
Jeff A. answered 06/25/25
Professional Photoshop Designer and Editor
Illustrator is designed to be used mainly with vector (line based) art. If you have placed a color photo into Illustrator, you will need to convert it into a grayscale image before you can change the color. To do this, go to Edit > Edit Colors > Convert to Grayscale and then use the Recolor Artwork tool to change the color. Go to Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork.
Another option is to select your color photo and trace it - thus turning it into a vector object. Go to Window > Image Trace and you will find a lot of options there to play with.
If your object is already a vector object, then you should go to Properties > Fill and click on the fill swatch and you will see a lot of color choices there.