Illustrator How to color unclosed paths

[LemonKicks]

Hello everyone,

I really hope someone is able to help me with coloring my logo in Illustrator. I'm confused as I can't use Live Paint for some reason and I'm not sure what the right way to color it is (since the paths aren't closed).
This is my current logo:


I made a quick example in Photoshop of what I am aiming for. I would like it to be colored like this (preferably with gradients):



Can someone explain to me what's the best way to do this?

Thank you!

 

[Eggy]

I don't use Illustrator but CorelDraw wich is simular to Illustrator.
I know that if the path isn't closed there's no way to color or gradient color it.
What you could do is make the 'nodes' appear (I don't know how its done in Illustrator) and pull them towards each other to close the path.
But I'm sure someone with Illustrator knowledge will appear to help you out.

 

[hawkeye]

Object-Live Paint-Gap Options...

 

[agentmoeller]

An easy cheat is to create a copy of each shape with the pen tool, make it a closed object, put it behind your original shape, set it to "no stoke," and fill it however you want.

" if you're not cheating, you're not trying! "

- The Oakland Raiders