How to Change Layer Color in Illustrator

How to Change Layer Color in Illustrator

Organizing layers includes changing layer colors, since doing so can make it easier to differentiate and arrange your design while working on several layers. It’s a straightforward procedure for avoiding potential mistakes.

To change a layer’s color in Illustrator, first launch the Illustrator file. Next, access the layer panel from the top menu or by pressing the F7 key. Finally, double-click, select a color, and then click OK.

Before we get into how you can change the color of a layer in Illustrator, let’s read about what layer color is.

What Is Layer Color

You’ll notice certain guides when working on a layer, such as a bounding box, text box, or the contour of the design you’re creating. You’ve probably already noticed that the default layer color is blue.

The guide or border color changes whenever you add an object to a newly created layer. You can differentiate between the objects on the many levels you are working on thanks to the layer colors.

Guide To Changing Layer Color In Illustrator

If you want to learn how you can change the layer color in Illustrator, then keep reading below as we take you through all the steps you need to follow.

Check out this video for more detailed instructions on how to change a layer color in Illustrator:

Step 1: Launch The Illustrator File

  • Begin by double-clicking the Illustrator file that corresponds to your work to open it. 
  • Alternatively, if Illustrator is already open, you may select “File” from the top menu, then “Open,” and then select the desired file. 
  • You may also expedite the process by pressing “COMMAND+O” on a Mac or “Ctrl+O” on a Windows keyboard.

Step 2: Access The Layers Panel

  • Go to “Window” in the top menu and select “Layers.” You may also launch the panel by using the “F7” key on your keyboard to simplify things.

Step 3: Add a Few New Layers

  • To add a new layer, use the “Create New Layer” icon located at the Layers panel’s bottom. Repeat this procedure to build all the layers your project will require.

Step 4: Choose Your Layer

  • Hover your mouse over the layer you wish to edit in the Layers panel and click it once to select it.

Step 5: Access the Layer Options Window

  • Right-click twice on the gray area next to the title of your layer. Your screen will then display the Layer Options panel.

Step 6: Pick the Color of Your Layer

  • Access the Color drop-down bar inside the Layer Options box and select the new color for your layer. 
  • This drop-down bar offers only a small, straightforward selection of colors. By selecting the square adjacent to the drop-down bar, you may open a second menu with a customizable range to increase your selection of colors.

Step 7: Select “OK”

  • When you are done selecting your new layer color, apply your changes to the layer by clicking the “OK” button at the bottom of the Layer Options box.

Final Words

That’s it; it’s really that easy. Some of you may not mind the default layer colors, while others might wish to change them. In either case, it’s wise to brush up on the fundamentals.

How To Color Paint Tool SAI

Paint Tool SAI lets users create any kind of illustration and art through its easy-to-use yet rich-in-features interface. One of these features is coloring your artwork. Whether you want to color in your comic character’s design, a still life drawing, or any other design, you can colorize it easily with Paint Tool SAI. So how can you use its features to color? 

The brush tool in Pain Tool SAI lets you do everything, from coloring to shading, blending, and more. The key is to change its settings about what you find fit for each task. You can also choose any other kind of brush from the left toolbar too it could be AirBrush, Water Color, or any other. Then, use the color pickers and proceed to the process of coloring your artwork.

Once we learn the techniques of using the features in any graphics design software, we can easily know how to draw. Through this article, you will find out the basic techniques behind using Paint Tool SAI to color your artwork. 

Coloring in Paint Tool SAI

Since Paint Tool SAI is specifically designed for drawing, the steps to coloring in this software are very easy. To begin, you just need to color each segment in your artwork in a new layer with a flat base color.

Then according to the perspective in your drawing, you need to add the effects such as shading using the brush tool; we will discuss this process in detail according to the below-mentioned steps. Before we start, here’s a video for more Pain Tool SAI tips:

  1. First, create a new layer and put it beneath the lines layer. This will be one of the background layers on which you will color the base color based on each segment.
  2. Next, you can choose either the brush tool or the airbrush tool in the brush panel to fill in the colors in the base layers.
  3. To add shading to your artwork, you just need to change the brush tool settings and use it to shade. Change the opacity of the brush with the color on which you want to shade selected; this will give it a lighter shade. Alternatively, you can use a darker color to shade in darker colors.
  4. Blend the shades out with the brush tool, and change its blending to 100%. This setting will only blend out the shades. It won’t add anything else to your artwork.
  5. For highlights in your coloring, set your brush to a smaller size and choose a lighter color as opposed to your base color. Set the brush hardness to full.
  6. Blend the highlights out with the same tool.

