colors and fills - inkwellatedison.files.wordpress.com · copyright © 2013 mygraphicslab / pearson...

Copyright © 2013 MyGraphicsLab / Pearson Education

COLORS AND FILLS

MYGRAPHICSLAB: ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR CS6


IN THIS LESSON, YOU WILL LEARN TO:

Manage the Color panel Define and apply color schemes Create fills Apply pattern fills Define and apply gradients Generate a gradient mesh

Choosing the proper color settings for Illustrator is acrucial step before creating artwork


COLOR IN ILLUSTRATOR

Because matching color and output is so central to illustration,Illustrator provides many ways to define, and organize colors

Choose a color mode when you create a new project Generally speaking, stick to that color mode throughout a project


THE COLOR PANEL

The Color panel is Illustrator’s universal way to select colors It allows you to select any color available in your color mode It appears and works differently in different color modes

Other options for defining colors The Control panel (for selected objects) Swatch panels (sets of colors)


THE COLOR GUIDE

The Color Guide panel is helpful inchoosing and generating colorschemes (sets of a limited numberof colors used in an illustration)

Use the Color Guide panel to: Generate color schemes from a

base color by choosing a harmonyrule and/or a variation type(tints/shades, warm/cool, orvivid/muted)

Apply any resulting swatch as a fillor stroke color, and save variationsfrom the panel as a group to theSwatches panel

Edit the current color group via theEdit Colors dialog


CHOOSING COLOR MODES

How to figure out which Color Modeto use Work backwards from output Ask your printer or service bureau, or

web designer, which color mode theyrequire in artwork

Digital color is defined and generatedvery differently than print output

Managing web and print projects Artwork destined for print and web

generally requires two different fileswith different color modes

The spectrum (range) of colorsavailable for digital devices is muchwider than that for print output


COLOR FOR WEB

The Color panel has threecolor modes for web (besidesgrayscale, which works forboth print and web): RGB — the standard scheme

for mixing red, green, and blueto produce colors

HSB — a variation on RGBinvolving Hue (color),Saturation (depth), andbrightness

“Web-safe” colors — arestricted subset of RGBsupported on almost all digitalviewing devices; the WebSwatch panel displays this setof colors


COLOR FOR PRINT – CMYK

Standard professionalprinting processescombine cyan, magenta,yellow, and black toproduce the availablerange of colors Cyan and magenta

are variants of blueand pinkish red,respectively

How are cyan, magenta,yellow, and blackcombined? Print processes vary,

and high-quality colorprinting requiresvarious forms of colorproofing to managecolor veracity(accuracy)


USING SPOT COLOR

Process vs. spot color Process printing uses four- (or more)

colors, using variations of the CMYKcolor mode

Spot color printing uses a single,selected color (“fire engine red,” forexample), usually plus black

Printers set up spot colors based onpalettes or “books” that you choosecolors from, and then assign in Illustrator

Spot colors are indicated with a small dotin the corner of the color panel in whichthey are displayed

PANTONE Colors The widely supported PANTONE sets of

spot colors are one reliable system forachieving color accuracy

PANTONE colors are available in a widerange of swatches


USING THE SWATCHES PANEL(S)

The Swatch panel... A handy way to organize colors you are using in a project Add swatches by dragging colors into the panel from just about anything Delete swatches by selecting them and choosing Delete Swatches from the panel menu The Swatches panel saves with a file

Swatch libraries Preset collections of colors They can’t be edited, but you can drag colors from them into

the Swatches panel


USING GRADIENT FILLS

Gradient fills “blend” different colors Gradients can be defined from two or more base

colors applied to stops within a gradient


HOW TO CREATE A GRADIENT

With Gradient panel or the Gradient tool... You can define new gradients in the Gradient panel You can refine existing, applied gradients interactively with the annotator bar that

appears on a selected object when you click the Gradient tool In either case, you can adjust a gradient fill by...

