How to Use the Eyedropper Tool in Illustrator

Do you want to know how to use the eyedropper tool in illustrator? Are you not sure what colors to use in your design or is it really difficult to customize your own? Well, you can look at other designers' work, and maybe you can find something inspiring and just drop the colors.

Today we would like to share with you how to use the powerful eyedropper tool in Illustrator and some useful tips on selecting colors for your design.

Here you can learn about: How to Create Arrows with Illustrator – Tutorial

What does the Eyedropper tool do?

The Eyedropper tool is a useful tool for sampling colors and applying the sampled colors to other objects. You can apply text color to shapes, vice versa, or vice versa.

Another cool thing you can do with the Eyedropper tool is that you can select colors from an image that you like and apply them to your artwork. You can also create new color swatches using the sample colors.

For example, I really like the color of this beach image and I would like to use the same color tone for the poster of a beach party event. So we will use the Eyedropper tool to collect its color samples.

How to Use the Eyedropper Tool in Adobe Illustrator

NOTE: : Screenshots are taken from Illustrator 2021 version for Mac. Other versions may look slightly different.

1. Step 1:: Place the image you want to sample colors from into Adobe Illustrator. (You can skip this step if you want to sample color from another object in your artwork.)
2. Step 2:: Select the object you want to add or change the color of. For example, I want to change the color of the text to the color of the ocean. So here the text was selected.

3. Step 3:: Click the Eyedropper tool in the toolbar or use the letter I from the keyboard shortcut.

4. Step 4:: Click on the color area you want to sample. Click on the ocean area to get a greenish color.

NOTE: : The effects of the original sample color object will not be applied to the new object, you will have to manually add the effects or style again. Let's look at a simple example.

Add a shadow to the text. When I use the Eyedropper tool to sample the color from the text and apply it to the rectangle shape, only the color is applied, not the shadow effect.

If you're trying out a gradient color, keep in mind that the angle of the gradient may not look the same on the new object. To change the direction or style of the gradient, you can simply go to the gradient panel to make the adjustment.

Helpful tips

The Eyedropper tool is a very useful aid in brand design because it really simplifies the whole process of creating colors from the color picker. And the hardest part is color matching. Why not use the resources available?

When you have no idea about colors, don't put too much pressure on your mind. Instead, relax and go online and look for designs on your theme that other designers have done. Take a look at their use of color. Try not to copy, though.

Our advice is to research the theme. For example, if you are doing something related to summer or tropical vibes. See what comes to mind when you think of summer and find summer-related images.

You might find fruits, tropical flowers, beaches, etc. Pick a colorful image that looks good to you and use the method above to test the colors and use it in your own design. You can always make adjustments to the colors, but the basic tone is set.

Try it a couple of times. It really works.

Ending

Don't let colors stress you out. Get a sample, modify it, and create your own unique style. Learn to appreciate the work of others, see what you can learn from them, and add your own personal touch to create your own design.

Remember our tips? This is how you select colors for your design 99% of the time. And you know what, it's super effective. Now you know how to quickly make a color scheme for your next design.

Introduction to the Eyedropper Tool in Illustrator

The Eyedropper Tool in Illustrator is one of the most useful and significant tools. It helps the user to pick any color from the images or objects that are already present or created within the program. The Eyedropper Tool will help the user to fill the images with the same reference color chosen with the help of the Eyedropper Tool.

The Eyedropper tool is present mostly in all the graphic designing software and it contains a lot of use and benefit for the users. Sometimes, users don’t remember the exact code of the color they want to fill. So, they use this eyedropper tool to select and fill the image with the exact color they have chosen.

How to use the Eyedropper tool in Illustrator?

Let's continue our article with the introduction of the interface of this software.

1. Step 1:In the interface of this software, we have a tool panel on the left side of the document area, a menu bar on the top of the document area, and on the right side, we can use the most frequently used tool from the menu bar. Windows.

2. Step 2:Now, let's take a new document to learn about the Eyedropper tool of this software. For a new document, head over to the File menu on the menu bar and click on it. The drop-down list will open; click on the 'New' in the dropdown list.

3. Step 3:The 'New Document' dialog box will open. Configure the parameters for your document from here and press the OK button in this dialog box to apply the settings.

4. Step 4:This is the Eyedropper tool in Adobe Illustrator software.

5. Step 5:We make a flower for our learning. Just make a leaf with the help of Pen Tool to make a flower.

6. Step 6:Now grab the Rotate tool from the tool panel of this software, copy the sheet at a 30 degree angle and then press the Ctrl + D key on the keyboard to draw a flower.

7. Step 7:Now, draw some circles and in these circles, take different colors from the color panel.

8. Step 8:Now, grab the Eyedropper tool from this software tools panel.

9. Step 9:Now press the Ctrl key on your keyboard to activate the selection tool and select the flower leaf on which you want to color any of the circles with the same color.

