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  1. Illustrator User Guide
  2. Get to know Illustrator
    1. Introduction to Illustrator
      1. What's new in Illustrator
      2. Common questions
      3. Illustrator system requirements
      4. Illustrator for Apple silicon
    2. Workspace
      1. Workspace basics
      2. Create documents
      3. Tools
      4. Default keyboard shortcuts
      5. Customize keyboard shortcuts
      6. Introduction to artboards
      7. Manage artboards
      8. Customize the workspace
      9. Properties panel
      10. Set preferences
      11. Touch Workspace
      12. Microsoft Surface Dial support in Illustrator
      13. Recovery, undo, and automation
      14. Rotate view
      15. Rulers, grids, and guides
      16. Accessibility in Illustrator
      17. Safe Mode
      18. View artwork
      19. Use the Touch Bar with Illustrator
      20. Files and templates
      21. Synchronize settings using Adobe Creative Cloud
    3. Tools in Illustrator
      1. Selection
        1. Overview
        2. Selection
        3. Direct Selection
        4. Lasso
        5. Artboard
      2. Navigation
        1. Overview
        2. Zoom
        3. Rotate View
      3. Paint
        1. Overview
        2. Gradient
        3. Shape Builder
      4. Type
        1. Overview
        2. Type
        3. Type on Path
  3. Illustrator on the iPad
    1. Introduction to Illustrator on the iPad
      1. Illustrator on the iPad overview
      2. Illustrator on the iPad FAQs
      3. System requirements | Illustrator on the iPad
      4. What you can or cannot do on Illustrator on the iPad
    2. Workspace
      1. Illustrator on the iPad workspace
      2. Touch shortcuts and gestures
      3. Keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator on the iPad
      4. Manage your app settings
    3. Documents
      1. Work with documents in Illustrator on the iPad
      2. Import Photoshop and Fresco documents
    4. Select and arrange objects
      1. Create repeat objects
      2. Blend objects
    5. Drawing
      1. Draw and edit paths
      2. Draw and edit shapes
    6. Type
      1. Work with type and fonts
      2. Create text designs along a path
      3. Add your own fonts
    7. Work with images
      1. Vectorize raster images
    8. Color
      1. Apply colors and gradients
  4. Cloud documents
    1. Basics
      1. Work with Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Share and collaborate on Illustrator cloud documents
      3. Upgrade cloud storage for Adobe Illustrator
      4. Illustrator cloud documents | Common questions
    2. Troubleshooting
      1. Troubleshoot create or save issues for Illustrator cloud documents
      2. Troubleshoot Illustrator cloud documents issues
  5. Add and edit content
    1. Drawing
      1. Drawing basics
      2. Edit paths
      3. Draw pixel-perfect art
      4. Draw with the Pen, Curvature, or Pencil tool
      5. Draw simple lines and shapes
      6. Image Trace
      7. Simplify a path
      8. Define perspective grids
      9. Symbolism tools and symbol sets
      10. Adjust path segments
      11. Design a flower in 5 easy steps
      12. Perspective drawing
      13. Symbols
      14. Draw pixel-aligned paths for web workflows
    2. 3D effects and Adobe Substance materials
      1. About 3D effects in Illustrator
      2. Create 3D graphics
      3. Map artwork over 3D objects
      4. Create 3D objects
      5. Create 3D Text
    3. Color
      1. About color
      2. Select colors
      3. Use and create swatches
      4. Adjust colors
      5. Use the Adobe Color Themes panel
      6. Color groups (harmonies)
      7. Color Themes panel
      8. Recolor your artwork
    4. Painting
      1. About painting
      2. Paint with fills and strokes
      3. Live Paint groups
      4. Gradients
      5. Brushes
      6. Transparency and blending modes
      7. Apply stroke on an object
      8. Create and edit patterns
      9. Meshes
      10. Patterns
    5. Select and arrange objects
      1. Select objects
      2. Layers
      3. Group and expand objects
      4. Move, align, and distribute objects
      5. Stack objects    
      6. Lock, hide, and delete objects
      7. Duplicate objects
      8. Rotate and reflect objects
    6. Reshape objects
      1. Crop images
      2. Transform objects
      3. Combine objects
      4. Cut, divide, and trim objects
      5. Puppet Warp
      6. Scale, shear, and distort objects
      7. Blend objects
      8. Reshape using envelopes
      9. Reshape objects with effects
      10. Build new shapes with Shaper and Shape Builder tools
      11. Work with Live Corners
      12. Enhanced reshape workflows with touch support
      13. Edit clipping masks
      14. Live shapes
      15. Create shapes using the Shape Builder tool
      16. Global editing
    7. Type
      1. Add text and work with type objects
      2. Manage text area
      3. Fonts and typography
      4. Format type
      5. Import and export text
      6. Format paragraphs
      7. Special characters
      8. Create type on a path
      9. Character and paragraph styles
      10. Tabs
      11. Text and type
      12. Find missing fonts (Typekit workflow)
      13. Update text from Illustrator 10
      14. Arabic and Hebrew type
      15. Fonts | FAQ and troubleshooting tips
      16. Create 3D text effect
      17. Creative typography designs
      18. Scale and rotate type
      19. Line and character spacing
      20. Hyphenation and line breaks
      21. Text enhancements
      22. Spelling and language dictionaries
      23. Format Asian characters
      24. Composers for Asian scripts
      25. Create text designs with blend objects
      26. Create a text poster using Image Trace
    8. Create special effects
      1. Work with effects
      2. Graphic styles
      3. Create a drop shadow
      4. Appearance attributes
      5. Create sketches and mosaics
      6. Drop shadows, glows, and feathering
      7. Summary of effects
    9. Web graphics
      1. Best practices for creating web graphics
      2. Graphs
      3. SVG
      4. Create animations
      5. Slices and image maps
  6. Import, export, and save
    1. Import
      1. Import artwork files
      2. Import bitmap images
      3. Import artwork from Photoshop
      4. Place multiple files | Illustrator CC
      5. Unembed images
      6. Import Adobe PDF files
      7. Import EPS, DCS, and AutoCAD files
      8. Links information
    2. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator 
      1. Creative Cloud Libraries in Illustrator
    3. Save
      1. Save artwork
    4. Export
      1. Use Illustrator artwork in Photoshop
      2. Export artwork
      3. Collect assets and export in batches
      4. Package files
      5. Create Adobe PDF files
      6. Extract CSS | Illustrator CC
      7. Adobe PDF options
      8. File information and metadata
  7. Printing
    1. Prepare for printing
      1. Set up documents for printing
      2. Change the page size and orientation
      3. Specify crop marks for trimming or aligning
      4. Get started with large canvas
    2. Printing
      1. Overprint
      2. Print with color management
      3. PostScript printing
      4. Print presets
      5. Printer's marks and bleeds
      6. Print and save transparent artwork
      7. Trapping
      8. Print color separations
      9. Print gradients, meshes, and color blends
      10. White Overprint
  8. Automate tasks
    1. Data merge using the Variables panel
    2. Automation with scripts
    3. Automation with actions
  9. Troubleshooting 
    1. Crash issues
    2. Recover files after crash
    3. File issues
    4. GPU device driver issues
    5. Wacom device issues
    6. DLL file issues
    7. Memory issues
    8. Preferences file issues
    9. Font issues
    10. Printer issues
    11. Share crash report with Adobe

