[ Music ]
>> Hello, and welcome to this video tutorial brought
to you by TastyTuts.com.
In this tutorial, I'm going to talk about color
and demonstrate some color effects
and tools in Adobe Illustrator.
In Illustrator, there are many ways to use color.
It all really comes down to what exactly you're using color for.
For example, if you are creating artwork for digital and web,
you will want to use RGB colors.
And if you're crating artwork for print,
you may wish to use CMYK colors.
In some cases, you may find yourself using a Pantone book
to reference colors or a printer you wish
to use will only require Pantones.
In this video, I'm going to be covering swatches and Pantones
and discussing how you can customize and handle your colors
for your specific task.
Later, I will also be touching on gradients and transparency.
To follow along with this tutorial, you will need
to open this document I have prepared especially
for this tutorial.
This can be found in the introduction folder
in the project folder.
Now, you can download this project folder for free.
The download link is in the description.
So with the project folder open, click introduction,
color effects, versions, and select the version
of Illustrator you're using.
In my case, it's CC, and open the color effect file
and you could have something that looks like this.
Now, along the way, I'm going
to be referencing particular panels here on the right.
If you have been following this course from the start,
you will be familiar with the way I have my panels
structured here.
In one of the earlier videos on this course, I demonstrated how
to customize panels and create your own workspace.
In my current workspace, I have all my color panels appear
on the top for ease of access.
If you don't have this, you can either skip back to my Panels
and Workspace video and learn how to create this panel set up,
or you can activate the panels as and when I mention now.
Now, we're going to be covering a lot in this video
and in quite some depth.
If you wish to skip ahead at any point in this video or back,
you can do so quite simply.
The topics covered in this video are listed
in the description along with their times,
so be sure to check it out.
So I'm going to begin by talking about some of the color panels
in Adobe Illustrator we will be using in this tutorial.
To make this really clear, I'm just going to click on each tab
and drag it up here so you can clearly see them.
I recommend you do the same.
So here we have of the swatches panel, the color panel,
our Pantone panel, we have the gradient panel
and the transparency panel.
If you don't see these panels, you can access these if you come
to window and you can select them from here,
though you will not be able to get
to this Pantone panel from the panel list.
I'll be talking about this a little later on.
Okay, so first off, we have the swatches panel.
Now, this is a handy panel
where you can access some predefined colors.
If you're new to Illustrator, your swatches panel will come
with a bunch of predefined swatches just like mine here.
So here we mostly have some colors,
but we also have some color effects too,
such as gradients and patent overlays.
If you move your mouse cursor over your swatches,
you will see the name pop up.
Now, if you double click on the swatch, up will pop the options,
and this window will tell you more details about the color.
In this instance, we have the color mode of the document sent
to RGB so this swatch is showing the color mode of RGB,
and here we can see the values.
At this point, it's important to mention
that currently my document color mode is currently sent to RGB.
You can change your color mode by coming up to the top menu
and selecting file, scrolling down to document color mode
and selecting CMYK or RGB from here.
If you're doing work for web and digital, you will want to set
to RGB, and if you're doing work for print,
you will want to set this to CMYK.
If you change to CMYK, you will notice when you double-click
on some of the swatches, it will display the CMYK values instead
of RGB.
So double-clicking
in the swatches panel will show you the values.
However, with the swatch selected,
you will also see the color in your tools menu.
For example, I'm going to select a color from the swatch panel,
and here we can see it in our tools menu.
Now, if you come to the square and the tools menu
and double-click this, a color picker option menu will appear.
This will allow you to see the web color of that swatch,
and here you could continue to select a new color
from the color spectrum here.
Adding colors to the swatches panel is very easy.
For example, let's just click a color here
on the second art board.
Upon click, you will notice the color appear in the tools menu.
If I want to save this color for later,
we can simply put our mouse cursor over the color square,
click and drag into the swatches panel, and release.
And there is our new color swatch on the end there, easy.
In the swatches panel, you could also create
and store swatches you make yourself as color libraries.
This makes it easy if you're working on a particular project
and wish to save your colors.
You can also export the libraries too
and share them with others.
If you look closely, you can see I have some folders here
with some swatches I have prepared earlier.
And I'll be talking a little more about this later.
So the swatches panel is a pretty handy panel
and you will be finding yourself using this a lot
as you create your artwork.
Next, we have a color panel.
As you can see here, we have a complete color spectrum.