10. Step 10:Now release the Ctrl key on the keyboard, the Eyedropper tool will become active again. Now click on the color of the circle you want to color as a leaf.

11. Step 11:You can change the color of more than one leaf at a time with the Eyedropper tool. To change the color of more than one leaf, Select the leaf one by one with the selection tool by holding down the key. Shift during the selection process.

12. Step 12:And then click on the color with the Eyedropper tool that you want to give as the color of the leaves, as shown in the image below.

13. Step 13:Again, we will select alternative sheets using the same method.

14. Step 14:And give them the green color of a green circle with the help of the Eyedropper tool.

15. Step 15:You can change the color of the leaf or any object at any time. For example, I want to change the color of the green leaf to blue color, so we will select it and then I will click on the blue circle with the help of the Eyedropper tool.

16. Step 16:You can also pick a color from any image using the Eyedropper tool. We grabbed an image from our illustrator software to grab an image in illustrator from your personal computer or laptop. Go to the File menu from the menu bar and click on it. A drop-down list will open; click on the option 'Place' from the drop-down list.

17. Step 17:Again, a dialog box will open for you to select an image. Navigate to the folder you want and click on the image you want to view.

18. Step 18:To place an image in Illustrator, click on the option 'Place' in this dialog box.

19. Step 19:Now, we will select the blue leaf with a selection tool.

20. Step 20:Now Select the Eyedropper Tool from the Tools Panel and click on that color in the image that you want to replace with that blue color. I am going to click on the color in the image as shown in the image below.

21. Step 21:You can use the Eyedropper tool to create new swatches of any color. To make a new swatch, pick a color from an image with the help of the Eyedropper tool. You can see your selected color in the color box in the tool panel.

22. Step 22:Now open the Samples box and click the New Sample button in this box.

23. Step 23:A New Swatch dialog box will open. You can name the new swatch and also make some variation in the selected color with the help of color mode sliders CMYK and then press the button Accept from this dialog box.

24. Step 24:A new swatch will be generated in this swatch toolbox with the same color we are using the Eyedropper tool. You can see that in the image below.

Other uses for the dropper tool

25. Step 25:Another use of the Eyedropper tool is to make a New brush also. To make a new brush. Choose a color from the image with the help of the Eyedropper tool.

26. Step 26:Now open the box of the Brush tool from the tools panel on the right side of the work area and click the button New Brush of the Paintbrush box.

27. Step 27:A dialog box will open to create 'New brush'. It will ask you, brush types. Choose the type of brush you want from here and press the option Accept in this dialog box.

28. Step 28:Again, a new dialog box will open to configure the brush parameters. You can make changes in the brush parameter as per your preference and then press the OK option to apply the settings.

29. Step 29:A new brush will be generated in the Brush tool box.

30. Step 30:Now, grab the Brush Tool from the Tools Panel and you will be able to draw anything with the help of your newly designed brush.

How to Sample Colors with the Eyedropper Tool Outside of Illustrator

Sometimes people argue that the eyedropper tool in illustrator doesn't work, especially when sampling colors outside of illustrator. We hope the information here will help you use the tool correctly.

How to use the Eyedropper tool in Illustrator?

The Eyedropper tool is used to copy the appearance of one object to another. It is one of the most important tools in Illustrator. You can find it in the toolbar as shown here:

El simple use of the Eyedropper tool is as follows:

• Step 1:: First you must select the object to which you want to copy the appearance,
• Step 2:: Then, head to the eyedropper tool on the toolbar (the shortcut key is i on your keyboard).
• Step 3:: Now click with the Eyedropper tool on the object you want to copy the appearance from.

This action copies not only the colors, but also other properties of the object depending on the settings of the Eyedropper tool. That's why I use the term "appearance of the object» instead of the object's color. If you double-click the Eyedropper tool icon, the options window opens and shows which attributes of the object will be picked up and applied.

If you need to copy all the properties of an object, you need to check the appearance checkbox in the options panel. At CC 2017, check all the sub-properties of the «appearance» does not mean copying entire properties. You still need to check the appearance checkbox (1). Let's see an example here:

The following figure shows the square with some effects like feathers and shadows applied. If the check box is checked, appearance check If not checked, the Eyedropper tool copies only colors, not effects.

In some cases, you may not be able to copy all the derivatives of the effect, such as the angular gradient. You must manually change the gradient angle of the target object.

Other ways to copy the appearance of an object using the Eyedropper tool

We have already seen the first method of using the Eyedropper tool as a simple use. In short, select the target object, grab the Eyedropper tool and click on the source object as shown in the animation below.

In the above method, the target object needs to be selected first. On the other hand, if you use the hotkey, you don't need to select any target object to copy colors.