While choosing colors, you can pick a wider range of colors by using the RGB and HSV sliders. Mix any colors you want. You can also save any custom colors through “Swatches”.

Conclusion

This article discussed the details of how you can color your artwork through Paint Tool SAI. It has many useful features designed specifically to simplify the coloring process but with a diverse brush and color engine.

How To Color In Krita

Krita is a highly valued yet free digital software that provides us with all the drawing tools we require for our digital artwork. Coloring is one of them, and it comes with many features. With Krita, you can colorize your Lineart easily in many ways. So how can you color in Krita? 

After preparing your Lineart ready to be colored, you can use three different ways to fill flat colors in your Lineart. You can color it directly through block brushes, use the Flood Fill Tool, or use a Colorize Mask. For further effects, you can also use soft and special brushes to add shadows and highlights or blend your artwork. 

Coloring your artwork is an essential part of drawing if sketching is not your only niche. Krita gives you all the right features to colorize your work. This article will discuss how you can color in Krita using these features.

Coloring in Krita

Although there are many ways to color in Krita, the three main methods we will discuss are the most common and easiest. Before starting, prepare your Lineart by creating a new layer and putting it under your Lineart layer. 

Next, set your Lineart layer’s blending mode to Multiply. Press CTRL + L if you want to clear your Lineart more.  Now let’s move to the coloring methods:

Flood Fill Tool

You can use this tool to color larger, closed parts of your Lineart quicker. Follow the following steps:

  1. Place your Lineart on another layer
  2. Switch on the Flood Fill Tool
  3. Set the “Grow selection” to 2px and uncheck “Limit to current layer.”
  4. Choose your desired color from the color selector 
  5. Fill in the areas you want to fill

Using Block Brushes

This is a simple traditional method where you use the brush tool to color in. Just do the following steps:

  1. Select the “Block” category from the drop-down menu in the brush presets docker.
  2. Choose any brush and start coloring in with your brush on a new layer under the Lineart layer. Try to use a different layer for each color.
  3. You can change the brush into an eraser by pressing E to solve any mistakes.

You can also use this video to learn to color your art in Krita through detailed steps:

Colorize Mask Tool

The Colorize Mask Tool is a built-in tool that will save you time through its quick technique. You just have to follow these steps:

  1. Click on your Lineart layer and select Colorize Mask Editing Tool on the left toolbar.
  2. With this tool selected, hit on your artboard. This will add a blurry Colorize Mask layer to your artwork.
  3. Use any of the brushes to draw strokes of specific colors in each of the specific areas you want to color
  4. You can see a preview of the colors filled in once you click on “Update.” 
  5. To save changes, convert this layer into a paint layer 

Conclusion

It is easy to colorize your artwork with Krita through three main methods. They have simple and easy-to-follow steps, and you can fill colors in your artwork in any way you want.

How To Add Guides In Illustrator

When it comes to working on Illustrator, Guides are one of the most instrumental tools available. You can use guides to create aligned and accurately measured and placed designs, which are instrumental when creating clean and professional templates.

You can enable guides in Illustrator using the View tab on the menu at the top of your Illustrator window. Through this, you can enable three main types of guides on Illustrator: rulers, grids, and SmartGuides, which each allow you to carry out different tasks.

If you are interested in learning more about each kind of guide and what it can help you with, you are looking at the right article! Throughout this tutorial, we will help you understand what each guide brings to the table and how to enable it on Illustrator!

How To Enable Guides On Illustrator

All of the guides we will discuss in this article are accessible through the View tab on your overhead menu on Illustrator. If you’re looking for a video tutorial, here is a walkthrough on Illustrator guides:

Moving on, let’s explore how you can enable each type of guide on Illustrator and what each kind of guide is best used for.