Double-clicking on a stop (the five-sided shapes on the gradient bar) and choosing adifferent color

Moving a stop Moving the midpoint diamonds (in the Gradient panel) or squares (in the Annotator) to adjust the pace of the gradient Holding down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key while dragging an existing color

stop to duplicate it Dragging a color stop off the bar to remove it from the gradient


USING GRADIENT LIBRARIES

A wide range of preset gradients are available from Swatch libraries To view the Gradient swatch libraries, choose Window > Swatch Libraries >

Gradient, and choose one of the sets of preset gradients


DEFINING LINEAR GRADIENTS

Linear gradients Start at one end of a path and end at the other end Can have many color stops

To change the position, length, or angle of a linear gradient inan object: Select an object that contains a linear gradient fill Select the Gradient tool Click and drag on the Annotator Stretch or compress by dragging an end point of the Annotator Change angle by rotating the end of the Annotator


DEFINING RADIAL GRADIENTS

You can control the position, length, shape, orangle of a radial gradient in the Gradient panel(digitally) or with the Annotator (interactively)


APPLYING A GRADIENT TO A STROKE

Illustrator CS6 allows you toapply a gradient to a selectedstroke Select an object, and choose the

Stroke focus in the Tools panel Select a gradient to apply that

gradient to the stroke of theselected object


SAVING GRADIENTS

The easiest way to save a gradient is to copy it (drag it) to the Swatches panel Load one or more gradients from a swatch library into the Swatches panel by

selecting them (in the swatch library) and choosing Add to Swatches from thelibrary’s panel menu


APPLYING A GRADIENT MESH

The Mesh tool creates gradientmeshes — highly complex gradients

Gradient meshes can be used tocreate 3D-looking gradients, such as: Topographical maps Spheres with an apparent light source Photo-realistic images


WORKING WITH PATTERN FILLS

Definable or stock (Illustrator-provided) pattern fills are a powerful and effectiveway to generate textures and backgrounds

You can adjust pattern fills by rescaling just the pattern


CREATING A FILL

Illustrator CS6 makes it easier tocreate unique fills Create and select artwork that

will be transformed into a pattern Choose Object > Pattern > Make The new pattern is added to the

Swatches panel Illustrator displays the tiling

pattern in New Pattern mode,previewing pattern tiling

The New Pattern Options panelopens – here you can edit patternproperties

Press Esc to exit New Pattern(preview) mode


COLOR TROUBLESHOOTING

Having colors appear (on output) as you define them in Illustrator isalways a challenge, because... Digital display environments are not consistent Print output can be unpredictable

Color management tools help by matching colors in Illustrator withoutput (by choosing a color mode)

Use advanced color management tools in the Color Settings dialog(Edit > Color Settings) This dialog box provides access to preset management settings for various

publishing situations, including press and web output, and also lets youchoose custom settings

Check with your print provider or digital output designer for advice on thesesettings!


THREE HANDY TECHNIQUES FOR COLORS

Invert colors by choosing Edit > Edit Colors > Invert Colors to convert colors inselected objects to their opposite values on the color scale

Convert colors in a selected object to grayscale by choosing Edit > Edit Colors >Convert to Grayscale

Batch-recolor many selected objects by choosing Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork and redefining all selected colors globally


THREE HANDY TECHNIQUES FOR FILLS

To create a pattern fill fromscratch, design a rectangle andchoose Edit > Define Pattern

To edit a pattern fill, drag it outof its swatch library, edit it, andresave it as a pattern

To move a pattern within anobject, hold down the tilde key(~) and drag on the pattern


WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

Select color modes in the Color panel Define colors in the Color panel Define and apply color schemes in the Swatches panel Define, apply, and interactively adjust gradients for strokes

and fills Apply and rescale pattern fills

Create tiling patterns Create a gradient mesh


REVIEW: KEY POINTS

Color is output-dependent! RGB (or HSB) for digital output CMYK for print output

Gradients and gradient meshes Blend different colors Add dimensionality to artwork

Patterns Illustrator comes with a big selection of them in libraries A pattern can be rescaled without changing the size of the

shape the pattern fills

colors and fills - inkwellatedison.files.wordpress.com · copyright © 2013 mygraphicslab / pearson...

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