• So make sure none of the objects are selected.
• Pick up the Eyedropper tool
• Left click on the source object
• Head to the target object.
• hold down the ALT/OPT key and click the left mouse button.

Note that if you have multiple target objects, you can continuously copy colors to any of the objects with ALT / OPT + left mouse click. You do not need to resample colors from the source object once you sample it.

As you can see, the Eyedropper tool displays all the colors of the gradient. If you hold down the key SHIFT and hover over the source gradient color, the specific color can be sampled. If you need to choose a more precise color, turn on the block of mayúsculas

The Eyedropper tool can also be used for text objects. The detailed description is not given here.

Sampling colors from outside of Illustrator software

The Eyedropper tool is not only used to sample colors in vector graphics, but also to sample raster images. To do so, you need to place the raster image on the art board using the command File > Place or the sample color from outside the illustrator window.

Sampling color outside of your Illustrator software is easy. You must first exit full screen mode and resize your Illustrator software window so that you can view your external source image. The external image can be your desktop or any software that contains your source image.

Steps to test color outdoors

1. Step 1:: Select your target vector object
2. Step 2:: Go to the Eyedropper tool and left click
3. Step 3:: Go back to the art board and hold down the left mouse button
4. Step 4:: While holding down the left mouse button, move the cursor outside the Illustrator window
5. Step 5:: You will see the sample color in the fill/stroke color window at the bottom of the toolbar.
6. Step 6:: Release the mouse button to copy its color to your fill or stroke color. You can swap colors with SHIFT + X between stroke and fill. Since your target object is selected, the color is applied directly to your object.

Method 2

1. Step 1:: deselect target objects if they are selected
2. Step 2:: Go to the Eyedropper tool and left click
3. Step 3:: Return to the work table and hold down the left mouse button
4. Step 4:: While holding down the left mouse button, move the cursor outside the Illustrator window
5. Step 5:: You will see the sample color in the fill/stroke color window at the bottom of the toolbar.
6. Step 6:: When you release the mouse button, the sample color will be selected.
7. Step 7:: Return to the workbench, hold down the ALT key and left click on each of the target objects one by one

The steps above apply to either the fill or the stroke, depending on which is active. You can activate either by clicking on it at the bottom of the toolbar.

The key X from the keyboard also brings it to the front when you press it. Sometimes people think the eyedropper doesn't work because of this. They think they sampled colors for the fill while the stroke is active. Be careful.

Google Chrome Color Sampling

If you try to test the color of a web page using the browser Google Chrome, you will find that you may not be able to copy any colors with the Eyedropper tool.

This is not due to the illustrator software you are using, but to your usual browser settings. Although there are some Chrome extensions To sample colors from a web page, here I will explain how to change your browser settings to be able to sample colors.

1. Step 1:: Go to the top right corner of your browser and click on three dots. This will open the personalization drop-down menu. Go to “setting» and click

2. Step 2:: Writes "hardw» in the search box (1) to find the acceleration toggle button hardware.
3. Step 3:: Disable “use hardware acceleration when available” (2) This requires your browser to restart.

1. Step 4:: You should now be able to sample colors from a web page like this:

How to create a two-color illustration with an offset printing effect

In this part of the tutorial, we will create an illustration using two colors. This technique is called duo-tone. When combined, two colors produce a third. We will teach you how to digitally simulate a two-color work and explore its expressive possibilities.

1. Eraser

The illustration shows a famous detective duo, walking in circles following their own footprints in the snow. What's better than a joke? In the background, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament indicate that the scene is in London. The idea of ​​snow only comes after thinking that the characters would stand out better as silhouettes against a white background.

Here are the first sketches:

Then another sketch was made in CLIP STUDIO PAINT.

A 20 x 40 cm canvas was chosen with a resolution of 72 dpi.

2. Choosing colors

For items traditionally printed in two colors, such as posters or photographs, the printing process requires the creation of a printing plate for each ink color. These monochrome plates were traditionally used with the color black. For this illustration, we will use black-filled shapes to indicate where the shade I want will be placed.

We take these simple shapes as an example: a green star and an orange square.

La Figure 1 It is a monochromatic plate star and the Figure 2, the monochrome square plate. If these shapes were printed traditionally, the superimposed colors (inks) would generate a third color.

It is possible to digitally mimic this printing process by keeping each color on a separate layer and then setting its blending mode to “Product.” (Figure 3)

In software like Photoshop, each color (ink) information is placed in a different channel. This time, I'm not going to print my artwork, so we'll use two layers set to [Product] for each color.

To choose the two colors, I tried different combinations as seen in the image below. Then I decided to use a dark green and vermilion.

Red and green are a good choice as their combination produces an almost black tint. Speaking of complementary color theory, according to the three colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow), the complementary color of magenta is cyan/blue. Other popular color combinations include cyan/blue and orange. Or red and blue, etc..

