Adobe Illustrator is an incredibly popular image editing program, especially among graphic designers and digital artists, as it allows you to customize and manipulate a wide variety of images, from raster to vector pictures.
However, if you are completely new to this software, even some of the most basic and essential actions, such as cropping a picture, can be quite confusing at first. To that end, here is a simple guide that will help you crop any of your images in all editions of Illustrator:
Method 1: Cropping with the Crop Image tool
The 2017 edition of Illustrator (and later) all have a new option for cropping pictures – a specific cropping tool. Here’s how you could use it on your own photos:
- Load the Adobe Illustrator program on your computer.
- Press the File tab at the top, and then select Open or New to either open an existing file on your computer or create a new file.
- Next, press the File tab once again, and choose the Place option to place a picture in Illustrator.
- Select your picture using the Selection tool (the first icon in the toolbar on the left).
- Once the picture has been selected, new options will appear at the top. Here, press on the Crop Image tab. Alternatively, you could also go to File, and then press Crop Image.
- Now, simply click and drag the crop marks on each side of the photo. When doing this, the part of the image you wish to keep will remain as normal, while the parts that will be cropped out will have a grey overlay.
- After you’ve finished cropping your photo, simply press the Apply button at the top.
Note: Keep in mind that when you use this dedicated cropping tool, the surrounding (cropped out) parts of your photo will disappear. What’s more, you will only be able to crop your picture into a square or a rectangle shape. For these reasons, many users still prefer to crop with the method described below.
Method 2: Cropping with the Clipping Mask
A great advantage of the Clipping Mask is the fact that it allows you to crop your photos into any shape you wish, allowing for more artistic freedom. This tool is also available on all Illustrator editions, and can be used by following these steps:
- Load the Adobe Illustrator program on your computer.
- Press the File tab at the top, and then select Open or New to either open an existing file on your computer or make a new file.
- Next, press the File tab once again, and choose the Place option to place either a raster photo or a vector graphic in Illustrator.
- Now, draw your preferred shape on top of the photo. You can use the Pen, Rectangle, Elipse, or any other tool to draw your desired shape.
- Once the shape is drawn, make sure to bring it to the front by using the Selection tool to select it, and pressing the Object button at the top. Then, press on Arrange, and choose the Bring to Front option.
- After the shape has been brought to the front, click on the Selection tool (the first icon in the toolbar on the left) and select the entire picture.
- Now, press the Object button, and then choose the Clipping Mask option.
- Finally, press Make to finish cropping your photo.
Note: Keep in mind that the Clipping Mask feature won’t delete the cropped-out parts of your photo; they will be hidden in the back. This means that if you didn’t properly select an area for cropping, you can easily adjust it just by moving the photo in the layer under the Clipping Mask.
And there you have it! Although it feels like a complicated process at first, any image can effortlessly be cropped in Adobe Illustrator, regardless of the method you choose.
