Create two-color patterns in CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW Tutorials, Custom fills, Patterns

March 5th, 2009

CorelDRAW lets you create your own patterns out of vector art. The process is very simple once you learn a few rules. This tutorial helps understand the basics of creating a custom two color pattern fill.

Check out the Ctreate full color and bitmap patterns in CorelDRAW tutorial after mastering this one.

Overview

You can apply a pattern to an object with the Pattern Fill tool (in the toolbox menu on the left) or through the fill tab in CorelDRAW Object Properties docker (Alt + Enter). Either way, the Pattern fill dialog should look like this.

CorelDRAW pattern fill dialog /

You are able to change the pattern’s size, colors, offset and some other values depending on your preference.

These are a few things that you should keep in mind about patterns:

To avoid unwanted stretching and distortion, draw and save your patterns as perfect squares.
Keep in mind that a pattern will be repeated over and over depending on the size you set for the pattern and the size of the object it fills. A good idea is to design your pattern in a way that it can look seamless after it is repeated as a fill.
Two color patterns let you choose the Front and Back colors when applying the pattern.

Creating a Two color pattern

Open a new CorelDRAW document and set the page size to a square (Ex. 50mm by 50mm).

Draw your pattern using only black and white colors.

CorelDRAW seamless pattern /

If the art goes all the way to the edge, make sure you draw or crop the art in a way that it is continuous on all sides to ensure a seamless pattern after it is applied.

CorelDRAW create pattern /

When you’ve done drawing, go to Tools/Create/Pattern Fill from the top menu to open CorelDRAW Create Pattern pop-up window. Select the Two Color pattern type, choose the resolution and click OK.

CorelDRAW marquee /

The cursor is changed to a marquee, drag to select the entire pattern area (in our case the entire page) and confirm the pattern creation.

CorelDRAW add pattern in library /

The two color pattern you’ve just created is added to your two-color pattern library. You can find it at the bottom of the library after all the other two-colour CorelDRAW built-in patterns.

CorelDRAW pattern fill... /

To test it, draw a shape and open the Pattern Fill dialog through the toolbox menu on the left.

Check the Two color type checkbox and open the drop-down list to find your pattern.

CorelDRAW change pattern colors /

Two color patterns have an advantage compared to the full-color and bitmap patterns which is the ability to change their colors.

Alternate way

There’s also a built in Pattern editor in CorelDRAW that can be used for creating two color patterns.

Launch CorelDRAW built-in pattern creator /

Open the Pattern fill dialog by clicking on the pattern fill tool from the toolbox menu on the left, choose two color as the pattern type and click Create.

CorelDRAW built-in pattern creator /

This opens the Pattern editor, choose the bitmap and pen size, draw your pattern on the grid (left click to draw, right click to erase) and click OK.

CorelDRAW added pattern /

The new pattern is added to the library.

Custom web-to-print patterns

The custom patterns you used in CorelDRAW are retained in the file after you’ve saved it. This means that you can use any custom patterns (two-color, full-color or bitmap) in your web-to-print templates. Read more about custom web-to-print patterns.