Using Eyedropper Tool in Adobe Illustrator for Color Assignment

Assigning Colors Using the Eyedropper Tool in Adobe Illustrator

Discover how to effectively assign colors to different elements of an art piece using tools such as the eyedropper in this detailed guide. Learn how to lock colors, select multiple items, and swap fills and strokes to create a unified and appealing design.

Key Insights

  • The guide teaches how to lock colors within elements of a design, enabling consistent use of these colors in other parts of the artwork.
  • The use of the eyedropper tool is highlighted as a practical method for assigning colors to different elements, such as text and icons, by simply clicking on a color.
  • The article also explains how to swap fill and stroke color assignments and the importance of deselecting items during the color assignment process.

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In this video, we'll begin where we left off. As we can see, we've created our initial five color boxes below.

From here, we can simply use these colors for all of the art within our postcard. Let's now lock these five colors within these five squares by locking the layer, clicking to the left of the layer. In order to assign these same colors, we could double-click on the color and the fill and look at the hex code, or we can use the eyedropper tool, shortcut I on the keyboard.

With the eyedropper tool, we simply need to click on a color to assign it as our fill. So let's do this in practice. We'll use the selection tool, V on the keyboard, to select the top three titles, holding shift, and with all three selected, we'll hit I on the keyboard to use our eyedropper tool.

And then let's choose one of the colors for our text. In my case, I'll choose the second color. And just like that, our color is assigned.

Next, let's hit CTRL-shift-a to deselect our titles, and we'll use V on the keyboard to drag a selection box over our icons. In this case, we've accidentally selected the paragraph as well, so I'll hit shift and click the paragraph to deselect it. Next, let's use the eyedropper tool to assign color to these icons.

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I'll hit I on the keyboard, and then we'll select the same exact color as our title. In this case, I'll click color, and we'll see that rather than assigning it to the stroke, it's assigned to the fill. This is because we've clicked the eyedropper on an object that has a fill of that color, it will assign the same color to the same either fill or stroke.

All we need to do to fix this is simply click swap fill and stroke, and we've now done so. We'll hit V on the keyboard, and let's make one more change clicking on our paragraph and hitting I. And next, let's assign this a different color. I'll select the lighter purple.

I'll then hit CTRL-shift-a, and we've finished up adding colors to our text and icons. Let's hit CTRL S on the keyboard to save our work, and in the next video, we'll be finalizing the front of our postcard. See you there.

Matt Fons

Adobe Instructor

Matt is a jack of all trades in the realm of marketing and an expert using Adobe’s Creative Cloud as the essential software for supporting students and clients. With experience in graphic design, photography, web design, social media planning, and videography, Matt creates impressive and comprehensive marketing strategies. In his free time, Matt and his wife enjoy surfing and hiking California’s Central Coast and traveling to countries around the world.

  • Adobe Certified Instructor
  • Adobe Certified Specialist
  • Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
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