To change the white background to a transparent checkerboard background, head up to the top toolbar and go to View > Show Transparency Grid. Having a white background can be confusing for some when working in the program. It’s almost as if your drawings are “floating” on the artboard.Īdobe Illustrator defaults to a white workspace for each artboard or canvas.

Since shapes, lines, and drawings are saved as components, there’s no background element unless you add a colored box around your image. Note: In illustrator, vectors automatically have a “transparent” background. How do I make the background transparent in Illustrator? Using the delete button removes the shape entirely, while using the forward slash button only removes the fill color, while keeping whatever stroke you have applied. To remove the colored background, simply activate the background shape with the Selection Tool (V) and hit the Delete or the / key. How do I remove the background in Illustrator? Learn more about color in Illustrator below. To delete the outline around the box, select the stroke color box (it looks like a frame), then select the white box with the red slash running through it – this means “empty.” The fill and stroke colors are always previewed on the lefthand side of the program for easy reference. To change the fill color, click the solid box and use the slider or swatches to select the color. If you can’t see these menus in your workspace, head up to the Window toolbar and activate them.īy default, Illustrator creates your first shape as a black outline with white fill. Once you’ve created your background shape, pull up the Color or Swatches menu. Move the rectangle shape on top of the artboard using the Selection Tool (V) to act as your background. Enter the dimensions of your artboard, then hit OK. Activate the Rectangle Tool (M) and right click on the canvas to pull up the Rectangle menu.Activate the Rectangle Tool (M) and click and drag the cursor across the artboard.There are two techniques for creating a rectangle background: To change the canvas/artboard background color, activate the Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a rectangle the size of your artboard. How do I change the background color in Illustrator? Now that you’ve set up your document and created a custom artboard, let’s go over the basics of backgrounds. Hit OK to return back to the main screen. This brings up an Artboard Options menu where you can change both the width and height dimensions or change the artboard name as needed. To change the canvas (aka artboard) size, you can quickly tweak the dimensions by opening the Artboards panel ( Window >Artboards), then clicking on the canvas square icon next to the artboard name. Artboards work in virtually the same way as a canvas – the different is that you can work across multiple artboards in a single file. Note: In Illustrator, the workspace that you usually call a canvas is the called an artboard. How do I change canvas size in illustrator? In this panel you can also click on the dropdown menu in the top right corner to find options for duplicating an artboard and changing the orientation. To add a new artboard to the main screen, open the Artboards panel ( Window >Artboards) and select the folded square icon at the bottom right. When this tool is activated, you can also organize and move individual artboards for easy access. To change the dimensions of the artboard you’re currently using, head to the Artboard Tool (hit the Shift + O keys) and drag the corner handles to resize.

How do I change artboard size in Illustrator?

When finished, hit Create to go to the Illustrator program. You can choose from a variety of preset sizes within the Mobile, Web, Print, and Film & Video tabs, or you can simply input your own values. This popup menu is where you can name your new document, set height and width dimensions, define measurements, and more. Open Adobe Illustrator, then hold down Command + N to bring up the New Document window. In part one of this two-part series, we will cover artboard and canvas sizes, backgrounds, vector shapes, and color application.Ĭreating a new document is the first step of your Illustrator journey. If you start with the basics, you can build a solid foundation in vector illustration.įor this article, we found some of the most frequently asked questions about Illustrator and answered them with simple explanations. Vector drawing in Illustrator might come easy to a few, but for many it’s an alien process and a complicated tool. We’ll cover artboards, canvases, backgrounds, and the basics of vector drawing. In this Illustrator Q&A, get answers to the questions every beginner asks.

Rotate adobe illustrator artboard