14. Live Paint and Other Thrills
Illustrator’s Live Paint feature not only makes painting shapes and strokes quick and easy, it can also create the illusion of a shape being on top of another shape at one spot, while being behind the same shape at another spot.
This is pretty thrilling stuff to anyone who has spent hours trying to create similar effects in the past, before the Glorious Live Paint Era.
Live Paint groups
When you create a Live Paint group, overlapping shapes create regions (similar to the regions created by the Path Builder tool). Live Paint treats regions as if they’re all on the same level instead of arranged in a stacking order; this is what allows you to overlap areas in a way that appears as if they are weaving in and out of each other on separate layers of the stack.
To work with Live Paint, you must use the Live Paint Bucket tool to create a Live Paint group. Before you start, set a few options for the Live Paint Bucket tool.
Task 1 Set the Live Paint Bucket options 
1 To open the “Live Paint Bucket Options” dialog box, double-click the Live Paint Bucket tool in the Tools panel (it’s grouped with the Shape Builder tool).
2 In the “Options” section, use the settings shown below. This enables the Live Paint Bucket tool to color fills and strokes, and also ensures that the “Cursor Swatch Preview” (shown below, right) is available as you work.
3 In the “Highlight” section, choose a color and width for the highlight stroke that will appear when the Live Paint Bucket tool hovers over any part of a Live Paint group (Live Paint renames what you think of as a stroke or fill as an “edge” or “face”).
Depending on the color of the artwork that you’re working with, you might want to come here at various times in the process and change the highlight color or width so it’s easier to see.
Task 2 Create a Live Paint group made of shapes
Before you can use Live Paint, you need to turn selected objects into a Live Paint group.
1 Create two or more objects that have different color fills and no strokes, like the shapes below.
2 With the black Selection tool, select the objects.
3 Choose the Live Paint Bucket tool in the Tools panel; click anywhere within the bounding box of the selected group (below, left).
4 With the black Selection tool, select the Live Paint group. Notice the handles of the bounding box now have a different appearance that identifies the group as a Live Paint group (below, right).
Task 3 Paint overlapping sections for an over/under effect
Live Paint groups treat all paths (called edges) and filled shapes (called faces) as if they’re on the same flat surface, instead of treating some shapes as if they’re on top and others as if they’re below in a stacking order of objects.
Use the Live Paint Bucket tool to paint overlapping sections with a color that creates the illusion that the face is on top of, or below, another shape.
1 Draw two overlapping spirals: With the Spiral tool, draw a spiral; assign it a light blue stroke color.
Duplicate the spiral: Option-drag (PC: Alt-drag) a copy to the left or right; assign it a red stroke color. Make sure it overlaps the first one.
2 Convert the two stroked paths to shapes (just because we’re only dealing with shapes right now): With the black Selection tool, select the two shapes; choose Object > Expand....
In the “Expand” dialog box that opens, choose to expand the “Stroke,” then click OK. The result is shown below, left.
3 With the black Selection tool, select both shapes.
4 With the Live Paint Bucket tool, click the selection to create a Live Paint group (below, right).
5 Hover the Live Paint Bucket tool over the top intersecting face (shown above, right). The face intersection (shown below, left) highlights with the highlight color you chose in the “Live Paint Bucket Options” dialog box.
Click on the face to fill it with the current fill color (below, left). Repeat this step on other intersections you want to paint. The final result is shown below, right.
Task 4 Paint a Live Paint group made of paths
1 With the Pencil tool (or any drawing tool you prefer), assign a 4-point black stroke (depending on the size of your drawing, you may want to assign a different stroke weight).
2 Create a coloring-book-style drawing to paint (below, left).
3 With the black Selection tool, marquee around the drawing so all paths in the drawing are selected.
4 Turn the selection into a Live Paint group: With the Live Paint Bucket tool, click within the bounding box of the selected paths (below, right).