And if we move our mouse cursor over this,
we will see the cursor change to an eyedropper tool,
and this will allow us to choose a color like so.
Once we have the color in mind, we can simply select it,
and just like earlier, the color will appeal in the tools menu.
And if we like that color, we can simply drag it
into our swatches panel.
Next, we have a Pantone panel.
This contains a library of solid coded Pantones.
Now, this is not open by default if you're new to Illustrator.
If you want this panel, you're going to have
to open this separately.
I'll be showing you all the later on how we can do this
and how to incorporate these colors into our work.
Next, we have the color guide panel.
Now, this is a handy panel if you seek
to discover alternative shades and tints of a particular color.
For example, if I select a color in the swatches panel,
notice how this color guide panel changes.
The top bar features the color
and shows some alternative shades and tints,
and below other colors around the same tone.
This can be pretty handy if you're looking
to research various tones and shades of a particular color.
Next, we have the gradient panel.
If I go ahead and click on the gradient,
if I click on a gradient object in my document,
we can see this come to life.
We are going to be using this a little later on
and learn how we can use this gradient panel.
And finally, we have the transparency panel.
It's in this panel that we can control the transparency
of an object on our documents area.
So before we begin, I'm simply going to close the Pantone panel
as I'm going to show you how to reactivate this later.
Then click on all the other panel tabs and drag them
into one panel group and reposition this along
with my other panels here on the right, making sure to place it
at the very top for quick access.
Okay, so now you have been introduced to the panels.
Let's take a look at some examples.
So with the document open, let's turn to the first art board.
It's what you see here, I have some precomposed colors.
On the left, I have some digital colors,
and on the right I have some Pantone colors.
And as you can see here, I have listed the web
and Pantone color references.
Now, at first glance, they look identical.
These colors on the left look exactly the same
as the colors on the right.
But in actual fact, they are not the same.
If we were to create a piece of artwork for print
and the printer required Pantone only colors, then all the colors
over here on the left would be unacceptable.
Allow me to show you the difference.
Now, with the selection tool,
first click on the top left digital color,
this red one here, and look closely at the swatches panel.
You can see, we have this red swatch selected.
Now, select the red Pantone example to the right
and notice how another swatch is highlighted in the swatch panel.
Okay, so click back on the first example,
come to the swatch panel and double-click on it.
We can see from the swatch pop-up option,
that this is an RGB color and we can see the values.
Click okay.
Next, click back on to the Pantone color,
and in the swatches panel double-click on that.
Now, this time we have different values
in the swatch options pop-up and we can see
that this is a Pantone spot color.
Once again, click okay.
So looking in the swatches panel,
we can see two color libraries.
Now, at first glance, they appear to be the same,
but in actual fact they are different
and we would use these colors in different instances.
Notice the color library below has these little white tabs
with the spot in it.
This is Illustrator communicating to us
that these are Pantone colors and are different
from the other swatches.
So now we are on the subject of Pantones.
I'm going to show you how you can find the Pantone panel.
Some of you may use Pantone books to discover
and reference your colors.
Once you know your Pantone number, you're going to need
to source it in Illustrator.
So to do this, you need to come to your swatches panel and come
to the top right, and click on the little menu button.
On the click, you will then need to come
down to open swatch library.
When you roll over this,
you then see a large list of color libraries.
We are then going to come to color books,
and again we will see another list.
And here we can see a series of Pantone color books.
So I'm going to go ahead
and select the Pantone solid color book.
Upon click, you will now see your new Pantone panel.
If you know the number of your Pantone,
you can simply click the number in the top to search for it.
For example, I'm going type in 802,
and this will find the same green Pantone I have here.
Excellent.
So to discover many Pantones and get access to other color books,
you can use that technique.
If you use Pantones a lot,
you can simply drag your Pantone panel into your panels
to the right, and that will remain there
for quick access in future.
Okay, so let's come over to the next art board.
In Illustrator, you can also source colors from images.
If you take any photos for your design research or find images
on the Internet, you can simply place them into Illustrator
and use the eyedropper tool to pick out colors from the image.
So here is an image I have for you to have a go with.
Below, you can see some colors I have already picked out.
So to do this, we first need
to draw a shape on the document area.
I have some shapes here I have created for you.
You will need to first select a shape,
so with the selection tool, I'm going to click
on the first square shape.
And if we look in the tools menu,
we can see that this vector shape currently has a gray fill
and no stroke, and we know this
because the stroke color has a red dash to it.
