Adobe Illustrator CC Classroom in a Book (2018 release)

12 Exploring Creative Uses of Effects and Graphic Styles

Lesson overview

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following:

Work with the Appearance panel.
Edit and apply appearance attributes.
Copy, enable and disable, and remove appearance attributes.
Reorder appearance attributes.
Apply and edit an effect.
Apply a variety of effects.
Save and apply an appearance as a graphic style.
Apply a graphic style to a layer.
Scale strokes and effects.

This lesson takes approximately 60 minutes to complete. Please log in to your account on peachpit.com to download the lesson files for this chapter, or go to the “Getting Started” section at the beginning of this book and follow the instructions under “Accessing the lesson files and Web Edition.”

Your Account page is also where you’ll find any updates to the chapters or to the lesson files. Look on the Lesson & Update Files tab to access the most current content.

You can change the look of an object without changing its structure simply by applying attributes, such as fills, strokes, and effects, from the Appearance panel. And because the effects themselves are live, they can be modified or removed at any time. This allows you to save the appearance attributes as graphic styles and apply them to another object.

Starting the lesson

In this lesson, you’ll change the appearance of artwork using the Appearance panel, various effects, and graphic styles. Before you begin, you’ll need to restore the default preferences for Adobe Illustrator. Then you’ll open a file containing the finished artwork to see what you’ll create.

To ensure that the tools function and the defaults are set exactly as described in this lesson, delete or deactivate (by renaming) the Adobe Illustrator CC preferences file. See “Restoring default preferences” in the “Getting Started” section at the beginning of the book.

Note: If you have not already downloaded the project files for this lesson to your computer from your Account page, make sure to do so now. See the “Getting Started” section at the beginning of the book.
Start Adobe Illustrator CC.
Choose File > Open, and open the L12_end.ai file in the Lessons > Lesson12 folder on your hard disk.

This file displays a completed illustration of a flyer for a bike tour company.
In the Missing Fonts dialog box that most likely will appear, click Sync Fonts to sync all of the missing fonts to your computer. After they are synced and you see the message stating that there are no more missing fonts, click Close.

If you can’t get the fonts to sync, you can go to the Creative Cloud desktop application and choose Assets > Fonts to see what the issue may be (refer to the section “Changing font family and font style” in Lesson 8, “Adding Type to a Poster,” for more information on how to resolve it).

You can also just click Close in the Missing Fonts dialog box and ignore the missing fonts as you proceed. A third method is to click the Find Fonts button in the Missing Fonts dialog box and replace the fonts with a local font on your machine. You can also go to Help (Help > Illustrator Help) and search for “Find missing fonts.”

Note: You will need an Internet connection to sync fonts.
Choose View > Zoom Out to make the finished artwork smaller. Adjust the window size, and leave it on your screen as you work. (Use the Hand tool [] to move the artwork where you want it in the window.) If you don’t want to leave the image open, choose File > Close.

To begin working, you’ll open an existing art file.
Choose File > Open. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the Lessons > Lesson12 folder, and select the L12_start.ai file on your hard disk. Click Open to open the file.

The L12_start.ai file uses the same fonts as the L12_end.ai file. If you’ve synced the fonts already, you don’t need to do it again. If you didn’t open the L12_end.ai file, then the Missing Fonts dialog box will most likely appear for this step. Click Sync Fonts to sync all of the missing fonts to your computer. After they are synced and you see the message stating that there are no more missing fonts, click Close.

Note: For help on resolving any missing fonts, refer to step 4.
Choose File > Save As, name the file BikeTours.ai, and select the Lesson12 folder. Leave the Format option set to Adobe Illustrator (ai) (macOS) or the Save As Type option set to Adobe Illustrator (*.AI) (Windows) and then click Save.
In the Illustrator Options dialog box, leave the Illustrator options at their default settings and then click OK.
Choose Reset Essentials from the workspace switcher in the Application bar to reset the workspace.

Note: If you don’t see Reset Essentials in the workspace switcher menu, choose Window > Workspace > Essentials before choosing Window > Workspace > Reset Essentials.
Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window.