Ruler Guides

Ruler guides are best for designating specific areas of your design and can also be helpful when you want objects to be aligned with specific areas of your workspace. To make rulers show up in Illustrator, you can follow these steps:

  1. Go to View in the overhead menu, and from the drop-down list, select Rulers.
  2. Alternatively, use the shortcut Ctrl+R (on Windows) and Command+R (on macOS) to show the ruler guides on your design space.

To use the ruler, you can click the side or top of the art space (where the ruler is) and drag the guide wherever you want it to land. 

You can also lock the guides by going to View, Guides, and then selecting Lock Guides. This will allow you to move things around without disturbing the guides.

Grid Guides

You can use grid guides when you want precision in your design, especially when you want accurate measures of distance and space. 

One of the best applications of grids is when you are working on Logos or other artworks requiring precision and accuracy. To select grids:

  1. Go to View, and then choose the option Show Grid.
  2. You can adjust the style, size, and color of the grid lines using the Preferences tab. Navigate to Guides and Grid to choose the style you are looking for.

This will allow you to select the exact size you are looking for in the grid. Additionally, you can adjust the lines’ style, including their color.

Smart Guides

You can use Smart Guides all over Illustrator, and it has the ability to quickly give you information about precision and alignment, particularly regarding the distance between objects. You can enable SmartGuides using the following:

  1. In the View tab, where you can select SmartGuides to switch it on
  2. Using the Ctrl+U (on Windows) and Command+U (on macOS) shortcuts.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are many different types of guides that you can use in Illustrator. Whether you are looking for precision, alignment, or just a way to measure distances between objects easily and quickly, guides on Illustrator can be incredibly helpful.

How To Add Clouds In Photoshop

There’s nothing more beautiful than experiencing an open, blue sky – but when it comes to images, an empty sky can look boring and bland. However, luckily, you can use tools from Photoshop to make your pictures dynamic and interesting if you add in a few clouds!

You can use two methods to add clouds to an image using Photoshop. First, you can use the built-in cloud rendering tool. Secondly, you can use the clouds on an existing image and impose them over your own image. Either way, you will end up with a cloudy and dynamic sky.

If you want to learn more about adding clouds to your images on Photoshop, this is the place to learn! Stay tuned as we explore two simple methods that anyone can use to make their pictures stand out!

How To Use Photoshop To Create Clouds

There are two main ways to achieve this look, especially if you want a realistic effect. Luckily, both methods are relatively simple and quick. Let’s take a look at how you can add clouds using Photoshop.

Use The Cloud Rendering Tool

Here is how you can use the cloud rendering tool to make fascinating images:

  1. Use Ctrl+J (or Command+J on macOS) to create a duplicated layer of your background.
  2. On the duplicate layer, go to Filter, choose Render, and then select Clouds.
  3. Change the blending mode of this layer, and select Screen.
  4. You can use the Transform tool to adjust the cloud size if you like.
  5. Now, select the cloud layer, and use the brush tool to paint areas you don’t want to show up black. You can also create a layer mask if you want to preserve the original layer image.

That’s all you need to do! However, this tool can create uniform clouds that look strange when occupying a large part of the image. In that case, you can apply clouds from one picture to the other.

Here’s a tutorial on adding clouds to pictures using Photoshop:

Superimposing An Image Of Real Clouds

  1. Find an image of the type of clouds you are looking for.
  2. Put the image of clouds over your image in Photoshop.
  3. Select the blending mode screen.
  4. If you would like, adjust the size to get the clouds to fit properly over your original image.
  5. Add a layer mask to the image of the clouds using the mask button on the layers panel.
  6. Paint with a black brush over the areas you want to cover on the cloud layer mask.

There you have it! Now you will end up with a far more realistic-looking cloud over your image in Photoshop.

Final Thoughts

Whether you use the cloud rendering tool or the superimposing method, you can end up with a stunning image. These techniques will allow you to achieve just about any look and tone of clouds that you are going for, so they are well worth exploring! 

And remember – there’s no better way to learn how to do things on Photoshop than to dive in and experiment for yourself. So start practicing these techniques today, and you will be amazed by the results!

