How to Use the Live Paint Bucket in Illustrator

Is there a paint bucket tool in Illustrator? In the following tutorial, you will learn how to use the live paint bucket in Illustrator. First, you will learn how to use the paint bucket in Illustrator, and then you'll discover how to customize the settings of this tool.

Once you've learned how to use the paint bucket in Illustrator, you can head over to Envato Elements, where you can get unlimited downloads of stock videos, music, graphics, photos, fonts, and more.

What You'll Learn in This Illustrator Tutorial

How to use the live paint bucket in Illustrator
How to customize the paint bucket in Illustrator

1. How to Use the Live Paint Bucket in Illustrator

Step 1

Use the Selection Tool (V) to select your design, and then switch to the Live Paint Bucket Tool (K). Simply click on your design to turn it into a Live Paint group.

Step 2

Use simple clicks to fill parts of your design.

Step 3

Use the up and down arrow keys to navigate between color groups in the Swatches panel (Window > Swatches), or the left and right arrow keys to navigate between colors within a group.

Step 4

Using the Live Paint Selection Tool (Shift-L), you can select multiple parts of a live paint group. Hold the Shift key and just click the sections that you wish to select, and then click the color from the Swatches panel to fill your selections.

2. How to Color Strokes Using the Live Paint Bucket in Illustrator

Focus on your toolbar and double-click the Live Paint Bucket to open the Live Paint Bucket Options. Check the Paint Strokes box and click OK.

Hover your cursor over a stroked path, and once your cursor turns into a paint brush, you can color that stroke.

3. How to Customize the Live Paint Bucket in Illustrator

Step 1

Open the Live Paint Bucket Options and check the Cursor Swatch Preview box to get that tiny preview with the colors that you're about to apply.

Step 2

Open the Live Paint Bucket Options and use the Highlight settings to adjust the color and the size of the border surrounding the sections from a live paint group.

Congratulations! You're Done!

Now that you know how to use the paint bucket in Illustrator, feel free to use these techniques in your future projects.

You can find some great sources of inspiration at Envato Elements, with interesting solutions to improve your design portfolio.

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