Create clipping mask in Adobe Illustrator

With clipping masks, you can crop graphics in a targeted manner. This practical tip shows you how to create a clipping mask in Adobe Illustrator.

Adobe Illustrator: Create clipping mask to hide object parts

With a clipping mask, you can hide certain areas of an object in Illustrator. You can use it, for example, to cut a circle out of a graphic or to crop a graphic with a lettering.

1. First, create a path or shape, for example with the pencil tool or the rectangle tool. This path trims the graphic afterwards, so choose the right size.
2. Place the path or shape over the graphic as you want to crop the graphic.
3. Then select both the graphic and the path. To do this, click on the path and now hold down the [Shift] key and the graphic.
4. Under "Object"> "Clipping Mask"> "Create". Then everything is kept within the path, all elements outside the path are trimmed.

Edit clipping mask again in Illustrator

One advantage is that the other parts are not deleted, so you can edit and adjust the clipping mask at any time.

1. First select the clipping mask in Adobe Illustrator.
2. Then click on "Object"> "Clipping mask"> "Edit content".
3. Now the original graphic is selected. You can now move or scale them until the selection meets your requirements.

Adobe Illustrator CS5: A taste of new features

You can also put different objects together with Illustrator - how it works you will learn in the next practical tip.