About selecting colors

You can select colors for your artwork from a variety of tools, panels, and dialog boxes in Illustrator. How you select color depends on the needs of your artwork. For example, if you want to use specific company-approved colors, you’ll want to select colors from the company-approved swatch library. If you want to match your colors with colors in other artwork, you can use the eyedropper or the Color Picker and enter exact color values.

You can use any of the following features for selecting color:

Swatches panel and swatch library panels

Provide individual colors and color groups. You can choose from preexisting swatches and libraries or create your own. You can also import libraries.

Color Picker

Provides a color spectrum from which you can visually select colors, color value text boxes for manually defining colors, and color swatches.

Eyedropper tool

Samples colors from your artwork when you click.

Color panel

Provides a color spectrum, individual color value sliders (such as a Cyan slider), and color value text boxes. You can specify fill and stroke colors from the Color panel. From the Color panel menu, you can create inverse and complementary colors for the current fill or stroke color, and create a swatch from the selected color.

Color Guide panel

Provides several harmony rules to choose from for creating color groups using a base color that you choose. You can create variations of colors using tints and shades, warm and cool colors, or vivid and muted colors. From this panel, you can open a color group in the Edit Colors/Recolor Artwork dialog box.

Edit Colors/Recolor Artwork dialog box

Part of this dialog box provides tools for precisely defining or adjusting the colors in a color group or artwork. The other part lets you recolor your artwork using the colors from a color group, or reduce or convert your colors for output.

Add Selected Colors command or New Color Group button

Create a color group containing the colors in selected artwork. This command and button are both located in the Swatches panel.

Color Picker overview

The Color Picker lets you select an object’s fill or stroke color by choosing from a color field and spectrum, defining colors numerically, or clicking a swatch.

Color Picker
Color Picker

A. Color field B. HSB color values C. New color rectangle D. Original color rectangle E. Color slider F. Color spectrum G. RGB color values H. Hexadecimal color value I. CMYK color values 

Display the Color Picker

  1. Double-click the fill or stroke color selection box in the Tools panel or Color panel.

Change the color spectrum displayed in the Color Picker

  1. Click a letter: H (Hue), S (Saturation), B (Brightness), R (Red), G (Green), or B (Blue).

Display only web-safe colors

Web-safe colors are those colors used by all web browsers, regardless of the platform.

  1. Select Only Web Colors.

View color swatches instead of the color spectrum

  1. Click Color Swatches. Click Color Models to return to view the color spectrum.

Select colors using the Color Picker

Do any of the following:

  1. Click or drag inside the color spectrum. A circular marker indicates the color’s position in the spectrum.

  2. Drag the triangles along the color slider or click inside the color slider.

  3. Enter values in any of the text boxes.

  4. Click Color Swatches, select a swatch, and click OK.

Color panel overview

You use the Color panel (Window > Color) to apply color to an object’s fill and stroke, and also to edit and mix colors. The Color panel can display color values using different color models. By default, only the most commonly used options are visible in the Color panel.

Color panel
Color panel

A. Fill color B. Stroke color C. panel menu D. None box E. Color spectrum bar F. Color slider G. Text box for a color component 

Change the color model

  1. Select Grayscale, RGB, HSB, CMYK, or Web Safe RGB from the panel menu.

Show all options in the panel

  1. Select Show Options from the panel menu. Alternatively, click the double triangle on the panel’s tab to cycle through the display sizes.

Select colors using the Color panel

  1. Select the color mode you want to use from the panel menu. The mode you select affects only the display of the Color panel; it does not change the color mode of the document.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • Drag or click in a slider.

    • Shift-drag a color slider to move the other sliders in relation to it (except for HSB sliders). This keeps a similar color but with a different tint or intensity.

    • Enter values in any of the text boxes.

    • Click in the color spectrum bar at the bottom of the panel. To select no color, click the None box at the left of the color bar; to select white, click the white swatch at the upper-right corner of the color bar; to select black, click the black swatch at the lower-right corner of the color bar.

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