Recolor Artwork Tool – Edit the colour palettes of illustrations in seconds
Why This Matters
If you’ve spent any meaningful time designing in Adobe Illustrator, you’ll know that finding a colour palette rarely takes just five minutes and a bit of Googling. Instead, you can easily lose hours with no guarantee of success. Maybe you start with mustard yellow and midnight blue to match a client’s logo, only to find, halfway through creating your meticulously grouped space octopus, that the brand guidelines have changed. Now it needs to be pastel lavender and eucalyptus.
What next? On a simple design, fine. Toggle a few swatches, job done. As soon as you’re deep in layers, compound paths, and countless isolated shapes, the prospect of updating every colour manually is enough to make even the most patient designer sigh (or scream, depending on tea and biscuit availability). Updating the palette isn’t just a time issue here; when your colours are inconsistent, brand consistency suffers. If you’re doing this for a client, it can cost you another afternoon, plus you’ll likely get that “How quick would it be to adjust the colours again?” email you’ve come to expect.
Common Pitfalls
Every Illustrator user falls into this trap sooner or later (sometimes repeatedly if you don’t spot the workaround). It goes a bit like this:
You finish your illustration, stand back, and think, “I’ll just tweak the main colour.” You ungroup something. Now you’re staring at a hundred objects stacked on top of each other, half of which are masks for that one shadow you barely remember adding. Eventually, you resign yourself to clicking each fiddly object one by one, copying and pasting hex codes, and hoping you don’t miss a bit. By the halfway mark, you’re starting to question your choice of career.
But Adobe Illustrator includes a tool for exactly this, and most people miss it entirely. The reason? It’s tucked away behind several menu layers, almost like a secret handshake only discovered after years of trial, error, and design forum complaints.
Step-by-Step Fix
You can avoid all that tedium and update your palette almost as quickly as it takes to make a cuppa using Illustrator’s Recolor Artwork tool the proper way.
1. Select Your Artwork
Don’t overthink it. Click and drag around the objects you want to recolour. If your illustration is spread across layers, use the Layers panel to make sure everything you need is selected. Want to play it extra safe? Hit Ctrl+A (or Cmd+A on Mac) to select everything visible on your artboard. If you select a few bits you don’t want to affect, you can always deselect them.
Lock any background or guide layers first. This saves you the hassle of accidentally recolouring bits that were meant to stay invisible or bland. Recoloured grid lines can quickly add to confusion.
2. Find the (Hidden) Recolor Artwork Tool
Adobe’s navigation isn’t always obvious. With your artwork selected:
- Go up to the top menu and click
Edit - Hover over
Edit Colours - Click on
Recolor Artwork…
A colourful dialog box will pop up. If it feels overwhelming, don’t panic. The sections you actually need are straightforward.
Add Recolor Artwork to your control bar or right-click menu for faster access next time. If you’re switching palettes often, it’s worth two minutes to make future-you happy.
3. Understand the Colour Mapping
The dialogue shows every colour in your selection, mapped onto a wheel or list (depending on your version). Illustrator has cleverly grouped similar shades together. By default, colours are “chained” together so if you twiddle one, the others dance along in harmony.
Most designers want to swap certain colours for brand new ones, rather than just make slight adjustments. For that, you’ll want to break this link.
Click the tiny chain icon to “unlink” the colour harmony. Now you can change each slot without affecting the rest. Many users miss this on their first go, so don’t skip it.
4. Swap Colours with Pinpoint Accuracy
Now you can make precise changes. Double-click the coloured boxes in the new column (the right-hand side). This opens the colour picker, where you can paste a new hex code, adjust manually, or eyeball a match. Tweaking a colour in this way replaces that shade across your entire artwork, regardless of grouping, masks, or layers.
Need to match a colour from your updated branding pack? Copy its hex code (those lovely codes that look like #FF69B4), paste it in, and every pink cloud or stripe updates instantly.
If you want to reuse palettes from websites like Adobe Color or Coolors, download or copy their hex codes and paste them straight into the boxes. No need to manage swatches or libraries unless you really want to go full admin mode.
5. Preview, Shuffle, and Save Your Palette
Before you commit, use the Preview checkbox to see your changes in real time. If something’s gone awry (say, your highlight becomes a background and vice versa), Illustrator lets you quickly re-map “old” to “new” by dragging colour chips into place.