Using the Appearance panel

An appearance attribute is an aesthetic property—such as a fill, stroke, transparency, or effect—that affects the look of an object but does not affect its basic structure. Up to this point, you’ve been changing appearance attributes in the Properties panel, Swatches panel, and more. Appearance attributes like these can also be found in the Appearance panel for selected artwork. In this lesson, you’ll focus on using the Appearance panel to apply and edit appearance attributes.

Select the Selection tool (), and click to select the orange shape in the background, behind the “CALL 1-800...” text.
Click More Options () in the Appearance section of the Properties panel on the right (an arrow is pointing to it in the following figure) to open the Appearance panel.

The Appearance panel shows what the object is (a path) and the appearance attributes applied to it (Stroke, Fill, Drop Shadow, and Opacity).

Tip: You may want to drag the bottom of the Appearance panel down to make it taller, like I did.

The different options available in the Appearance panel are described here:

Tip: You can also choose Window > Appearance to see the Appearance panel.
1. Selected object and thumbnail
2. Attribute row
3. Visibility column
4. Link to options
5. Add New Stroke
6. Add New Fill
7. Add New Effect
8. Clear Appearance
9. Duplicate Selected Item
10. Delete Selected Item
11. Indicates an effect applied
The Appearance panel (Window > Appearance) can be used to view and adjust the appearance attributes for a selected object, group, or layer. Fills and strokes are listed in stacking order; top to bottom in the panel correlates to front to back in the artwork. Effects applied to artwork are listed from top to bottom in the order in which they are applied to the artwork. An advantage of using appearance attributes is that they can be changed or removed at any time without affecting the underlying artwork or any other attributes applied to the object in the Appearance panel.

Editing appearance attributes

You’ll start by changing the appearance of artwork using the Appearance panel.

With the orange shape selected, in the Appearance panel, click the orange Fill color box in the fill attribute row as many times as needed, until the Swatches panel appears. Select the swatch named “Mountain1” to apply it to the fill. Press the Escape key to hide the Swatches panel.

Note: You may need to click the Fill box more than once to open the Swatches panel. The first click on the Fill box selects the Fill row in the panel, and the next click shows the Swatches panel.
Click the words “1 pt” in the Stroke row to show the Stroke Weight option. Change the stroke weight to 0 to remove it (the Stroke Weight field will be blank or show “0 pt” when it’s 0).
Click the visibility column () to the left of the Drop Shadow attribute name in the Appearance panel.

Tip: In the Appearance panel, you can drag an attribute row, such as Drop Shadow, to the Delete Selected Item button () to delete it, or you can select the attribute row and click the Delete Selected Item button.

Appearance attributes can be temporarily hidden or deleted so that they no longer are applied to the selected artwork.

Tip: You can view all hidden attributes (attributes you have turned off) by choosing Show All Hidden Attributes from the Appearance panel menu ().
With the Drop Shadow row selected (click to the right of the link “Drop Shadow” if it isn’t selected), click the Delete Selected Item button () at the bottom of the panel to completely remove the shadow, rather than just turning off the visibility.

Adding another stroke and fill to artwork

Artwork in Illustrator can have more than one stroke and fill applied. This can be a great way to add interesting design elements. You’ll now add another fill to an object using the Appearance panel.

With the shape still selected, click the Add New Fill button () at the bottom of the Appearance panel.

The figure shows what the panel looks like after clicking the Add New Fill button. A second Fill row is added to the Appearance panel. By default, new fill or stroke attribute rows are added directly above a selected attribute row or, if no attribute rows are selected, at the top of the Appearance panel list.
Click the bottom (original) Fill color box in the fill attribute row a few times, until the Swatches panel appears. Click the pattern swatch named “USGS 22 Gravel Beach” to apply it to the original fill. Press the Escape key to hide the Swatches panel.

The pattern won’t show in the selected artwork because the second fill you added in the first step is covering the “USGS 22 Gravel Beach” fill. The two fills are stacked on each other.

