Have you ever bought an alpha that only comes in one color (like green) and wanted to change the color to match your layout? Well now you can! As promised, this week I have a little tut for you on one of my favorite tools for recoloring — the color replacement too. All the screenshots are from PSCS4. This tool is available in PSE as well.
Please keep in mind: The color replacement tool paints in the same shade as the original color. So if the element is light blue, and you choose a dark purple, the color replacement tool will color it a lighter shade of the purple you selected. Don’t worry, though — you can adjust this shade by using Levels. (By the way, this method works best with an element that has color — not an element that is white or black.)
Let’s get started! I’ll be using a letter from my Shrink-Wrapped Alpha to illustrate this technique.
The color replacement tool is grouped with your brush tool.
After you select the color replacement tool, look at your options in the top bar — select a larger size for your brush (for recoloring the whole letter, you can use a really large one, like 600 or something cause you don’t need to precise). Leave the mode on Color. Choose the eyedropper that has the black/white color chips. Change the tolerance to 100%. (Note: If I’m recoloring the entire element, I will sometimes choose discontiguous, as it seems to brush faster.)
Now, select your background chip and select anywhere on the letter so you get a green color. Now click on your foreground color and choose the color you want it to be.
Paint your brush all over the letter.
Remember, this tool paints in the same shade. After you’ve painted the entire letter, you can adjust the shade of the color by adjusting the Levels — CTRL+L will open Levels. If you want a lighter color, slide the middle arrow toward the left. If you want it darker, slide it to the right.
If you’re only wanting to recolor part of an element, select a smaller brush and zoom in. 
You can also adjust the tolerance when you’re trying to paint a particular area a new color. But I pretty much leave it at 100%. 
This method works really well on TONS of different elements. Quite honestly, it’s one of the methods I use when I’m creating elements for a kit. 
It doesn’t work so well on stitches, though, as it changes the stitch hole from gray to whatever shade you picked. So with stitches, I tend to find one that’s closest to the color I want, and then I adjust the hue/saturation.
Let me know what you think of this tip!
what a handy tip- thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you S-O-O-O-O-O-O much for this great tutorial. I needed it so badly!
That’s just plain awesome! I never even knew that tool existed
WOW!! Thanks for the tut, Suzy!!! I’ve had many problems with recoloring, lol!! I shall try your way
Apologize for replying to this post so long after you originally posted it, but I am just wondering if there is any benefit you see to this method as opposed to using a \solid color\ layer, setting it to \color\ blend mode, and then creating a clipping mask of it with your element? I feel like it’s a little quicker a less involved, but I’m not the designer so you probably have some insight I don’t.
Thanks very much,
KC
Sure, that works too! This is just my preferred method for recoloring. A color overlay might be faster when you need to recolor the whole element. But when you need to recolor just part of an element, this is the best way to do it. So I guess out of habit, I just use this way all the time. Thanks for you insight!
Just curious if you see a benefit to using this method as opposed to a solid color layer, set to “color” blend mode with a clipping mask of your element? I feel like it seems quicker and less involved, but I’m not a designer.
Thanks,
KC