Once you’re happy, click OK. If you expect a future colour change, save your new palette as a swatch group by clicking the “New Colour Group” button first.
Save a few “works in progress” versions as you experiment. Illustrator sometimes clings to random transparency settings or overprints if your object pile is messy. Backups give you an exit route if needed.
6. Troubleshooting the Recolour Process
Sometimes things don’t go exactly to plan. Maybe an object doesn’t recolour. Maybe your gradients go a bit psychedelic. Here’s what usually goes wrong:
- Missed objects: Check if anything was locked or hidden when you made your selection.
- Images or raster effects: The Recolor Artwork tool only works on vectors. If you’ve embedded a PNG or JPEG, you’ll need to edit those colours elsewhere.
- Appearance settings: Effects like overlays, blend modes, or tints may behave unpredictably. Adjust or flatten these first if your result looks off.
If you ever find that a stubborn object won’t recolour, select it directly and try applying your new colour again, or ungroup further. Sometimes Illustrator buries fills and strokes inside groups like Russian dolls.
What Most People Miss
Here’s a key insight: most designers stick with the default “colour harmony” because it feels safer. However, unlinking those colour chains and redefining every key shade gives you total control. With this method, you can prepare your template for future changes or export a variant in a new palette in minutes, instead of hours.
You don’t have to start out with a perfect palette, either. Sketch, doodle, and refine as you go, knowing you can line everything up at the end with a few clicks. This flexibility takes stress out of your workflow and keeps the ideas flowing.
Another handy tip—use the “Randomise” or “Shuffle” buttons in the dialogue for quick inspiration. Unexpected swaps can open up new creative directions.
The Bigger Picture
Learning how to swap palettes doesn’t just save you an evening of tedious clicking. It’s a shift that takes you from a basic Illustrator user to a confident, fast, adaptable designer: someone who responds to feedback, pitches alternate versions to clients, and tests out what-if scenarios efficiently.
Your brand visuals stay consistent, your files remain flexible, and you spend more time creating. Clients appreciate a designer who can go from “warm” to “cool” in a blink and deliver fast colour updates to the same artwork. For in-house designers, quickly proofing a variant for every quarterly campaign keeps your work right at the heart of the business.
Put simply, this adjustment can streamline your workflow, keep your sanity intact, and reinforce your professional reputation.
Wrap-Up
If you’re only using the eyedropper and swatches, you’re working ten times harder than necessary. Illustrator’s Recolor Artwork tool removes the hassle of palette changes, especially when your illustrations become increasingly complex.
Remember the steps: select your art, find the tool, unlink those chains, paste in your new colours, and preview before you commit. Backup as you go, and always feel free to shuffle the palette or try something bold.
For every design project where the palette changes multiple times before lunch, adopting this approach will save you time and frustration.
Want more helpful systems like this? Join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I actually find the Recolor Artwork tool if the menu changes, or if my Illustrator looks different?
Use the search bar (top right) in newer Illustrator versions. Type “Recolor” and the tool pops up. Otherwise, always try Edit > Edit Colours.
What if my gradients don’t recolour?
Sometimes gradients need to be ungrouped or expanded first, or you may need to adjust gradient stops manually after running the tool.
Can I save a custom palette to use later?
Yes! In the Recolor Artwork panel, click the New Colour Group button to add your latest masterpiece as a swatch set.
Do linked files or images update too?
No, only native vector artwork recolours. Embedded images (like PNGs) need editing elsewhere.
What about global swatches—should I use them instead of Recolor Artwork?
Global swatches are handy if you know your palette won’t change much or for templates. But for fast, project-wide changes, Recolour Artwork is your best bet.
Jargon Buster
Recolor Artwork Tool: A feature in Illustrator for updating multiple colours in your artwork simultaneously.
Hex Code: A six-digit code for colours, e.g., #0077FF, used for copying precise shades between tools.
Colour Harmony: Illustrator’s way of linking colours so changes keep their relative contrast or mood intact.
Swatch: A saved colour you can apply to shapes with a click.
Gradient Stop: An anchor inside a gradient where a certain colour is applied. Each can be edited individually.
Author
Written by Elwyn Davies, founder of Pixelhaze Academy, illustrator, and serial avoider of tedious tasks. Would rather be designing than hunting through menus any day.