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Using Patterns in Illustrator

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The Swatch Library Menu

Patterns in Illustrator - The Swatch Library Menu© Copyright Sara Froehlich
Software requirement: Illustrator CS3 or higher

Pattern fills can liven up objects and text when used as fills. Patterns in Illustrator are easy to use, and they can be applied to fills, strokes, and even resized, rotated, or repositioned within an object. Illustrator comes with a large variety of preset patterns, and you can make your own from symbols or your own artwork. Let's look at applying patterns to an object, and then see how easy it is to resize, reposition, or even rotate the pattern within an object.

The Swatch Library Menu

Pattern fills are accessed from the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches). When you first open Illustrator, there's only one pattern in the Swatches panel, but don't let that fool you! At the bottom of the Swatches panel is the Swatch Libraries menu. It contains not only numerous preset color swatches such as commercial palettes like Trumatch and Pantone as well as color palettes reflecting colors in nature, kid stuff, celebrations and much more. You will also find preset gradients and---Ta Da!---pattern presets in this menu.
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