Tutorial: Refining Illustrator Files

posted by Liz

I used to have difficulty defining the edges of my Illustrator files because my shapes hung over the lines of the artboard. So I used to import my vector files into Photoshop to set up final document sizes because I couldn't figure out how else to do it.

But clients don't like files that appear pristine and then function like a bad toupee. So here's how you do it.

Trimming the Fat

1. If you're creating an Illustrator design for a client (or yourself), here's the best way to clean up the overhang. Here's what I mean. See how my shapes overlap the artboard?



2. All you have to do is draw a square and line it up with one of the edges of the artboard. (Zooming increases precision; My box is black for contrast purposes, but any color or even a box with no fill will do.) Make sure it is the top shape. Select both the box and one of the shapes to be trimmed.



3. Go to your Pathfinder palette and click Subtract. You can then hit Expand to change the bounding box to fit your new shape.



4. Here is my blue box trimmed now on the right side. Each shape will have to be trimmed separately, so it is a bit of work, but better than leaving the dangling bits.



5. All my shapes have been trimmed up and now fit properly in the artboard.



6. One other use ... The real fun of the subtract button in the Pathfinder pallet is cutting one shape out of another. In this example, I drew a heart and placed it over the object I want to cut it out of.



7. The other option in my case would be to place an orange heart on top of the blue stripe, but I've drawn in some wires in the background so you can see the advantage of cutting it out: To see the shapes underneath it.



This may seem like a beginner's tutorial, but the number of messy files out there tells me this is still useful information. So let's keep it clean, folks!



Side note: The white vines I have growing out of the text are open shapes I drew with the pen tool. The only way I'm aware of to cut shapes like these is with the scissors tool. Just zoom in, snip once where you want to trim it and delete the excess.