The rules of brush colorization (Illustrator CS2/CS3/CS4/CS5)

Colorizing a brush in Illustrator can be a useful option, but it’s somewhat limited. Here’s a rundown on the three options you can set when you colorize a brush. Keep in mind that only Scatter, Art, and Pattern brushes can be colorized using the Colorization options in the Art Brush Options dialog box.

Rule #1: No matter how many colors your brush art contains, the Tints option in the Colorization panel turns it into a one-color version of your original.

Rule #2: The Tints And Shades option turns the artwork into a two-color version, very much like a duotone, where the second color is always black.

Rule #3: Hue Shift changes the color you chose in your original to the stroke color and, at the same time, changes other colors to some variation of their original state, which you don’t control.