Paint illustrations with graphic styles


    In the previous tutorial, you learned how to create the outlines, or paths, of an illustration. Now you'll use graphic styles to paint your illustration with colors and effects. Adobe Illustrator comes with hundreds of professionally-designed graphic styles that let you change the appearance of artwork with a single click. And graphic styles are fully reversible, so you can always go back to your original illustration if you don't like the results.

    Enliven your graphics by applying various colors and effects

1. Target the cloud in the Layers palette.

    In the Layers palette, click the circle (called the target icon) at the right edge of the cloud's listing. When the target icon displays a double ring, the item is targeted.

    Targeting may seem simple, but it's a commonly forgotten step when applying graphic styles and effects. Targeting is especially important when you want to apply a style or effect to everything in a layer. (See Targeting layers, groups, and containers.)

    Target the object by clicking on the target-icon circle to the right of the object name in the Layers palette.

2. Apply a graphic style to the cloud.

    If the Graphic Styles palette isn't showing, choose Window > Graphic Styles. The Graphic Styles palette displays a variety of default graphic styles; however many additional graphic styles are available to you through graphic style libraries. To open a graphic style library, click the triangle icon at the top right corner of the Graphic Styles palette, and choose an option from the Open Graphic Styles Library submenu.

    Once you locate the graphic style you want to use, click it. We used the Raised Edges graphic style from the Image Effects library.

    Applying a graphic style to the graphic element by clicking the style name in its style library palette

3. View appearance attributes of the graphic style.

    Choose Select > Deselect to deselect the clouds, and if the Appearance palette isn't showing, choose Window > Appearance. The Appearance palette lists appearance attributes--properties that affect the look of an object without altering its underlying structure. These include fills, strokes, transparency settings, and effects.

    In our case, no artwork is targeted, so the top listing should read No Selection: followed by the name of the current graphic style. The specific appearance attributes depend on the graphic style you selected in Step 2. Some attributes may have triangles to the left of them. This means that the attribute includes effects or transparency settings. You can expand or collapse the attribute by clicking the triangle. (See Using the Appearance palette.)

    Use the Appearance palette to view the apperance attributes of the applied graphic style

4. Edit the graphic style.

    Click each color swatch in the Appearance palette and choose different colors using the Swatches palette or Color palette. You probably want to choose colors in the yellow to red range because you'll apply the new graphic style to the sun.

    You can also use the Appearance palette to edit other aspects of a graphic style. For example, you can change the order in which Illustrator applies attributes by dragging any attribute to a different position in the palette. If the graphic style includes effects, double-click an effect name to change the effect's settings.

    Edit the graphic style by clicking the attribute and making modifications.

5. Create a new style.

    Click the New Graphic Style button in the Graphic Styles palette. The new style appears as the last item in the palette, so you may need to scroll down to see it. Double-click the style, enter a descriptive name, and click OK.

    We named our new graphic style Orange Raised Edge.

    Creating and naming a new graphic style

5. Apply the new graphic style to the sun.

    Target the sun in the Layers palette, and click the graphic style you just created in the Graphic Styles palette.

    Applying the new graphic style to the sun element

6. Experiment with design variations.

    Now that you know how to apply and edit graphic styles, experiment with design variations. Start by creating a duplicate of the sun and cloud by dragging Layer 1 in the Layers palette onto the Create New Layer button. Then click in the selection column for the copied layer, and press the arrow keys on your keyboard to reposition the duplicate sun and cloud. (Hold down the Shift key to move the selection in bigger increments.)

    If you want to remove the existing graphic styles before applying new ones, click the Clear Appearance button in the Appearance palette. (See Modifying and removing appearance attributes.) This removes all appearance attributes (including the fill and stroke) so the sun and cloud won't be visible in the document window until you target them and apply new graphic styles.

    The same graphic element can look very different with simple changes to the graphic style.