How To Add Bullets In Illustrator

If you have tried adding bullet points to your Illustrator files, you may have noticed that Adobe Illustrator does not have a built-in function to create such lists. While this may be a frustrating thing to find out, you can use two methods to add bullets to Adobe Illustrator.

If you just want to use bullet points once in Illustrator, you can do so using a shortcut or using the Glyphs panel. However, you can also create a new paragraph style if you want to save time using bullet points in the future.

This simple missing tool in Illustrator can prove quite frustrating if you have to create bullet points from scratch every single time. So, if you want a simple solution to this issue, keep reading this article! We will show you how to solve this problem once and for all!

How To Add Bullet Points To Illustrator Files

If you just want to use bullet points once in your Illustrator file, you can do this in one of two ways:

  • Use the shortcut Alt+0149 (on Windows) and Opt+8 (on macOS) to create a bullet point.
  • Use the Glyphs panel, which you can access through the Type menu, to choose a bullet point.

The second option’s benefit is that you can choose from a range of bullet points and even load specific designs depending on the fonts you want to use.

You can also take a look at this tutorial to learn more about adding bullets to Adobe Illustrator:

How To Create Bullet Paragraph Style In Adobe Illustrator

If you are looking for a permanent solution to this issue, you can create a paragraph format that includes bullet points. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Using the Type Tool, create paragraphs of text. Lorem Ipsum is the standard you can use for this purpose.
  2. Add a bullet point to the beginning of the paragraphs using either of the methods described in the first section.
  3. Add a tab space between the bullet point and the first letter of your paragraph. Repeat this for all of the rest of the paragraphs.
  4. Select the text that you have created.
  5. Open The Tabs menu from the Type menu on Illustrator, and set the left tab to 10 pt.
  6. Now, in the paragraph panel (also accessible from the Type Menu) choose the Left indent at 10 pt, and First line indent at -10 pt, and Space before the paragraph at 5 pt.
  7. You can adjust these measurements, but this gives you a standard design.
  8. Finally, open up Paragraph Styles in the Type menu.
  9. From here, select New Paragraph Style.
  10. Name this style, whatever you like, and choose OK.

You will be able to use this style within this document. To use the style in other documents, you will need to follow these steps:

  1. Save the file in which you created the style in AI format.
  2. Open up a new document, and choose Load Paragraph Styles from the Paragraph Styles menu.
  3. Load the saved file, and choose Open.
  4. You can now select the bullet paragraph style whenever you need it from the Paragraph Styles menu on Illustrator.

Final Thoughts

With these tips, you can easily add bullet points to your Illustrator files. Whether you just need a quick, temporary solution or want to save time by using bullet points in the future, these methods can help you get the job done. So don’t let this simple missing function frustrate you any longer – give it a try today!

How To Add Brushes To Krita

When painting on Krita, you can see that the brushes on the software are the most vital tools that can help you achieve various styles, textures, and patterns in your work. However, adding new brushes to Krita can prove challenging, so how does that system work?

If you want to load new brushes to Krita, you can use either a KPP file or a ZIP folder. You will need to load these files into the correct folder on your Krita set-up in order to access them within the program. This system can allow you to import both brush tips and brush presets.

So how exactly does using brushes work in Krita? And how difficult is it to load new brush presets or tips into your software? You can find the answers to these questions and more by reading the rest of this article! We will take a detailed look at how to import brushes into the program!

How To Load New Brushes To Krita

Unlike other photo editing and painting apps, Krita uses multiple files to define a brush, which includes a preset, tips, and patterns. 

This allows you to get the complete experience of using a tool, as you do in the real world, by factoring in the feel, texture, and pressure of the brush. This impacts how you can load new brushes to the Krita software, which you can do using two methods.

Using A KPP File

If you want to download one single preset to your Krita software, this is typically in the form of a KPP file. You can navigate to the preset chooser by using the F6 key on your keyboard. 

From here, pressing the folder icon will open up a dialog box. You can then choose the KPP file you want to import and click on it to load the preset into Krita.

