4 Ways To Color In Adobe Illustrator

You can open or create a new document at any time in Illustrator by clicking File in the menu bar at the top, followed by New or Open. There are a variety of document profiles you can choose from. These include “Web,” “Print”, “Video and Film”, “Mobile Devices” and more. This determines what color mode your document uses. Digital display graphics, like video, web, and mobile devices use an “RGB” color mode for Red, Green, and Blue. Print documents use a CMYK color mode for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black.

The Shape Tools: The shape tools allows you to create specific shapes, such as rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and stars. You can find the Rectangle tool in the tool panel to the left by default. Click and hold the rectangle tool in the Tools panel to display all available shape tools. [1] X Research source The Pen Tool: The pen tool allows you to create custom shapes with precise curves. It has an icon that resembles a fountain pen tip. With the pen tool selected, click to place a vector point. Click another spot to create a straight line from one vector point to another. Click and drag to create a curved line from one vector point to another. Click the original vector point to close the shape. The Pencil Tool: The pencil tool allows you to create free-form shapes marks as if you were drawing with a pencil on paper. This is most useful for quick sketches and creating a hand-drawn look. The Paintbrush Tool: The paintbrush tool allows you to create free-form shapes and marks that have stylized outlines and paths. This is most useful for creating a painted look.

The Shape Tools: The shape tools allows you to create specific shapes, such as rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and stars. You can find the Rectangle tool in the tool panel to the left by default. Click and hold the rectangle tool in the Tools panel to display all available shape tools. [2] X Research source The Pen Tool: The pen tool allows you to create custom shapes with precise curves. It has an icon that resembles a fountain pen tip. With the pen tool selected, click to place a vector point. Click another spot to create a straight line from one vector point to another. Click and drag to create a curved line from one vector point to another. Click the original vector point to close the shape. The Pencil Tool: The pencil tool allows you to create free-form shapes marks as if you were drawing with a pencil on paper. This is most useful for quick sketches and creating a hand-drawn look. The Paintbrush Tool: The paintbrush tool allows you to create free-form shapes and marks that have stylized outlines and paths. This is most useful for creating a painted look.

To view more swatches, click the icon that resembles books (or folders on older versions of Illustrator) to open the swatch library. It’s in the lower-left corner of the swatch menu. Select one of the categories in the swatch library to open a new window with swatches from that category.

If you don’t see the Color icon, click Window in the menu bar at the top. Then click Color to open the color panel.

If you are working on a document for print, the slider bars will be labeled “C,” “M,” “Y,” and “K” for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

The Shape Tools: The shape tools allows you to create specific shapes, such as rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and stars. You can find the Rectangle tool in the tool panel to the left by default. Click and hold the rectangle tool in the Tools panel to display all available shape tools. [3] X Research source The Pen Tool: The pen tool allows you to create custom shapes with precise curves. It has an icon that resembles a fountain pen tip. With the pen tool selected, click to place a vector point. Click another spot to create a straight line from one vector point to another. Click and drag to create a curved line from one vector point to another. Click the original vector point to close the shape. The Pencil Tool: The pencil tool allows you to create free-form shapes marks as if you were drawing with a pencil on paper. This is most useful for quick sketches and creating a hand-drawn look. The Paintbrush Tool: The paintbrush tool allows you to create free-form shapes and marks that have stylized outlines and paths. This is most useful for creating a painted look.

The Shape Tools: The shape tools allows you to create specific shapes, such as rectangles, ellipses, polygons, and stars. You can find the Rectangle tool in the tool panel to the left by default. Click and hold the rectangle tool in the tools panel to display all available shape tools. [4] X Research source The Pen Tool: The pen tool allows you to create custom shapes with precise curves. It has an icon that resembles a fountain pen tip. It’s in the tools panel to the left. With the pen tool selected, click to place a vector point. Click another spot to create a straight line from one vector point to another. Click and drag to create a curved line from one vector point to another. Click the original vector point to close the shape. The Pencil Tool: The pencil tool allows you to create free-form shapes marks as if you were drawing with a pencil on paper. This is most useful for quick sketches and creating a hand-drawn look. The Paintbrush Tool: The paintbrush tool allows you to create free-form shapes and marks that have stylized outlines and paths. This is most useful for creating a painted look.

If you don’t see the Gradient panel icon on screen, click Window in the menu bar at the top. Then click Gradient to open the Gradient panel.

Linear gradients blend from one color to another in a straight line. Radial gradients blend from one color to another in a circular fashion.

Alternatively, you can drag and drop a swatch from an open swatch library menu onto one of the stops.

You can also select a new hue by clicking a color in the rainbow-colored bar at the bottom.

You can add more stops to the blend by clicking where you want to add a stop below the gradient blend bar in the Gradient panel. To remove a stop, click and drag it down to remove it from the gradient blend bar.

If you are using CMYK, and there is some grey in between a colored and a black stop, select the black stop and add more of the color you are transitioning from under the black. For example, if you are transitioning from red to black, and it appears grey in the middle. Select the black stop and increase the amount of red in the black stop. This creates a smoother blend. You can adjust the position of the stops by clicking and dragging them left and right. You can also click and drag the notch at the top of the gradient blend bar to adjust the blend.