Gradient Mesh with Custom Graphics

I followed a tutorial to expand my skills with gradient mesh by creating the apple you see below. First, I traced an image of an apple with the pen tool. Then, by using the eyedropper tool and setting the gradient mesh, I was able to pull colors from the actual images to create a vectored apple that closely resembles a real one! I feel that this new skill set will expand my ability to stray from the cartoon like designs of solid colors (although sometimes solid colors are cool). Creating the gradient mesh was a lot easier than I was expecting, and I think I would be more willing to incorporate it into my future projects now that I know how quick it is.