The clipping mask is one of the myriad of tools that Adobe Illustrator sports. And I never really got the hang of it or understood where it would come in handy.
Until last week.
I’m putting together a new comic strip called The Winchcombe, and I’ve just saved myself a ton of time and headaches by finally figuring out just what the clipping mask can do for me.
Long and short: I’ve drawn several “set pieces”, background images of locations that will be used frequently in the strip, places like an office, an exterior shot of the restaurant, and the break room.
I can slap the full-sized backdrop down on a layer, scale it to fit the specific shot I’m composing, and then use a clipping mask to trim it to fit the panel, quick and clean. It’s much better than erasing or slopping big blobs of white ink down to cover the unwanted portion.
Thanks to Jay Hilgert of bittbox for making it so embarrassingly clear how easy clipping masks are to use.
Links
How to Make a Clipping Mask in Illustrator | BittBox
The Winchcombe
