1. Color in Adobe Illustrator
Exercise Instructions
& Tutorial
Creating Adobe color swatches and
colorizing vector-based art
Earn 100 points! It is an all, or nothing at all!
Late submissions will not be accepted.
Use arrows to scroll through document.

2. Overview
In this assignment, you will learn to:
1. Work in Adobe Illustrator
2. Understand the Extension, Adobe Kuler
3. Customize palettes on Adobe Kuler site
4. Create custom palette from a photograph or image
5. Create a custom palette from the color wheel
6. Add custom palettes to your swatches
7. Color vector-based art
8. Create a gradient
9. Use blending modes to change how colors interact among
overlapping objects.
10. Recolor complete artwork using other color palettes
11. Saving several versions of your work with SAVE AS feature
12. Import .ai (Adobe Illustrator) files into InDesign

3. Adobe Kuler
Adobe Kuler is an
internet application
from Adobe Systems
that lets individuals try
out, create and save
various color schemes,
each of which consists
of a set of five colors.
Desktop: Users using the desktop version of Kuler can
export an ASE (Adobe Swatch Exchange) color scheme
straight into Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop and InDesign.
Cloud: Adobe Cloud users get the benefit of being able to
immediately access their customized themes directly
from within their Adobe Cloud applications.
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4. Working with Adobe Kuler
Introduction, Search and Editing
Creating a palette from an image
1. Go to https://kuler.adobe.com
2. Sign in or sign up for a free account
1. Open a new window in your browser. SEARCH
for an image you like. For instance, the painter
Paul Klee paintings.
3. Click the EXPLORE tab to see some of the
palettes that other members have created.
2. Now Save image to your Kuler folder on
desktop. Name it [Your Last Name].
4. SEARCH for the word Skateboard
3. Go back to Kuler page and click the CREATE
tab, then scroll down to bottom of page.
5. STOP! Take screen capture. Save to your Kuler
folder on desktop and name it Skatboard_search.
6. Now make your own by choosing an existing
skateboard palette and editing it: Hover over
palette and click EDIT.
7. Click the SAVE button on top to save your edited
version.
8. STOP! Take screen capture. Save to your Kuler
folder on desktop and name it Edited_Palette.
4. Select the CREATE FROM IMAGE option.
CHOOSE [Your Last Name]. It will pop up in your
Kuler window.
5. Edit image or save. (Try out the COLOR MOOD
settings to see how Kuler selects from different
parts of your image.)
6. STOP! Take screen capture. Save to your Kuler
folder on desktop and name it Image_Palette.
5. Click the SAVE button in Kuler to save your
custom palette to your Themes.
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5. Downloading Kuler Palettes
1. Click on MY THEMES and locate your edited
skateboard palette.
2. Hover over palette and CLICK Download.
3. Locate your custom image_palette and do the
same thing. Hover > Click download.
Next you will be loading your
palettes into Adobe Illustrator and
using them to colorize vector
images.
4. The files will be saved to your downloads folder,
each with an ASE extension (Adobe Swatch
Exchange). Move the downloaded palettes to your
Kuler work folder on your desktop.
.
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6. Kuler and Adobe Illustrator
Preparing to colorize image
Loading ASE palettes into Illustrator
1. Download vector image: Skateboarders.ai
2. Locate Swatch palette (Window . Swatches)
2. Put image in your Kuler project folder
3. Locate Swatch drop-down menu on far right.
CLICK and HOLD on arrow. Scroll down to OPEN
SWATCH LIBRARY near bottom. A sub-menu will
appear. CLICK on OTHER LIBRARY on bottom.
3. From your Kuler project folder, DOUBLE-CLICK
the skateboarder.ai file. It will open in Illustrator.
.
4. A finder window will open. Locate your Kuler
folder and CHOOSE your skateboard_edit ASE.
5. Repeat Step 4 and go get your image_palette.
The palettes will appear in their own separate tabs.
Click each tab one at a time and click the folder
icon of the palette. Once you do this, the palette
should appear in your swatches folder.
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7. Kuler and Adobe Illustrator (cont.)
Colorizing vector art with edited skateboard
palette
1. Using your black selection arrow and holding
down the SHIFT key, click the first and last
skateboarder. Click the first swatch from the
palette to fill with color.
Colorizing vector art with custom image palette
1. Select all (command A)
1. EDIT > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork, then
choose your custom image palette that you made
from the picture you found on the Internet.
2. Repeat selecting image 2 and 8 (second to last)
and select the second swatch
1. This time, SAVE AS LastName_recolored and
place in your Kuler project folder.
3. Repeat selecting image 3 and 7 and select the
third swatch.
You should now have 2 new .ai files in your project
folder (not including the original vector art you
downloaded).
