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Round 2: Recolor Artwork from an RGB File
OK, so Round 1 was little disappointing, but we're just getting started. This time you'll recolor any RGB, CMYK, or grayscale file, and it can have as many layers or transparencies as you like.
First, choose your image. Next, choose the color that you want to recolor your image with. You need to create a frame that's exactly the same size as the one the image is in. The best way to do that is to copy it. Press Command/Ctrl+C to copy it, and then Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift+V (Mac). This is the shortcut for Paste In Place. It gives you a copy on top of the other image. Now delete the image out of the top copy, leaving only the frame. To do this, just double-click the top image and press Delete.
Now change the fill color of the top shape. Select a color using the Swatches panel, or make a new color using the Color panel. The last step is to use the Effects panel and change the Blend mode of this shape from Normal (Default) to Color. The color of your shape will now be applied to the image underneath (Figure 2). From this point on, it's very easy to change the color or apply the same effect to many images throughout your document.
Oh baby, take that, Photoshop!
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Figure 2 An RGB image has been recolored using the Effects panel.
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Figure 3 By applying a color gradient over the image with the Color Blend mode, we can get some spectacular color changes.