Change Default Color for Text in Illustrator

Question

I'm new to Illustrator, and I'm having a heck of a time with a project. The image I'm trying to make has a black background, and a large number of white text objects in the foreground. I select the text tool, click in the panel, change my font color to white and remove any stroke, and type a word. Then I select the text tool again, click elsewhere, and type another word - the colors snap back to their defaults, though (the default color is black, so I can't see it at all).

I have to manually change the color to white every time I make a new text layer. I've been searching for a way to change the default, or make my changes permanent, but I can't seem to find anything. I imagine this is something really easy...any advice?

Answer 1

The easiest way to handle this is to adjust the default Paragraph Style for text.

Create a swatch the color you want your text (if it isn't already a swatch)

Choose Window > Type > Paragraph Style to open the Paragraph Styles Panel.

Double-click the [Normal Paragraph Style] you see listed on the Panel. The style options dialog will open.

Look on the left and find the Character Color option and click it.

Set the color to the swatch you want to use (you can also set any of the other items on the left to alter the default text - font, size, etc) and click okay.

Now all new text will have that color.

There is a method to alter text permanently to something other than black. But do you really want every new document you open to start with white text? If you do, I can provide steps.