However, if there are corresponding tips or patterns with this preset file, you will need to add them too. You can do this through the Settings drop-down menu, which you can also access by pressing F5 on your keyboard. 

From here, choose the option Brush Tip. Select the option ‘Predefined Brush’ from where you can select the import option. This will prompt a dialog button to open up. You can select the relevant file and load it into Krita.

Here is a video tutorial on how to add brushes to Krita:

Using A ZIP Folder

Some brush packs are available in the form of ZIP Files. To import these, you can use the following steps:

  1. Open up the Settings Menu, and navigate to Manage Resources.
  2. From here, choose ‘Open Resource Folder.’
  3. Select the ZIP file that you have downloaded.
  4. Copy the files inside the ZIP folder to your resource folder. This includes the brush presets, patterns, and tips.
  5. You will see a dialog box that tells you that you are about to merge folders.
  6. Select Agree.
  7. Finally, restart your Krita software.

Final Thoughts

Now that you know how to add brushes to Krita and the different ways you can do this, you can start taking advantage of all the great brush presets and tips available online. Whether you want to download a full pack or just a single brush set, it is easy to import new resources into your Krita software and start using them right away!

How To Add Trim Marks In Illustrator

Trim marks, or crop marks, are important if you want your artwork or projects in Illustrator printed out. This is because these marks help the printer understand where the artwork should be cut and help to prevent bad cutting that can obstruct or hide your output. But the question is, how can you enable them on Illustrator?

There is a pretty easy mechanism to enable crop marks or trim marks on your artboard on Illustrator. In addition to enabling the trim marks, you can also choose to use an alternative style, such as the Japanese trim marks style, to make it easy to print out your projects.

If you are struggling with adding trim marks to your Illustrator projects – there is no need to panic! This article will explore the uses of trim marks, how they can be added to your Illustrator projects, and how to apply special techniques such as the Japanese trim marks.

What To Do To Enable Trim Marks On Illustrator

One of the core things you can do on Illustrator is used an artboard designed to specific dimensions for printing purposes. However, you can use additional trim marks on your artboards to help the printers understand what part of your artwork to cut after it has been printed. 

Here is what you need to do to add crop marks around an object on your artboard: 

  1. Open up your artboard on Illustrator and choose the object. 
  2. Select the object you want to create the trim marks around.
  3. Now, select the option Object from the menu, and choose to Create Trim Marks.
  4. You can also create a live effect with these marks by going to the Effect tab and choosing Crop Marks. 

Your object will now have trim marks around it, which will help the person printing know where to cut so your artwork is preserved and not accidentally removed. Here is a video explaining trim and crop marks in detail: 

How To Add Japanese Trim Marks

In addition to the standard trim marks, you can add Japanese or crop marks to your artwork. The Japanese Style crop marks are defined by doubled lines. This gives a bleed area of around 3 mm to each border around the object. To create such trim marks, you can follow these steps:

  1. In the Edit menu, navigate toward Preferences, and then choose General.
  2. If you are on macOS, go to the Illustrator menu, choose Preferences, and then General.
  3. Then select the option ‘Use Japanese Crop Marks.’
  4. Click OK to save all of your changes.

Final Thoughts

Adding trim marks to your artwork can help with the printing, as well as how it looks when it is printed. This is why if you are going to be working on any projects for print – it is essential to use crop or trim marks to ensure that everything works perfectly. 

Thanks to this guide, you now know how to add these marks and which ones are best for your projects on Illustrator.

How To Add Text In Paint Tool SAI

PaintTool SAI is the foremost painting program people use to draw Manga in Asia and the United States. However, there is one part of the program that many people struggle with – can it be used to add text to your work? Is there a text tool in PaintTool SAI?

Unfortunately, the program has no text tool that is built-in to PaintTool SAI. This means you cannot enter text using your keyboard. However, there are ways to add text, either using a secondary program or by using freehand drawing to add the text yourself.

If you want to learn about PaintTool SAI and how to incorporate text into the artwork you create using this program, let’s get started! In this article, we will explore whether the text is an option in the program itself and how you can use different methods to add text!

Can You Add Text To PaintTool SAI?

