Paint with fills and strokes

Illustrator provides two methods of painting:

• Assigning a fill, stroke, or both to an entire object
• Converting the object to a Live Paint group and assigning fills or strokes to the separate edges and faces of paths within it

Paint an object

After you draw an object, you assign a fill, stroke, or both to it. You can then draw other objects that you can paint similarly, layering each new object on top of the previous ones. The result is something like a collage made out of shapes cut from colored paper, with the look of the artwork depending on which objects are on top in the stack of layered objects.

Paint a Live Paint group

With the Live Paint method, you paint more like you would with a traditional coloring tool, without regard to layers or stacking order, which can make for a more natural workflow. All objects in a Live Paint group are treated as if they are part of the same flat surface. This means you can draw several paths and then color separately each area enclosed by these paths (called a face). You can also assign different stroke colors and weights to portions of a path between intersections (called an edge). The result is that, much like a coloring book, you can fill each face and stroke each edge with a different color. As you move and reshape paths in a Live Paint group, the faces and edges automatically adjust in response.

For more information, see the Live Paint article.

About fills and strokes

A fill is a color, pattern, or gradient inside an object. You can apply fills to open and closed objects and to faces of Live Paint groups.

A stroke can be the visible outline of an object, a path, or the edge of a Live Paint group. You can control the width and color of a stroke. You can also create dashed strokes using Path options, and paint stylized strokes using brushes.

Note: When working with Live Paint groups, you can apply a brush to an edge only if you add a stroke to the group using the Appearance panel.

The current fill and stroke colors appear in the Tools panel, the Control panel, and the Properties panel.

To watch the tutorial on applying fills and strokes, see Color basics.

Fill and Stroke controls

Controls for setting the fill and stroke are available in the Properties panel, the Tools panel, the Control panel, and the Color panel.

Use any of the following controls in the Tools panel to specify color:

You can also specify color and stroke for a selected object by using the following controls in the Properties panel and the Control panel:

Click to open the Swatches panel or Shift-click to open an alternate color mode panel, and choose a color.

Click to open the Swatches panel or Shift-click to open an alternate color mode panel, and choose a color.

Click the word Stroke to open the Stroke panel and specify options.

Choose a stroke weight from the pop‑up menu.

Apply a fill color

You can apply one color, pattern, or gradient to an entire object, or you can use Live Paint groups and apply different colors to different faces within the object.

Apply a stroke color

Convert strokes to compound paths

Converting a stroke to a compound path lets you modify the outline of the stroke. For example, you can create a stroke with a varied width or divide the stroke into pieces.

Draw and merge paths using the Blob Brush tool

Use the Blob Brush tool to paint filled shapes that you can intersect and merge with other shapes of the same color.

The Blob Brush tool uses the same default brush options as calligraphic brushes. (See Calligraphic brush options.)

To see a video on using the Blob Brush tool, see Using the Blob Brush and Eraser Tools.

Blob Brush tool guidelines

When using the Blob Brush tool, keep the following guidelines in mind:

• To merge paths, they must be adjacent in stacking order.

• The Blob Brush tool creates paths with a fill and no stroke. If you want your Blob Brush paths to merge with existing artwork, make sure that the artwork has the same fill color and no stroke.

• When drawing paths with the Blob Brush tool, new paths merge with the topmost matching path encountered. If the new path touches more than one matching path within the same group or layer, all of the intersecting paths are merged together.

• To apply paint attributes (such as effects or transparency) to the Blob Brush tool, select the brush and set the attributes in the Appearances panel before you start drawing.

• Use the Blob Brush tool to merge paths created by other tools. To do so, make sure that the existing artwork doesn't have a stroke. Then set up the Blob Brush tool to have the same fill color, and draw a new path that intersects all of the paths that you want to merge together.

Create merged paths

Blob Brush tool options

Double-click the Blob Brush tool in the Tools panel and set any of the following options:

Specifies that when you draw a merged path, all paths are selected and remain selected as you continue to draw. This option is useful for viewing all paths that are included in the merged path.

Specifies that new strokes merge only with the existing selected path. If you select this option, the new stroke is not merged with another intersecting path that is not selected.

Controls how far you have to move your mouse or stylus before Illustrator adds a new anchor point to the path. For example, a Fidelity value of 2.5 means that tool movements of less than 2.5 pixels aren’t registered. Fidelity can range from 0.5 to 20 pixels; the higher the value, the smoother and less complex the path.

Controls the amount of smoothing that Illustrator applies when you use the tool. Smoothness can range from 0% to 100%; the higher the percentage, the smoother the path.

Determines the size of the brush.

Determines the angle of rotation for the brush. Drag the arrowhead in the preview, or enter a value in the Angle text box.

Determines roundness of the brush. Drag a black dot in the preview away from or toward the center, or enter a value in the Roundness text box. The higher the value, the greater the roundness.

Select objects with the same fill and stroke

You can select objects that have the same attributes, including fill color, stroke color, and stroke weight.

• To select objects with the same fill and stroke, select one of the objects, click the Select Similar Objects button  in the Control panel, and choose what you want to base your selection on in the menu that appears.
• To select all objects with the same fill or stroke color, select an object with that fill or stroke color, or choose the color from the Color panel or Swatches panel. Then choose Select > Same and click Fill Color, Stroke Color, or Fill & Stroke on the submenu.
• To select all objects with the same stroke weight, select an object with that stroke weight or choose the stroke weight from the Stroke panel. Then choose Select > Same > Stroke Weight.
• To apply the same selection options using a different object (for example, if you have already selected all red objects using the Select > Same > Fill Color command and now you want to search for all green objects), select a new object and then choose Select > Reselect.

  Tip: To consider the tint of an object when selecting based on color, choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General (Mac OS), and then choose Select Same Tint %.

Create multiple fills and strokes

Use the Appearance panel to create multiple fills and strokes for the same object. Adding multiple fills and strokes to an object is the basis for creating many interesting effects. For example, you can create a second, narrower stroke on top of a wide stroke, or you can apply an effect to one fill but not the other.

Remove a fill or stroke from an object