Clipart is nothing to be ashamed of. While some graphic designers may be wonderful illustrators, a lot of them are not. That is when clipart is most useful. Theres no need to spend hours trying to create illustrations when clipart can meet your needs. However, its not a wise idea to use clipart images straight from the web or a CD without modification.

Modifying clipart makes it look professional, unique, and interesting. Here are a few ways clipart can be modified to enhance its appearance:

1. Colorization theres a lot of great black and white clipart available. One of the best things about black and white clipart is that its often easy to colorize. And if youve got a black and white image, colorizing it will make it uniquely your own. But how can you colorize clipart? Isnt that impossible? No, its not. All you need is a program which allows you to edit graphics.

Two popular graphics editing programs are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Either of these programs allow for the modification of clipart. But no matter which graphics program you use, it should be relatively easy to colorize black and white clipart.

The easiest method for colorizing clipart is to use the fill tool. On most graphic editing programs, the fill tool is symbolized by a bucket. Simply click on the clipart you want to colorize, and fill with the color of your choice. This method does work, but may not always yield desired results. If your graphics program offers a magnetic lasso tool, that may be a better option.

The magnetic lasso tool allows you to select specific parts of the clipart. The result is that you dont have to color the entire image the same color. Magnetic lasso properties can be altered to fit your needs. However, you must be familiar with the lasso tool in your particular program.

2. Delete or add objects Clipart often consists of many pieces joined to make one object. Because of this, you may come across a piece of clipart thats just too busy. But all is not lost. If you only want parts of the clipart, you can simply delete the parts you dont want.

If the graphic is a vector image, it will be a snap to edit. Open the clipart image in your graphics editing program, select the area you dont want, and hit delete. Its that simple. However, bitmap images pose more of a challenge. Youll have to use the eraser tool and manually delete parts of the image. Or if you want to delete a section of solid color, you can use the magnetic lasso tool and press delete.

Adding elements to clipart can also produce pleasing results. Lets say you have an image of a house that you think is boring. By adding a sunburst behind the house, you can produce a unique new look. The possibilities are endless. Just be aware that clipart can be as plain or exciting as you choose.