Tip: Other ways to close panels that appear when clicking an underlined word, like “Stroke,” include pressing the Escape key, clicking the Stroke attribute row, or pressing Enter or Return.
Click the eye icon to the left of the top fill attribute row to hide it.

You should now see the pattern fill in the shape. In the next section, you’ll reorder the attribute rows in the Appearance panel so the pattern will be on top of the color fill.
Click where the eye icon was to the left of the top fill attribute row to show it.

Next, you’ll add another stroke to a shape using the Appearance panel. This can be a great way to achieve interesting design effects with just one object.
With the Selection tool () selected, click to select the black circle that will become a bicycle tire.
Click the Add New Stroke button () at the bottom of the Appearance panel.

A second stroke, which is a copy of the original, is now applied to the selected circle. This is a great way to add interest to your designs without having to make copies of shapes, changing the formatting (stroke in this case), and putting them on top of each other.
With the new (top) stroke attribute row selected, change the stroke weight to 10 pt.
Click the word “Stroke” in the same attribute row to open the Stroke panel. Click the Align Stroke To Center button (), select Dashed Line, and ensure that Dash is set to 12 pt. Press the Escape key to hide the Stroke panel.

Clicking underlined words in the Appearance panel, as in the Properties panel, shows more formatting options—usually a panel such as the Swatches or Stroke panel. Appearance attributes, such as Fill or Stroke, can have other options, such as Opacity or an effect applied to only that attribute. These additional options are listed as a subset under the attribute row and can be shown or hidden by clicking the disclosure triangle () on the left end of the attribute row.
Choose Select > Deselect.

Adding another stroke and fill to text

Adding multiple strokes and fills to text can be a great way to add interest to your text. Next, you’ll add another fill to text.

Select the Type tool (), and select the text “MTN RIDGES.”

Notice that “Type: No Appearance” appears at the top of the Appearance panel. This is referring to the type object, not the text within.

You will also see the word “Characters.” Formatting for the text (not the type object) is listed below the word “Characters.” You should see the stroke (none) and the fill (white). Also notice that you cannot add another stroke or fill to the text since the Add New Stroke and Add New Fill buttons are dimmed at the bottom of the panel. To add a new stroke and/or fill to text, you need to select the type object, not the text within.
Select the Selection tool (). The type object will now be selected (not the text).

Tip: You could also click “Type: No Appearance” at the top of the Appearance panel to select the type object (not the text within).
Click the Add New Fill button () at the bottom of the Appearance panel to add another fill above the word “Characters.”

Once again, “Characters” refers to the formatting for the text within the text object. If you were to double-click the word “Characters,” you would select the text and see the formatting options for it (fill, stroke, etc.).
Click the fill attribute row to select it, if it’s not already selected. Click the Fill color box, and select the pattern swatch named “USGS 8B Intermit. Pond.” Press the Escape key to hide the swatches.

Note: If you are wondering why I would name a swatch “USGS 8B Intermit. Pond,” know that I didn’t. That pattern swatch can be found in Illustrator by default (Window > Swatch Libraries > Patterns > Basic Graphics > Basic Graphics_Textures).
Click the disclosure triangle () to the left of the same fill row to show other properties, if necessary. Click the word “Opacity” to show the Transparency panel and change Opacity to 20%. Press the Escape key to hide the Transparency panel.

Each appearance row (stroke, fill) has its own opacity that you can adjust. The bottom Opacity appearance row affects the transparency for the entire selected object.

Tip: Depending on which attribute row is selected in the Attributes panel, the options in panels, such as the Properties panel, Gradient panel, and others, will affect the attribute selected.
Leave the type object selected.

Reordering appearance attributes

The ordering of the appearance attribute rows can greatly change how your artwork looks. In the Appearance panel, fills and strokes are listed in stacking order—top to bottom in the panel correlates to front to back in the artwork. You can reorder attribute rows in a way similar to dragging layers in the Layers panel to rearrange the stacking order. Next, you’ll change the appearance of artwork by reordering attributes in the Appearance panel.

