Tyler Jordan covers tapered strokes in After Effects in a practical example.

Before a recent update to Adobe After Effects, a tapered stroke was somewhat of an undertaking. Now shape layers round out the types of things you can do with vectors in After Effects by adding the ability to create and animate tapered stroke effects. 

The Tapered Stroke in Action.

A new tutorial from Tyler Jordan (Tiny House Media) runs through some of the attributes for working with the new system in After Effects. The tutorial covers working with a practical example that walks through most of the characteristics available. Tapering came in the May 2020 update of After Effects and was reviewed by Creative Dojo shortly after. 

Free Plugin Adds Gradients.

The new additions to Ae are a great start, yet, if you are looking for a bit more features with variable-width strokes in Ae, you can check out Thicc Stroke from Plugin Everything. The Plugin lets you add gradients along a path as well as offering tapered stroke effects to previous versions of Ae, going back to AE CS6 and up.

Get Thicc Stroke for Free.

Download the new variable stroke plugin for After Effects here.