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November 26, 2025
Question

Is it possible to colorize a pattern swatch to a tint, like you can with brushes?

  • November 26, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 163 views

I know that when making a brush swatch, one of the available colorization methods is "Tint" which then lets you use that brush and select and color for the stroke, and the brush will take on that color (see screenshot).  It's super useful so that I can easily recolor one pattern brush without having to make individual brush pattern swatches in different colors.  

Can that be done with a pattern swatch?  For example, if I create a polka dot pattern swatch only one color (the cmyk color set to #000000 black as is required when making a tint brush) is there a way to change the pattern color settings so that i can select any swatch color and it creates the polka dot pattern in that color? 

2 replies

Ton Frederiks
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 26, 2025

No, not in the way you colorize a brush.

But you can recolor any pattern by using Recolor Artwork.

It will automatically add a new version of the pattern to your swatches panel.

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Community Expert
November 26, 2025

Like the unset color in Inkscape? That would be cool.

 

You can use Recolor artwork on patterns and Illustrator will then create a new pattern with the other color. You can also check out opacity masks. And there is a trick with multiple fill colors in the Appearance panel, but it is not stable.