Select the Selection tool () and click to select the bottom tan shape behind the “CALL 1-800...” text.
In the Appearance panel, drag the bottom fill attribute row (with the pattern swatch applied) up above the original Fill attribute row. When a line appears above the Fill attribute row, release the mouse button to see the result.

Moving the new Fill attribute above the original Fill attribute changes the look of the artwork. The pattern fill is now on top of the solid color fill.

Tip: You can also apply blending modes and opacity changes to each Fill row to achieve different results.
Choose Select > Deselect and then choose File > Save.

Using live effects

Note: When you apply a raster effect, the original vector data is rasterized using the document’s raster effects settings, which determine the resolution of the resulting image. To learn about document raster effects settings, search for “Document raster effects settings” in Illustrator Help.

Effects alter the appearance of an object without changing the underlying artwork. Applying an effect adds the effect to the object’s appearance attribute, which you can edit, move, delete, or duplicate, at any time, in the Appearance panel.

Artwork with a drop-shadow effect applied.

There are two types of effects in Illustrator: vector effects and raster effects. In Illustrator, click the Effect menu item to see the different types of effects available.

Illustrator Effects (vector): The top half of the Effect menu contains vector effects. You can apply these effects only to vector objects or to the fill or stroke of a bitmap object in the Appearance panel. The following vector effects can be applied to both vector and bitmap objects: 3D effects, SVG filters, Warp effects, Transform effects, Drop Shadow, Feather, Inner Glow, and Outer Glow.
Photoshop Effects (raster): The bottom half of the Effect menu contains raster effects. You can apply them to either vector or bitmap objects.

In this section, you will first explore how to apply and edit effects. You will then explore a few of the more widely used effects in Illustrator to get an idea of the range of effects available.

Applying an effect

Effects are applied using the Properties panel, the Effect menu, and the Appearance panel, and they can be applied to objects, groups, or layers. You are first going to learn how to apply an effect using the Effect menu, and then you will apply an effect using the Properties panel.

With the Selection tool () selected, click the yellow background shape and Shift-click the grayish-brown background shape beneath it on the artboard. Arrows are pointing to them in the figure.
Choose Object > Group.

By grouping the objects before applying an effect, the effect is applied to the group, not the individual objects. You’ll see later that if you ungroup, the effect will be removed.
Choose Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow from the Illustrator Effects section of the menu that appears. In the Drop Shadow dialog box, change the following options:
- Mode: Multiply (the default setting)
- Opacity: 50%
- X Offset: 0 in
- Y Offset: 0 in
- Blur: 0.25 in
- Color: Selected
Select Preview to see the drop shadow applied to the group. Click OK.

Since the drop shadow is applied to the group, it appears around the perimeter of the group, not on each object independently. If you look in the Appearance panel right now, you’ll see the word “Group” at the top and the Drop Shadow effect applied. The word “Contents” refers to the content within the group. Each object in a group can have its own appearance properties.
Choose File > Save, and leave the group selected.

Editing an effect

Note: If you attempt to apply an effect to artwork that already has the same effect applied, Illustrator will warn you that you are about to apply the same effect.

Effects are live, so they can be edited after they are applied to an object. You can edit the effect in the Properties panel or Appearance panel by selecting the object with the effect applied and then clicking the name of the effect or, in the Appearance panel, double-clicking the attribute row. This displays the dialog box for that effect. Changes you make to the effect update in the artwork. In this section, you will edit the Drop Shadow effect applied to the group of background shapes.

With the group still selected, choose Object > Ungroup to ungroup the shapes, and leave them both selected.

Notice that the drop shadow is no longer applied to the artwork. When an effect is applied to a group, it affects the group as a whole. If the objects are no longer grouped together, the effect is no longer applied. In the Appearance panel, you’ll see “Mixed Appearances.” This means that more than one path is selected currently and they have different appearances (different fills, for instance).
With the shapes selected (and ungrouped), choose Effect > Apply Drop Shadow.

The Apply Drop Shadow menu item applied the last used effect with the same options set. The Drop Shadow effect is now applied to each selected object independently.

