The Styles & Clip Art Palette

Opening the Styles & Clip Art Palette

To open the Styles & Clip Art palette, click the Styles & Clip Art palette icon on the toolbar, or choose Window > Styles & Clip Art palette from the main menu.

Artboard ships with an outstanding Library of over 1300 uniques styles and custom clip art! Plus, any styles and graphics you create, no matter how complex, can be added to the user's Library. More collections are available through the Mapdiva website.

While styles and clip art are both present in the Styles & Clip Art palette, the palette is smart about the type of tool you have active. Choose your tool, then choose a style to apply to that tool while it is active. Items that can be used with the active tool are enabled and highlighted, disabled items are subtly grayed-out. For example, when you draw with the shape tools the stroke and fill styles are enabled. Clip art are enabled when the Clip Art Stamp tool is being used.

All styles and clip art are enabled while the Select tool is active. Click-hold and drag any style or clip art directly onto your drawing.

Drawing with Styles

To begin drawing, choose a drawing tool, then choose a stroke or fill style from the Styles & Clip Art palette, then start drawing. Alternatively, choose a drawing tool then create a new ad hoc style using the Style Inspector.

From the Styles & Clip Art palette toolbar, choose the Library icon for a drop-down list of collections and categories. Use the forward and back buttons to navigate through previously visited categories. Search for styles and clip art from the search bar.

Applying Styles to Existing Objects

To apply a style to an existing object, select the object (or objects) and double-click a style in the Styles & Clip Art palette to apply. You are asked to confirm this application to prevent accidental changes. This confirmation message is an alert that can be turned on or off and can be reset in the Artboard > Preferences from the main menu.

Alternatively, click-hold (hold for half a second) and drag a style from Styles & Clip Art palette onto and existing object to apply a new style. (Note, you can also click-hold and drag styles directly from the Library Manager.)

The Style Dropper tool is another convenient way to to copy (or "pick up") a style from one object and paste it onto other objects. Click onto a first object to pick up its style; clicking onto subsequent objects applies the style. The style dropper cursor shows whether dropper is “full" (will drop) or “empty" (will pick up). Return to the Select tool (or any other tool) to end the Style Dropper. To pick up a new style while the Style Dropper tool is active, press the OPTION/Alt key while clicking an object with the style dropper tool. The dropper can pick up styles from inside a group.

Adding Clip Art to Your Drawing

Use the Clip Art Stamp tool to add clip art from the Styles & Clip Art palette to your drawing. While the Clip Art Stamp tool is active, all clip art is enabled in the palette.

Alternatively, click-hold (hold for half a second) and drag clip art from the Styles & Clip Art palette directly onto your drawing canvas. (Note, you can also click-hold and drag clip art directly from the Library Manager.)

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