Why am I only getting grayscales / monotones when applying colors in Adobe Illustrator?

Question

When I try to change the color after tracing a `JPEG` image in Illustrator and expanding it, it becomes gray. I have tried lots of color changes but the result is always the same. **Why can't I change the color to anything other than gray, on an image I've traced in Adobe Illustrator?****How can I change the traced image's color?**

Answer 1

There are a few reasons this may occur, but the solution is simple. Use the direct selection tool (the white arrow) to select a shape that you want to change from grayscale. Then at the top menu bar, select:

Edit > Edit Colors > Convert to CMYK.