Tip: If you were to choose Effect > Drop Shadow, the Drop Shadow dialog box would appear, allowing you to make changes before applying the effect.
With the shapes still selected, click the text “Drop Shadow” in the Appearance panel.

Note: You could also select each shape independently to edit the Drop Shadow effect in the Appearance panel.
In the Drop Shadow dialog box, change Opacity to 75%. Select Preview to see the change and then click OK.

Styling text with a Warp effect

Text can have all sorts of effects applied, including Warp, like you saw in Lesson 8, “Adding Type to a Poster.” Next, you will use a Warp effect to warp text. The difference between the warp you applied in Lesson 8 and this Warp effect is that this one is an effect and can be turned on and off, edited, or removed easily.

With the Selection tool () selected, click the text “MTN RIDGES” and Shift-click the “BIKE TOURS” text.
Click the Effect option () in the Appearance section of the Properties panel. Choose Warp > Arc.
In the Warp Options dialog box, to create an arcing effect, set Bend to 65%. Select Preview to preview the changes. Try choosing other styles from the Style menu and then return to Arc. Try adjusting the Horizontal and Vertical Distortion sliders to see the effect. Make sure that the Distortion values are returned to 0 and then click OK.
Choose Select > Deselect.
Click the “BIKE TOURS” text. In the Appearance panel, click the “Warp: Arc” text in the Properties panel (or Appearance panel) to edit the effect. In the Warp Options dialog box, change Bend to {{#}}8211;65%. Click OK.

Editing text with a Warp effect

You can edit text with a Warp effect applied, but sometimes it’s easier to turn off the effect, make the change to the text, and then turn the effect back on.

With the Selection tool () selected, click the “MTN RIDGES” type object. Click the visibility icon () to the left of the Warp: Arc row in the Appearance panel to temporarily turn off the effect.

Notice that the text is no longer warped on the artboard (see the following figure).
Select the Type tool () in the Tools panel, and change the text to “MTN RIDGE.”
Select the Selection tool () in the Tools panel. This selects the type object, not the text.
Click the visibility column to the left of the Warp: Arc row in the Appearance panel to turn on visibility for the effect so that the text is once again warped.
In the Appearance panel, click the “Warp: Arc” text to edit the effect. In the Warp Options dialog box, change Bend to 64%. Click OK.

Note: You may want to move the text closer or farther from the black wheel shape by pressing an arrow key a few times.
Choose Select > Deselect and then choose File > Save.

Applying the Offset Path effect

Next, you will offset the dashed stroke you applied to the bicycle tire (the black circle). This process allows you to create the appearance of multiple stacked shapes.

With the Selection tool () selected, click the black circle to select it.
Click the Stroke row in the Appearance panel with the 10 pt Dashed stroke applied to select it.
With the stroke attribute row selected in the Appearance panel, click the Add New Effect button () at the bottom of the panel, and choose Path > Offset Path.
In the Offset Path dialog box, change Offset to 0.57 in, select Preview, and then click OK.
In the Appearance panel, click the disclosure triangle () to the left of the words “Stroke: 10 pt Dashed” to toggle it open (if it’s not already open).

Notice that the Offset Path effect is a subset of Stroke. This indicates that the Offset Path effect is applied to only that stroke.
Choose Select > Deselect.
Choose File > Save.

Applying a Photoshop effect

As described earlier in the lesson, raster effects generate pixels rather than vector data. Raster effects include SVG filters, all of the effects in the bottom portion of the Effect menu, and the Drop Shadow, Inner Glow, Outer Glow, and Feather commands in the Effect > Stylize submenu. You can apply them to either vector or bitmap objects. Next, you’ll apply a Photoshop effect (raster) to some of the background shapes.

In the Layers panel (Window > Layers), click the selection column to the right of the Mountains layer to select the layer contents.
Click the Properties panel tab to show the panel again.
Click the Effect option () in the Appearance section of the Properties panel. Choose Texture > Texturizer.