The simple answer to this question is that you cannot use a built-in tool within PaintTool SAI to add text to your art. The program does not have a feature that enables you to add text through your keyboard. 

This means that artists generally use this program for the artwork itself and then use other mechanisms and tools to add text. However, there are two main ways that you can make this happen, which we will explore in the rest of this article.

Use A Different Program

One of the first ways to add text to PaintTool SAI artwork is to just use another program for this purpose. This is the main way that most artists will add text to their artwork. To do this, you will need to follow these steps:

  1. Create your artwork in PaintTool SAI.
  2. Once you are done, select the File tab on the menu in the program.
  3. Choose Save As, then select the JPEG format, and save it to a location you can easily find.
  4. Open up any other program on your computer that allows you to add text to an image. A commonly used option is Microsoft Paint.
  5. In the program, open up your saved file from PaintTool SAI.
  6. Use the text tool in the second program to add your preferred text to the image.
  7. Save the file in whatever location you want. 

You will now have an image from PaintTool SAI with text on top. The only downside of using this method is that your image will now be saved as a JPEG file, and you cannot edit the artwork.

Alternatively, you can also use this method to add a text image on top of your layer and make it work with the artwork as a blended layer: 

Draw Text Using Freehand

If you don’t want to use a secondary program to create text on PaintTool SAI, you can always use the pen or brush tool to create letters freehand. While this process may take practice to get right, it is the most intuitive way to create letters in the software.

Final Thoughts

The truth is that PaintTool SAI was never designed to be a full-fledged program for creating text. However, if you want to add text to your artwork, you can either use another program to create the letters and then put them on top of your artwork, or you can draw the text freehand using the pen or brush tools. 

Ultimately, your chosen method will depend on your preferences and what works best for your workflow.

How To Add Page Numbers In InDesign

Adding numbers to your pages in InDesign can seem frustrating and complicated. However, while this isn’t the most intuitive feature, the software has a method to add page numbers. Once you understand how this works, adding a page number to your file is very easy.

The page number in InDesign can be added to give information about where your current page sits in reference to the entire document. The marker for page number works automatically within Indesign, meaning you will not have to edit it every time you adjust or add pages to the file.

If you are interested in learning more about page numbers in Indesign, there is a lot to learn! In fact, page numbers can even be edited, formatted, and styled to fit the design of your entire page. Keep reading this article to learn how to add numbers to your pages in InDesign!

How To Add Numbers To Pages In InDesign

When working in InDesign, you have to factor in the involvement of patent pages. By applying parent paging to your document, you can update and change the numbering in the rest of the document. 

So, by default, parent pages display the page number using the prefix of that page, whereas the page number will automatically show up in the proceeding document pages. To use numbers in InDesign, follow these steps:

  1. Start by creating a parent page. You can do this by selecting ‘New Parent Page’ in the pages panel or by selecting a spread and choosing ‘Save As Parent.’
  2. Now, choose a text frame that will be able to hold the largest number of pages, along with any text you want to add before or after the number.
  3. Place this text frame in the position where you want the number of the page to show up.
  4. Once you have added the preceding text and position, select the point where you want the page number to appear.
  5. Choose Type from the main menu, select ‘Insert Special Character,’ Markers, and select Current Page Number.

This will now appear on all document pages applied to the parent page. Here’s a tutorial on doing this to clarify the steps above:

How To Change The Style Of Page Numbers

In addition to adding page numbers, you can also change the style you choose for the page numbers to appear. For example, the standard is in numerals, but you can choose other options, such as uppercase and lowercase Roman alphanumeric symbols as well. 

In addition to choosing the style used, you can also add the number of digits. For example, page 1, displayed in 4 digits, will be seen as 0001.

You can also create a new section if you want to apply a new numerical style to your document in different parts. To do this:

  1. Open up the Pages panel, and select the page where the new section will begin.
  2. Now, select Layout and choose ‘Numbering & Section Options.’
  3. Choose the style you want, and then select OK.

Final Thoughts

Whether you are a designer or a publisher, adding page numbers to your InDesign file can be essential for ensuring that the reader knows what position they are currently in. By following the steps above and using the tips in this article, you will be able to add page numbers to your document quickly and easily!