5 Paint the faces of the drawing: Hover the Live Paint Bucket tool over a face (a fill area). The border of the face highlights in the color and weight (below, left) that you chose in Task 1.
Choose a fill color.
6 Use the Cursor Swatch Preview: The Cursor Swatch Preview that you turned on in Task 1 displays the current fill color in the center box of its icon. When you click a Live Paint face, that color fills the face.
To cycle through the colors in your Swatches panel, tap the left or right arrow keys. When the center box of the Cursor Swatch Preview shows the color you want, click the face.
This lets you move quickly from one face to another, switch colors with a tap or two, then click.
Task 5 Add paths to a Live Paint group
1 Use the Pencil tool to draw extra paths on the petals of the flower you created in Task 4.
2 With the black Selection tool, select the flower Live Paint group and the extra paths you just added.
3 Choose Object > Live Paint > Merge.
4 Choose the Live Paint Bucket tool; hover over the new faces and choose colors in the Cursor Swatch Preview—tap the arrow keys to get the color you want in the center swatch, then click.
Task 6 Paint the paths of a Live Paint group
When you hover the Live Paint Bucket tool over an edge instead of a face, the cursor changes to a brush icon and highlights the edge. Edges in Live Paint groups are broken into segments where other edges meet them.
1 Hover the Live Paint Bucket tool over an edge; you should see a paint brush icon instead of a paint bucket. The edge highlights in the color you chose in Task 1. (If you don’t see the paint brush icon, go back to Task 1 and make sure “Paint Strokes” is checked on.)
2 Click the edge with the paint brush cursor to apply the current stroke color (the color in the center box of the Cursor Swatch Preview).
3 To change edge colors in the Cursor Swatch Preview, tap the left or right arrow keys to cycle through adjacent colors in the Swatches panel.
Tip
To more quickly select colors with the Cursor Swatch Preview, create a new color group in the Swatches panel that contains the colors you want, then click that color folder to make only those colors appear in the Cursor Swatch Preview.
Work magic with opacity masks
Live Paint works great for simple objects, but sometimes you need to create the same above/below effect with more complex objects. An opacity mask lets you hide parts of the artwork to create the illusion that part of it is hidden behind another object. Follow along with this simplified task (see the result in Step 7) so you can apply it to your art when necessary
Task 7 Create an opaque mask
1 Draw a circle and assign a red fill color to it.
2 Use the Blob brush to draw a gray, snake-like shape on top of the circle.
3 With the gray snake-shape selected, open the Transparency panel (Window > Transparency).
Set the snake-shape Opacity to 50%, so you can see the edges of the circle shape through the snake shape.
4 Double-click the blank space next to the snake-shape thumbnail.
A black outline indicates which element is selected—the artwork (the left thumbnail) or the opacity mask (the right thumbnail).
Make sure the “Clip” and “Invert Mask” items are not selected.
5 Draw a shape around the part of the snake shape you want to hide: With the opacity mask thumbnail selected, set the fill color to black, then use the Pen tool to draw the shape. Make sure the path you draw matches the circle edges perfectly (the other edges can be more rough).
The black-filled path you draw appears in the opacity mask thumbnail.
6 Select the snake-shape thumbnail and reset its opacity to 100%.
Mask art with clipping masks
A clipping mask is a vector shape that masks artwork in such a way that only areas within the shape area are visible. It’s similar to cropping an image, except you can use any shape as a clipping mask, and nothing gets deleted.
Task 8 Create a clipping mask
1 Draw a shape to use as the clipping path (like the star shape below); place that shape on top of the artwork you want to mask.
2 With the black Selection tool, marquee around the artwork and the clipping path to select them both (the combination is now called a clipping set); choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make.
Try this!
Use the Live Paint Bucket tool to create a mysterious blue planet circled by a Saturn-like ring. If you still feel adventurous after this journey through the Illustrator galaxy, add a thick black stroke to the object edges after you create the planet effect.