When you choose most of the raster (Photoshop) effects (not all), the Filter Gallery dialog box opens. Similar to working with filters in Adobe Photoshop, where you can also access a Filter Gallery, in the Illustrator Filter Gallery, you can try different raster effects to see how they affect your artwork.
With the Filter Gallery dialog box open, you can see the type of filter (Texturizer) showing at the top. Choose Fit In View from the view menu in the lower-left corner of the dialog box. That should fit the artwork in the preview area so you can see how the effect alters one of the shapes.

The Filter Gallery dialog box, which is resizable, contains a preview area (labeled A), effect thumbnails that you can click to apply (labeled B), settings for the currently selected effect (labeled C), and the list of effects applied (labeled D). If you want to apply a different effect, expand a category in the middle panel of the dialog box (labeled B), and click an effect thumbnail.
Change the Texturizer settings in the upper-right corner of the dialog box as follows (if necessary):
- Texture: Sandstone
- Scaling: 145
- Relief: 4 (the default setting)
- Light: Top (the default setting)
Tip: You can click the eye icon () to the left of the name “Texturizer” in the section labeled “D” to see the artwork without the effect applied.

Note: The Filter Gallery lets you apply only one effect at a time. If you want to apply multiple Photoshop effects, you can click OK to apply the current effect and then choose another from the Effect menu.
Click OK to apply the raster effect to all four shapes.
Choose Select > Deselect.

Working with 3D effects

To learn about other working with 3D effects, check out the video Working with 3D Effects that is a part of the Web Edition. For more information, see the “Web Edition” section of “Getting Started” at the beginning of the book.

Using graphic styles

A graphic style is a saved set of appearance attributes that you can reuse. By applying graphic styles, you can quickly and globally change the appearance of objects and text.

The Graphic Styles panel (Window > Graphic Styles) lets you create, name, save, apply, and remove effects and attributes for objects, layers, and groups. You can also break the link between an object and an applied graphic style to edit that object’s attributes without affecting other objects that use the same graphic style.

The different options available in the Graphic Styles panel are described here:

Graphic Style thumbnail
Graphic Styles Libraries menu
Break Link To Graphic Style
New Graphic Style
Delete Graphic Style

For example, if you have a map that uses a shape to represent a city, you can create a graphic style that paints the shape green and adds a drop shadow. You can then use that graphic style to paint all the city shapes on the map. If you decide to use a different color, you can change the fill color of the graphic style to blue. All the objects that use that graphic style are then updated to blue.

Applying an existing graphic style

You can apply graphic styles to your artwork from graphic style libraries that come with Illustrator. Next, you’ll explore some of the built-in graphic styles and apply a few to artwork.

Choose Window > Graphic Styles. Click the Graphic Styles Libraries Menu button () at the bottom of the panel, and choose Vonster Pattern Styles.

Tip: Use the arrows at the bottom of the Vonster Pattern Styles library panel to load the previous or next Graphic Styles library in the panel.
With the Selection tool (), select the bottom background mountain shape.
Click the Splatterz 2 style and then click the Splatterz 3 graphic style in the Vonster Pattern Styles panel. Close the Vonster Pattern Styles panel.

Clicking the styles applies the appearance attributes to the selected artwork and adds both graphic styles to the Graphic Styles panel for the active document.
With the artwork still selected, look in the Appearance panel to see the fills applied to the selected artwork. Also notice “Path: Splatterz 3” at the top of the panel. This indicates that the graphic style named Splatterz 3 is applied.
Click the Graphic Styles panel tab to show the panel again.

You should see the two graphic styles, Splatterz 2 and Splatterz 3, listed in the panel now.
Right-click and hold down the mouse button on the Splatterz 2 graphic style thumbnail in the Graphic Styles panel to preview the graphic style on the selected artwork. When you’re finished previewing, release the mouse button.

Previewing a graphic style is a great way to see how it will affect the selected object, without actually applying it.

Creating and applying a graphic style

Now you’ll create a new graphic style and apply that graphic style to artwork.

With the Selection tool selected, click the yellow shape that the arrow is pointing to in the following figure.

