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July 19, 2016

How to Use Color Swatches in Photoshop (Photoshop’s Color Menu)

I’ve had a few people ask me how to use the swatches menu in Photoshop because theirs isn’t showing all the pretty colors you can see in my other video tutorials! So in this post I’m showing you how you can get all those pretty colors too 🙂

how to use photoshops color tools, swatches menu, color picker, change shape color, how to color match anything

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking one of these links I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) in exchange for referring you.

Photoshop Swatches Menu

Photsohop’s swatches menu is a brilliant tool – it automatically provides you with color schemes and is my go to resource when creating an ombre color scheme (different shades of the same color), like this wavy pattern:
Ombre wavy lines example

I show how to make this wavy pattern and apply the colors to the different wave sin my ecourse: How to Create Patterns in Photoshop and Monetize Your Designs (along with a ton of other pattern tutorials such as chevron, polka dots, stripes, gingham, checkerboard, random/tossed repeats, directional prints etc. – there’s over 80 video tutorials!)

Photoshop’s swatches menu is also great if you want to create rainbow color schemes, can’t decide on colors or want to create a new color collection and need some inspiration on what colors to pair together.

If you don’t have Photoshop, you can purchase and download it here (my affiliate link).

Related: My 5 Favorite Color Tools for Graphic Design 

How to Use Photoshop’s Color Swatches Menu

You can either watch the video or I’ve summarized the steps into written instructions below:

To enlarge the screen of the video, click the square icon in the bottom right hand corner of the video (it will say ‘full screen’ when you hover your mouse over the icon).

Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more planner related videos & graphic design tutorials!

  1. When you open up Photoshop, this is probably what you’ll see (I’m using version CS6 but you’re will probably be similar no matter what version you’re using):

how to use photoshop color swatches menu change colours pantone cmyk rgb color theory photoshop for beginners tutorial ecourse

To open the swatches menu in Photoshop go to ‘Window’ (at the top menu of Photoshop) then choose ‘swatches’ from the drop-down menu.

 

photoshop's swatches menu, color picker, how to choose colors, photoshop for beginners, pattern design, graphic design, textile design

2. Click the swatches tab on the right and then click the arrow pointing downwards (on the very right of your screen). From this menu you can choose a color swatch.

photoshop's swatches menu, color picker, how to choose colors, photoshop for beginners, pattern design, graphic design, party printables

 

3. Click on the color collection swatch you want to choose, this menu will appear:

what does append mean in photoshop won't delete files how to save load add swatches color menu photoshop beginner ecourseChoose ‘append’

Append in Photoshop means ADD to the bottom. So if you already have colors in your swatches menu, choosing APPEND will ADD the colors below the ones you already have.

Related: Raster, vector, png, .TIFF, CMYK – what does it all mean?! (Graphic design terminology explained)

Which color swatches do I recommend?

My favorite color swatches (and the ones I regularly use in my ecourse: How to Create Patterns in Photoshop and Monetize Your Designs is the ‘PANTONE SOLID COATED’ color scheme (it’s the one on the top right on the right menu in the above photo)

pantone solid coated color swatches menu in photoshop color wheel color schemes color theory beginner ecourse choose color

Some of my other favorite colors swatches are:

‘TRUMATCH COLORS’

A good mixture of light and dark shades of each color:

truematch colors photoshop menu how to make seamless repeating patterns choose color scheme graphic design color theory

‘TOYO 94 COLOR FINDER’

This ones great for rainbow colors schemes! It’s actually harder than you think to create a really nice rainbow color scheme. In fact, creating a color scheme that comprises more than 3 colors is quite difficult – and that’s why I love Photoshop’s swatches menus – all the hard work is already done for you 🙂 toyo 94 color scheme photoshop rainbow color swatches how to use photoshop color menu beginner ecourse pattern design

Adding a color to the swatches menu

When you find a color you like in the color picker just click ‘add to swatches’ and it’l be added to the bottom of the swatches menu. I recommend naming your swatches by giving them a number reference e.g. ‘1’ or ‘blue 1’ for a light shade of blue, ‘blue 5’ for a dark shade of blue, by color collection e.g. ‘summer 2016 range’ etc. If you hover your mouse over a swatch it’ll tell you the name of the swatch (very handy when you have a lot of swatches saved!)

swatches menu, photoshop, color tool, how to change color in photoshop, change color shape, photoshop ecourse, pattern design, repeating patterns

The color Libraries Tool

The color libraries tool is another one of my favorite tools for creating ombre color schemes (different shades of the same color e.g. light to dark).

