Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
COYLE
Laura Coyle
It takes a herculean effort to organize a group of fifth-grade students, but using
keen organizational skills and the search features found in Illustrator's Swatches
panel, it became an easy task. Laura Coyle opened the Swatches panel, selected
Show Find Field from the Swatches panel pop-up menu, then clicked on the Show
List View icon. She created global swatches for each color and named them with
meaningful names, matching up a character's name with the descriptors such as
line work, hair, or skin tone creating swatch names like Harriet Line work, Jason Skin
tone, or Marc Hair (
partial view of Swatches panel shown above
). Coyle selected
the color swatches by holding /Ctrl, then clicked on the New Color Group icon.
She kept the default name, Color Group 1, and clicked OK. Coyle repeated the
process, making a separate color group for the color swatches created for the
clothing. Coyle first drew a few of the main characters. To select and apply color to
a character, Coyle typed one or more of the letters of the name in the find field, and
when the name appeared in the Swatches panel (below left), she chose from the list
of custom colors particular to that character (such as searching teal or denim for the
clothing). These central characters would appear in several different scenes
throughout the project, and by using descriptive labeling, Coyle easily found the
color for each figure, and kept their coloring consistent throughout the various
scenes. Later, when Coyle needed to create other figures different from the central
characters, she mixed and matched the custom hair and skin tone color swatches.
Coyle varied their looks by searching and applying specific color swatches in the
color panel, but the overall look of the project was consistent because she used the
same set of colors for the entire project.