Tip: To create a graphic style, you can also click to select the object that you are using to make the graphic style. You can then either drag the object directly into the Graphic Styles panel or, in the Appearance panel, drag the appearance thumbnail at the top of the listing into the Graphic Styles panel. The panels can’t be in the same panel group.
Click the New Graphic Style button () at the bottom of the Graphic Styles panel.

The appearance attributes from the selected shape are saved as a graphic style.
In the Graphic Styles panel, double-click the new graphic style thumbnail. In the Graphic Style Options dialog box, name the new style Mountain. Click OK.
Click the Appearance panel tab, and at the top of the Appearance panel you’ll see “Path: Mountain.”

This indicates that a graphic style named “Mountain” is applied to the selected artwork.
With the Selection tool, click the bottom rectangle shape in the background (beneath the “Call 1-800...” text). In the Graphic Styles panel, click the graphic style named “Mountain” to apply the styling.
Leave the shape selected and then choose File > Save.

When you apply a graphic style to a type area, the fill color of the graphic style overrides the fill color of the text by default. If you deselect Override Character Color from the Graphic Styles panel menu (), the fill color (if there is one) in the text will override the color of the graphic style.

If you choose Use Text For Preview from the Graphic Styles panel menu (), you can then right-click and hold down the mouse button on a graphic style to preview the graphic style on the text.

Updating a graphic style

Once you create a graphic style, you can update the graphic style, and all artwork with that style applied will update its appearance as well. If you edit the appearance of artwork that a graphic style is applied to, the graphic style is overridden, and the artwork will not update when the graphic style is updated.

With the bottom yellow shape still selected, look in the Graphic Styles panel; you will see that the Mountain graphic style thumbnail is highlighted (has a border around it), indicating that it’s applied.
Click the Appearance panel tab. Notice the text “Path: Mountain” at the top of the panel, indicating that the Mountain graphic style is applied. Like you saw earlier, this is another way to tell whether a graphic style is applied to selected artwork.
Click the yellow fill color box a few times to open the Swatches panel. Select the swatch named Mountain2. Press the Escape key to hide the swatches.

Notice that the “Path: Mountain” text at the top of the Appearance panel is now just “Path,” telling you that the graphic style is no longer applied to the selected artwork.
Click the Graphic Styles panel tab to see that the Mountain graphic style no longer has a highlight (border) around it, which means that the graphic style is no longer applied.
Press the Option (macOS) or Alt (Windows) key, and drag the selected shape on top of the Mountain graphic style thumbnail in the Graphic Styles panel. Release the mouse button and then release the modifier key when the thumbnail is highlighted. Both mountain shapes now look the same since the Mountain graphic style was applied to both objects.
Choose Select > Deselect.
Click the Appearance panel tab. You should see “No Selection: Mountain” at the top of the panel (you may need to scroll up).

When you apply appearance settings, graphic styles, and more to artwork, the next shape you draw will have the same appearance settings listed in the Appearance panel as the previous one.
Click to select the top shape in the background that has the Mountain graphic style applied. An arrow is pointing to it in the following figure.
Click the fill color for the Fill appearance row, and in the Swatches panel that appears, select the Mountain1 swatch.
Choose Select > Deselect and then choose File > Save.

Applying a graphic style to a layer

Note: If you apply a graphic style to artwork and then apply a graphic style to the layer (or sublayer) that it’s on, the graphic style formatting is added to the appearance of the artwork—it’s cumulative. This can change the artwork in ways you didn’t expect, since applying a graphic style to the layer will be added to the formatting of the artwork.

Tip: In the Layers panel, you can drag a target icon to the Trash button () at the bottom of the Layers panel to remove the appearance attributes.

When a graphic style is applied to a layer, everything added to that layer has that same style applied to it. Now you’ll apply a drop shadow graphic style to the layer named Block Text; this will apply the style to all the contents of that layer at once.

In the Layers panel, click the target icon () for the Block Text layer.

This selects the layer content and targets the layer for any appearance attributes.
Click the Graphic Styles panel tab, and then click the graphic style named “Shadow” to apply the style to the layer and all its contents.

