How to Recolor Complex Artwork in Illustrator

Back in version CS3, the fine folks at Adobe breathed new life into Illustrator -- the ability to choose and modify color like never before. Originally labeled "Live Color" (which made zero sense), these new color capabilities were handicapped by an incredibly complicated user interface.

The other day, designer Keri Labuski posted a question in the LinkedIn Illustrator Group:

"I am having a hard time recoloring a complex piece of artwork that I purchased on iStock. Need recoloring advice!"

This sounded like the perfect case for using the Recolor Artwork feature in Illustrator. Keri was kind enough to share her file with me, and so I recorded a short video clip on how to do it:

Of course, the color features in Illustrator are incredibly powerful, but you need someone to walk you through them. A while back I recorded an entire course at lynda.com called Illustrator Insider Training: Coloring Artwork, where I go step-by-step through it all. The course was recorded in Illustrator CS5, but the features are mostly unchanged and you'll still find it helpful even with Illustrator CC.