If we had wanted to print the image, we could have chosen the colors from a Pantone color library or set their values ​​to CMYK or RGB. The printer would then have worked with two spot colors.

Let's clarify that CMYK or RGB values ​​are just a guide, as the printer produces spot colors by mixing the primary colors. To adjust the print color to what we see on the screen, you should run some test prints. Also, different types of paper can significantly change the ink color.

• If you want to check the color of your document before printing it, select CMYK or RGB from the menu. View > Color Profile > Preview Settings and Select a print profile to preview.

With the tools dropper, you can check the CMYK or RGB value from Window > Color slider.Once I have my two colors defined, I can easily pick them up with the eyedropper and paint with them.

Shortcut Settings: [I]

3. Create a monochromatic layer for each color.

We will create a monochrome layer for each of the two colors. Using the option Layer > New Raster Layer, we create two new layers and set the blending mode to [Product]. We painted with orange on one layer and with green on the other.

Create the silhouette of the characters

To create the silhouettes, I am using the curve ruler tool on a separate vector layer. First, I create the layer, then we select the tool Ruler > Curved Ruler, choose Cubic Bezier in the tool properties and draw the shapes I want.

1. Step 1:: The Curve Ruler allows you to create closed vector shapes. To create a vector that joins two lines, one mouse click is enough. To create a vector that contains a curve, click and hold until the curve appears.
2. Step 2:: Once you have the basic shape, you can edit it further using the tool Correct line > Checkpoint.

3. Step 3:: Using the Object tool, we select the new shape and create a selection box, then choose the option Select from rule from the menu that appears when you right-click. A dotted line will then surround the selection.

In a new raster layer, complete the selection with the tool Fill. This is how we painted the green layer.

Here is the final result of the green cape characters.

4. Step 4:: Next we add the footprints. To do this, we create a print, which we duplicate and rotate. They were created on the orange layer.

Now we will create a shadow effect behind the silhouettes. The easiest way to do it is as follows. I am duplicating the green layer (where the silhouettes are) and filling it with orange, as in the image below.

5. Step 5:: Then I merge this layer with the orange layer and set the blending mode to Product.

6. Step 6:: Then we make some small adjustments and remove what we don't need. The result is a blend of the overlapping of the two colors.

Image Figure 1 shows the green monochrome plate/layer, and the Figure 2 shows the orange monochrome plate/layer.

7. Step 7:: To add texture to the cloak, we select the area where the cloak is located using the tools Automatic selection y Polyline.

We have a folder for textures. Open one of them and I delete the white to keep the green texture. To do this, I use automatic selection with the option Apply only to adjacent pixels disabled. By doing this, if you were to click on a white spot with the auto selection tool, we will select all the white in the image. Once selected, it is simply deleted.

8. Step 8:: Then we select the entire image ( Ctrl + A), we copy ( Ctrl + C ) and we paste ( Ctrl + V ). The software creates a new layer. Finally, we delete the outer part of the previously selected area (the cloak), by pressing the icon below.

9. Step 9:: We add some shadows on the cloak. On the orange layer, we select the area with the tool Polyline and filled with orange using the tool Filling.

10. Step 10:: After repeating the same steps with the wizard, the result looks like this:

To build the bridge, I combine three circles and duplicate the shape. We then transform the final element to give it some perspective using Edit > Transform > Transform mesh.

The result is as follows:

11. Step 12:: Then we start working on the basic shapes for the background. I quickly trace them with the Bézier rule, not forgetting to paint each color on its respective layer. The dark areas are obtained by overlapping the colors. In the image on the left, you can see how the orange layer is emphasized.

NOTE: : To paint the details we use the G-Pen and the hard eraser, both at 100% opacity. The process is similar to woodcut. Work separately on each color plate and always think about the resulting combination of plates.

4. Effects

I can emulate a sheet of paper by erasing the edges of the illustration with the Crumb Eraser.

We can simulate typical effects of traditional printing, such as misaligned plates. This effect is easy to achieve; simply change one of the layers using the Move tool

You should choose to leave the layers in place because some of my colors were already applied in a disorganized way. For the snow, we created a new raster layer and painted the snowflakes white using the Realistic Pen and Pencil toolsSince the final artwork will be digital, I didn't follow the two-layer rule.

If you want to stick to this rule, I would have created the snowflakes by directly deleting the monochrome layers. If you want to try this, Select all the snowflakes on the white layer (Layers palette> Ctrl + click on the layer) and delete that selection from the two monochromatic color layers.

And there you have it, the drawing is finished.

You may be interested in reading about: How to Activate Commands in Illustrator – Tutorial

Conclusion

This is the Eyedropper tool in Adobe Illustrator software, and now you can understand the working of the Eyedropper tool in Illustrator very well. The Eyedropper tool will help you to manage color correction in your graphics design work and improve the accuracy of your project work.