Why would you want to mask an image? If you are creating a product catalogue such as an Ikea product catalogue is a prime example of many mask objects. Or maybe you are creating an automobile advertisement such as the Honda vehicle in the ad. Another example is to mask a specific image for a unique effect or mimick the texture of the picture. You can mask an image in Illustrator, InDesign and even Photoshop. Although, in Photoshop, it’s not an image mask, it’s called clipping paths.
Steps in creating a mask
- Open your image in Illustrator
- To keep things simple, let’s grab a shape from the toolbox. Select any of the geometric shapes. I am going to choose the circle.
- To select the circle, hover over the shape, and click and hold until you see the ellipse tool. Move your cursor to select the ellipse shape.
- Draw a circle. To draw a perfect circle, hold the Shift key and let go of your mouse or trackpad when you are ready
- For the mask to work, the shape needs to be on the top layer or be on top of the picture
- Select both the image and the shape. If there are only two items on the page, you can
a) Select All : Mac: Command-A or PC: Control-A.
b) Use the black arrow tool, select the image and hold down the Shift key to add to the selection, select the circle.
c) Marquee selection, click and drag the two objects
To Make a Clipping Mask:
- Mac: Command 7 or PC: Control 7
or Object > Clipping Mask > Make
or right-click, and select Make Clipping Mask
To Release a Clipping Mask:
- If you want to release the mask from its image, if the mask is still selected, right-click, and release the mask
or Mac: Command Option 7 or PC: Control Option 7
or Object > Clipping Mask > Release
Let’s watch the video that was just created