Now, come up in the menu and we're going
to select the eyedropper tool.
This is just around two thirds of the way down here.
Once you have this tool active,
you will notice the mouse cursor change to the eyedropper.
So now, we are going to move our mouse cursor
over into the picture and choose a color we like.
I'm just going to go ahead and click to select a color.
Upon click, the gray box will change to a color --
that particular color that we just selected in the image.
Pretty cool, right?
So now, I have a new colored square vector,
and the color is currently selected in the tools menu.
Now, remember earlier with the swatches panel,
if I like this color, all I have to do now is simply click
on the square in the tools menu and drag across and drop
into my swatches panel, it is there for me to use again later.
So I'm going to press a V on the keyboard
to select the selection tool, and then I'm going
to click on the next gray box.
With the next gray box ready, I'm going to come to the menu
and again select the eyedropper tool.
This time, I'm going to come over to the image.
Instead of clicking once, I'm going to click
and drag over my image.
Now, pay close attention to the color in the tools menu.
As you move your mouse around,
you will see the colors changing in the tools menu.
This is Illustrator giving you a prompt to what color this is.
This will make it easy for you to move
around until you find a color you're interested in.
So once I find color I am happy with, I will release click,
and I will make the selection
and my square vector will change.
Nice. So have a go at this, and try
and discover some new colors from the picture.
Then once you are happy, move on to the next art board page.
So next, we're going to talk about gradients.
At this point, you will need to click on your gradient panel.
In Illustrator, we can apply gradient effects to vectors.
Here is one I have prepared earlier.
With the selection tool,
I'm going to press a V on the keyboard.
I'm going to select my circle with the gradient applied.
Once this is selected, look in your gradient panel,
and here we can see the details.
Here we can see what colors make up the gradient
and the values of distribution.
It's here where we can modify the gradient.
Now, we are going to create our own gradient here
on this empty circle to the right.
So first we need to select the circle with our selection tool,
and an easy way to begin this is to come to the swatches panel.
Now, Illustrator comes with a predefined gradient,
and we are going to find it and check it like so.
So here we are with the gradient.
Next, we are going to reactivate our gradient panel
so we can see the properties.
Next, we come to the menu here,
we are about to use the gradient tool, and we can see this just
above the eyedropper tool.
If we select this, we now have a gradient bar on our shape.
Now, this represents our gradient effect applied
to our shape, and we are going to use this
to adjust the gradient.
So now I'm going to start the click and drag over my shape,
and you will notice this will change the gradient direction
and distribution.
So once we are happy with a gradient,
we can move our mouse cursor closer and over the line,
and now we can see the colors that make up the gradient.
If you are not happy with a color,
you can simply click and drag it off.
If you want to alter the distribution of a color,
you can click on a tab and drag it along the bar like so.
If I double-click on one of the color tabs,
up will pop a color picker menu.
Notice to the left, you can activate your swatches
and choose a swatch from this.
So I'm going to just alter my gradient
until I have something that looks like this.
Now, if I look on the gradient panel to my right,
I can do a couple of things here.
If I want to, I can alter the type.
I can change this from linear to radial.
And if I come down just to the left here,
I can click on the reverse button
and that can reverse my gradient, like so.
So that's a little intro to the gradient effect.
Now finally, I'm going to talk about transparency,
and this is an effect you may wish to use.
For this, you will need your transparency panel open.
So here we have two circles,
and you can see they are overlapping in the middle.
We have this effect because the top object is transparent,
showing some of the circle below through it.
At any point if you click on an object, you can see its opacity
in the transparency panel, and I have my panel open here.
With the selection tool,
I'm going to select the first circle on the left.
And if we look in the transparency panel,
we can see the opacity of this circle is 50%.
If I want to toggle the opacity, I can simply type in the value
or click the drop-down menu to select a value from there.
So I'm going to click this and select 80%, like so.
Next, go to select the circle to the right,
and we can see this is set at 20%.
I'm going to go ahead and change this to 70%.
So that is how you can toggle opacity in Illustrator.
So that's an introduction to color in Adobe Illustrator.
Be sure to get comfortable with the color panels,
as that will improve your workflow and assist you
to use the right colors for the right task.
In the next video, I'm going to cover 10 details
in Adobe Illustrator that you should know and be up to speed
with before starting a project.
The things I'm going to cover in the video are things
that are going to improve your workflow
and help you create your artwork.
See you in the next video.