When you find a color you like in the color picker just click ‘color libraries’ (underneath the ‘add to swatches’ button)

color picker tool in photoshop, swatches menu, custom color, change color, foreground, background, ombre, ecourse, how to make repeating patterns

That will bring up this menu:

photoshop color libraries tool beginner tutorial how to make patterns seamless repeating color theory how to choose colors

You can change the color library by clicking the arrow pointing down beside ‘book’ e.g. you could change it to TOYO 94 or PANTONE SOLID COATED (my favorite swatches as mentioned/shown above)

Want to experiment with colors?

FREE polka dot pattern overlay digital paper template surface design graphic design commercial use free printable

If you’re not sure how to use an overlay see: How to change the colors of an overlay in Photoshop and What is the difference between a digital paper, pattern overlay and Photoshop .PAT file?

Related: FREE printable stripes digital paper

How to back up color swatches

When you start adding a lot of swatches the your swatches menu, make sure you back them up (just like you should back up your pattern library!) If you want to reset the swatches back to Photoshop’s defaults, make sure you SAVE the swatches BEFORE resetting.

Click the ‘save swatches’ button (it’s on the left side of the menu below)

photoshop's swatches menu, color picker, how to choose colors, photoshop for beginners, pattern design, graphic design, party printables

How to make a color chart

If you have an online business, once you’ve chosen your color swatches, you’re going to want to create a color chart so customers can view all of the available colors to choose from when ordering products from you. When I started my printables shop, I searched high and low for a template I could quickly customise so I could get back to designing printables. I wasted far more time than I’d like to admit, trawling the internet and couldn’t find any template of the sort 🙁 So in my usual fashion, I made my own. If you need an easy to use and fully customisable template (you can even use it for 2 color, 3 color etc. color combinations!), I have one you can download here (also includes step-by-step video tutorial on how to add your own colors to the chart template)

how to make a color chart pattern chart template in photoshop template video tutorial popular color combinations chart printable online business product

Want more tutorials on how to use Photoshop? Check out the FREE graphic design video tutorials library!

And if you’re interested in learning how to make your own repeating patterns in Photoshop, you’ll love my ecourse 🙂

How to make patterns in photoshop and monetize your designs self paced ecourse allaboutthehouse surface design graphic design

You may also be interested in...

  • How to use pattern overlays in CanvaHow to use pattern overlays in Canva
  • How to make stripe patterns in PhotoshopHow to make stripe patterns in Photoshop
  • How to Make Patterns in Photoshop and Monetize Your Designs (my new Ecourse!)How to Make Patterns in Photoshop and Monetize Your Designs (my new Ecourse!)
  • How to make seamless repeating patterns in Photoshop (Webinar Replay)How to make seamless repeating patterns in Photoshop (Webinar Replay)
  • How to make glitter patterns in Photoshop (plus a free polka dot pattern overlay)How to make glitter patterns in Photoshop (plus a free polka dot pattern overlay)
  • Raster, vector, png, .TIFF, CMYK – what does it all mean?! (Graphic design terminology explained)Raster, vector, png, .TIFF, CMYK – what does it all mean?! (Graphic design terminology explained)

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Posted In: Graphic Design · Tagged: append in photoshop, cmyk, color chart, color finder tool, color theory, free digital paper, free pattern overlay, free polka dot pattern, how to add swatch in photoshop menu, how to back up swatch files, how to change colors in photoshop, how to choose color schemes, how to choose colors, how to choose fill color for photoshop shapes, how to color match anything, how to color match anything in photoshop, how to create color schemes, how to create ombre color schemes, how to extract colors from a photo, how to make a color chart, how to make a rainbow color scheme, how to make seamless repeating patterns, how to save color swatches, how to use photoshop's swatches menu, how to use the color picker tool, ombre color swatches, pantone, pattern design ecourse, photoshop color finder, photoshop color picker, photoshop color tool, photoshop for beginners, photoshop shortcuts, photoshop swatches menu, rgb, rgb color code, video tutorial

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Welcome to All About Planners! I’m Rachael, a 20-something Aussie addicted to graphic design and all things planning. On the blog you’ll find more than 1,000 posts about all things planning including planner reviews, tips, favorite supplies and some of my past weekly spreads.

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