 2, below the mug in z-order. Give it a small amount of blur, if you like.
And below is our final version.
If you get stuck on this tutorial, or have questions or comments, please feel free to visit our forum where you can ask for help. Or share your Inkscape artwork, or just visit and say Hello! To learn more about Inkscape, you might want to look at Inkscape for Artists: Step-by-Step. If you enjoyed this tutorial, you can find more in the menu at the top of this page.
Draw a Coffee Mug, Part 4 — Introduction to Gradients and Filters, conclusion © 2025 by J Brynn is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0