How to quickly recolor illustration in AI
Hello everyone, in this post I want to share with you my steps on how to quickly recolor illustration in AI. It takes a moment to change all the colors in illustration and keep harmonious color palette, or change one particular color in all areas of the illustration without having to select them all one by one*.
Select your artwork and follow next steps 😉
How to quickly recolor illustration in AI? Step 1
When artwork is selected, click Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork… You should now have the color wheel panel open (please see the picture for the reference).
I have 4 colors here because I try to use a limited palette for my works. But this artwork can still be used as an example on which we will change colors.
Step 2
Now if you want to keep harmony colors, make sure the Link Unlink harmony colors toggle is enabled.
Note: I will add steps on how to change particular color in next steps. Stay tuned! 🙂
Step 3
Grab one of the colors and drag it to the other color you want. Other colors will be adjusted automatically as we have harmony colors locked.
In this step, you can play with the settings until you get the result you are happy with.
Step 4
This step is optional, just an advice to also check the options in Color Library, Colors and Color Theme Picker – you may get very interesting results. Also adjust the sliders in Prominent Colors section 😉
And you can return to the original colors using the Reset button in the upper right top corner.
Step 5
In this step we will change one particular color.
To do this, disable Harmony colors toggle. Pick up a color and drag it to the color you want.
Also check Advanced Options. Briefly – a new pop-up window will open with all the colors of your illustration, and here you can also change the specific color and select the shade of the color you just selected.
I would like to add that I am still learning Illustrator myself, and by no means am I saying it is the only right way to recolor your artwork. So if you know a faster and more convenient way, or if you see a mistake in my post, please let me know in the comments! Thanks in advance.
-Tatiana
*P.S. By the way, it is possible to automatically select all elements with the same fill color (stroke color, fill & stroke color and other combinations as well) using the following actions. Select one of the elements you want to select, click Select > Same and choose the conditions for the selection, e.g. Fill color. Tadaaaa! This will select all elements with the same fill color! 🙂
P.P.S. Please read more of my “How To” posts in this category.
P.P.P.S. Artwork in this post is part of my upcoming Creative Market product. Follow me to get updates from me when it is ready!