Back to Blog
 

Working with Pattern Swatches in Adobe Illustrator — Video

adobe illustrator tutorial Jan 04, 2023

Working with pattern swatches in Adobe Illustrator can initially seem a little tricky. Pattern swatches exist in Illustrator in the "Swatches" Panel. When you select an object, you can fill it with a repeat pattern by choosing the pattern from the swatches.

When it comes to scaling the pattern or recoloring an existing pattern swatch to create a new one, it isn't as tricky as it seems. I put together this step-by-step video to show you how to extract a pattern from the swatch panel, scale it, recolor it, and export it as a JPEG asset.

Remember that the "tilde" key is your friend when scaling patterns within a shape in Illustrator. It is one of my most commonly used keyboard shortcuts. 

If you have more questions about swatches and patterns, let me know in the comments below. If you'd like to learn more about surface pattern design from me, click here.