*** If you are using Illustrator Version 2021 or later, click the Advanced Options button on the Recolor Artwork panel to follow along with this exercise.

Use the exercise file named 01Houses to follow along as I demonstrate. By the end of the 3 videos in this section, you will understand the basic functions of the Recolor Artwork panel.

Key Concepts

• Illustrator detects colors in the selected art, displaying them in color swatches at the top of the Recolor Artwork dialog
• Recoloring is controlled in both the Color Bars Assign Interface and the Color Wheel Edit Interface
• Assign: The left column displays detected colors from artwork
• Assign: The right column displays new colors when recoloring
• The columns represent the "before and after" of recoloring
• There is no step-wise undo in Recolor Artwork, only the Eyedropper button reset

Reducing Color in the Colors Menu

In the video we reduce the number of colors in the artwork from 8 colors to 3 colors, using the Colors menu.

Illustrator uses color theory when reducing color, taking colors that are in close proximity to each other on the Edit color wheel, and combining them on color bars on the Assign side.

Colorization Method

On the Assign side, you can control how new colors are colorized using the flyout menu and choosing a Colorization method.

• Exact - the current color is replaced with the new color
• PreserveTints - for use with Global color, applies current tint percentage to new colors
• Scale Tints - the darkest current color becomes new color and others colors are replaced with a proportionately lighter tint
• Tints and Shades - lighter current colors are replaced with tints of the new color and darker colors are replaced with shades
• Hue Shift - the most dominant color is replaced with the new color and becomes the key color for shifting other current colors

Experiment with the Colorization methods on your own, they are not all demonstrated in the video lesson.

Other Assign options demonstrated:

• Dragging Color Bars in the left column to change recoloring
• Clicking the arrows to protect a color row from being recolored