The target icon in the Layers panel for the Block Text layer is now shaded.
Click the Appearance panel tab, and you should see, with all of the artwork on the Block Text layer still selected, the words “Layer: Shadow.”

This is telling you that the layer target icon is selected in the Layers panel and that the Shadow graphic style is applied to that layer.

Note: If you want to edit the drop shadow applied to either of the text objects, you can do this a few ways. You can click the target icon in the Layers panel to see the Drop Shadow effect in the Appearance panel, or you can select the artwork (text object in this case) and click Layer: Shadow in the Appearance panel to see the appearance properties for the layer and then click Drop Shadow.

Tip: In the Graphic Styles panel, graphic style thumbnails that show a small box with a red slash () indicate that the graphic style does not contain a stroke or fill. It may just be a drop shadow or outer glow, for instance.
Choose Select > Deselect and then choose File > Save.

You can apply a graphic style to an object that already has a graphic style applied. This can be useful if you want to add properties to an object from another graphic style. After you apply a graphic style to selected artwork, you can then Option-click (macOS) or Alt-click (Windows) another graphic style thumbnail to add the graphic style formatting to the existing formatting, rather than replacing it.

Scaling strokes and effects

In Illustrator, by default, when scaling (resizing) content, any strokes and effects that are applied do not change. For instance, suppose you scale a circle with a 2-pt. stroke from small to the size of the artboard. The shape may change size, but the stroke will remain 2 pt. by default. That can change the appearance of scaled artwork in a way that you didn’t intend, so you’ll need to watch out for that when transforming artwork. Next, you’ll make the spokes group larger.

Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window, if necessary.
In Layers panel, click in the visibility column for the layer named “Spokes” to show the artwork.

This shows a large group of wheel spokes on the artboard.
Click the spokes artwork, and notice the stroke weight of 6 pt in the Properties panel.
Click More Options in the Transform section of the Properties panel, and select Scale Strokes & Effects at the bottom of the panel that appears.

Without this option selected, scaling the spokes would not affect the stroke weights or effects when it is scaled. You are selecting this option so that the spokes will scale smaller and not remain the same stroke weight.
Click the Constrain Width And Height Proportions button () to ensure it’s active (). Change Width (W) to 5 inches. Press the Tab key to move to the next field. The height should change proportionally with the width.

After scaling the spokes, if you look at the stroke weight in the Properties panel, you will see that it has changed (scaled).
Choose Select > Deselect.
Choose File > Save and then choose File > Close.

How do you add a second fill or stroke to artwork?
Name two ways to apply an effect to an object.
When you apply a Photoshop (raster) effect to vector artwork, what happens to the artwork?
Where can you access the options for effects applied to an object?
What’s the difference between applying a graphic style to a layer versus applying it to selected artwork?

To add a second fill or stroke to artwork, click the Add New Stroke button () or Add New Fill button () at the bottom of the Appearance panel, or choose Add New Stroke/Add New Fill from the Appearance panel menu. A stroke is added to the top of the appearance list. It has the same color and stroke weight as the original.
You can apply an effect to an object by selecting the object and then choosing the effect from the Effect menu. You can also apply an effect by selecting the object, clicking the Add New Effect button () in the Properties panel or at the bottom of the Appearance panel, and then choosing the effect from the menu that appears.
Applying a Photoshop effect to artwork generates pixels rather than vector data. Photoshop effects include all of the effects in the bottom portion of the Effect menu and the Drop Shadow, Inner Glow, Outer Glow, and Feather commands in the Effect > Stylize submenu. You can apply them to either vector or bitmap objects.
You can edit effects applied to selected artwork by clicking the effect link in the Properties panel or Appearance panel to access the effect options.
When a graphic style is applied to a single object, other objects on that layer are not affected. For example, if a triangle object has a Roughen effect applied to its path and you move it to another layer, it retains the Roughen effect.

After a graphic style is applied to a layer, everything you add to the layer has that style applied to it. For example, if you create a circle on Layer 1 and then move that circle to Layer 2, which has a Drop Shadow effect applied, the circle adopts that effect.