4. Repeat selecting images 4 and 6 and select the
fourth swatch.
5. Select center image (image 5) and select the
last swatch.
6. SAVE AS LastName_edited_palette and place in
your Kuler project folder.
●
●
one contains the artwork that you colored
with your first palette,
the other contains artwork that you recolored
with your second palette.
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8. Creating a Gradient and
Creating a gradient for the each of your .ai files.
1. For each of your new .ai files, you will do the
following:
2. Open each, one at a time.
3. Draw a rectangular box around the
skateboarders.
4. With the box still selected, OBJECT > Arrange >
Send to Back.
5. DOUBLE-CLICK gradient tool in toolbox (about
half way down).
6. From your Swatches palette, drag one swatch
from your edited skateboard Kuler palette and drop
onto the left-side bucket. You will see a green circle
with a white plus sign when you have made
successful contact with the bucket.
7. Drag another swatch from your edited
skateboard Kuler palette and drop onto the rightside bucket.
8. SAVE
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9. Overlapping Colors and
Using Layer Modes
)
Overlapping colors and using layer modes
For each of your two .ai files:
1 Using the black arrow from the toolbox, click on one
of the skaters.
2. Adjusting blending mode and/or opacity: Choose
mode: WINDOW > Transparency > [Select a blending
mode from the left dropdown menu. The default is
NORMAL. You can also adjust OPACITY on the right
side of frame.]
3. SAVE.
You should now have 4 .ai files in your project
folder (in addition to the downloaded file of the
skateboarders).
●
●
●
4. Repeat steps until you adjust all nine skaters.
●
5. SAVE AS LastName_1stPalette_modes, (or
LastName_2ndPalette_modes, depending on the file
you are working on.)
The SAVE AS feature allows you to save a copy of
your file with a different name, so when you start
working with modes,, the SAVE AS feature will keep
the original work intact without overwriting.
First palette art: Skateboarders surrounded by
a gradient, colored with the first palette.
First palette + blending modes: Skateboarders
surrounded by a gradient, colored with the first
palette,----- then one where you have used
blending modes to alter the appearance of the
skateboarders.
Second palette art: Skateboarders surrounded
by a gradient, colored with the second palette.
Second palette + blending modes:
Skateboarders surrounded by a gradient, colored
with the second palette,----- then one where you
have used blending modes to alter the
appearance of the skateboarders.
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10. Final 2-page Indesign File
and Checklist
Page 1: InDesign
1. Open an InDesign file, 8-1/2” wide x 11” tall.
Checklist: Make sure your Indesign file has
everything it needs. Your completed file should
contain two pages, including the following:
2. Save and name the file yourLastName_ColorEX
Page 1: Four versions of the skateboarder art
3. One at a time, import (place) you four
skateboarder .ai images) PLACE > [locate image
palette.ai} > drag into desired size on your InDesign
page..
●
●
Page 2:
1. LAYOUT > Pages > Add Page
2. Place your three screen captures on page. (FILE >
Place...)
2 versions of art colored with the edited_palette,
one of which has been modified with layer
modes and opacities.
2 versions of art colored with the image_palette
you created from a picture you found on the
Internet; one of which has been modified with
layer modes and opacities.
Page 2: Three screen captures
●
Skateboard_search screen capture
●
Edited_Palette
●
Image_Palette
See next slide for sample of complete
2-page document.
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11. Sample of InDesign Contents
Page 1: I
●
●
●
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First palette art: Skateboarders surrounded by
a gradient, colored with the first palette.
First palette + blending modes: Skateboarders
surrounded by a gradient, colored with the first
palette,----- then one where you have used
blending modes to alter the appearance of the
skateboarders.
Second palette art: Skateboarders surrounded
by a gradient, colored with the second palette.
Second palette + blending modes:
Skateboarders surrounded by a gradient, colored
with the second palette,----- then one where you
have used blending modes to alter the
appearance of the skateboarders.
Page 2:
The three screen captures you took in Kuler.
Now you will need to package your work and
export as a pdf that you upload using your
assignment upload link …SEE NEXT SLIDE.
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12. Packaging & Creating PDF
Package project
1. FILE > PACKAGE
2. Follow prompts to save.
Don't worry about the warning at the end. It talks
about the copyright on the typeface you are saving.
Ignore it.
Create a PDF from Indesign file
1. FILE > EXPORT, format PDF
(follow prompts).
1. Upload homework as a pdf.
One more slide to go!
This process will save a project folder for you.
(If you are curious about font copyright, click the
link below.)
http://blog.crowdspring.com/2011/03/font-law-licensing/
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13. Congratulations
You're done!
You have successfully completed your
color exercise.
Remember to check your work.
It's all or nothing!
Complete work gets 100 points and
incomplete work gets 0.
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