How To Change The Color Of Your Artboard In Illustrator

Past default, Adobe Illustrator opens with a white artboard. Technically the artboard is transparent, but white is what'southward used to bespeak the infinite that the artboard represents. What if you want to use a color other than white though? In this tutorial I'll be demonstrating how to alter the artboard color in Illustrator, which simply requires changing the Document Setup.

Working with a white groundwork can be frustrating at times, especially when you lot're designing something similar a logo or icons, and you need to see how the designs volition look in lighter shades when placed confronting a dark background. Of course, you could e'er pull the object you lot're designing abroad from the artboard to encounter how information technology looks confronting the dark gray background, but what if yous need to meet how it looks on a different color properties?

In this case in that location are two options:

1. Create a rectangle in the color you'd like your background to be and and so identify your object on meridian of it, or…
2. Change the artboard color in Illustrator

Speaking from experience, the first option can be tedious and cumbersome, and also unnecessary. In most cases you will be better off changing the color of the artboard to adapt your design needs because information technology'southward a rather quick and simple procedure.

Change The Artboard Colour in Illustrator

To change the artboard color in Illustrator, open the Certificate Setup menu by pressing Alt + Command + P, and then tick the box labeled, "Simulate Color Newspaper" and alter the colour of the checkerboard grid to whatever color you'd like your artboard to exist.

Unfortunately at that place is no way to directly change the color of the artboard in Illustrator, but in that location is a workaround that allows u.s. to produce the same effect, which we will be exploring in this lesson. And the benefit of using this workaround is that you don't necessarily need to create a new certificate. You lot can apply this to any document you currently accept opened.

Watch the following video tutorial for a complete walkthrough of the entire process:

For the written instructions, continue on.

Step i: Open up The Document Setup Menu

In order for usa to pursue this workaround we will need to access the Certificate Setup menu. To do so, printing Alt + Command + P on your keyboard, or navigate to File > Certificate Setup using the toolbar carte.

The Certificate Setup menu is a small menu that allows you lot to modify certain backdrop of your document, such as your preferred units of measurement, document bleed size (if any), and whether or not you'd like to apply an opacity checkerboard to your artboard.

Footstep ii: Change The Filigree Color

Once y'all're in the Document Setup carte, all you have to practise is tweak ii of the settings.

First, tick the box that reads "Simulate Color Paper" and make sure the preset beneath information technology is set to [Medium Resolution].

This simulation of colour paper is what will permit you to change the artboard colour in Illustrator to whatever you want.

One time that is enabled, simply click on the pinnacle color stripe, adjacent to the checkerboard filigree, and prepare that to whatsoever colour yous'd like your artboard to be.

The location of the stripe:

In one case yous click on the stripe yous will be prompted to choose a color. This will be the color that your artboard is filled with.

Unfortunately there is no style to specify a HEX colour code, and then you'll need either the RGB or the HSL values for your shade if you have something particular in heed. Otherwise you can just choose a colour manually using the interface.

Once you've chosen your color, click OK in the color menu, and then OK in the Document Setup menu to relieve your changes and close out of it.

Your artboard should now reflect the colour you've chosen to fill up it with:

If your computer is anything like mine so chances are that the color of your artboard has remained white despite setting a different colour. This is merely a screen rendering problem though. All yous have to do is zoom in and out real quick to reset it, and your changed artboard color should become visible.

To zoom in and out, hold Alt and roll upward and downward on the mouse cycle.

Reset The Artboard Colour

If at any signal you'd like to reset the artboard color so that you tin can render to a regular white make full, simply navigate back to the Document Setup menu and deselect the "Simulate Color Paper" box, and click OK to save and close out.

Tips and Precautions

Whenever yous modify the artboard color in Illustrator at that place are a few things that should be kept in heed.

For one, much like changing the canvas color in Inkscape, you're not actually irresolute the color of any of your design piece of work or the certificate itself. All you're changing is the appearance of the artboard within your workspace.

This means that if you export your artboard as a PNG document then, much like when the artboard is white, the fill color will not be reflected in your exported design. Or in other words, exporting a graphic to PNG will yet result in the document having a transparent background, regardless of your artboard's color.

If yous'd like to export the artboard colour along with your graphic then you lot'd have to manually create a rectangle and fill it with the color yous'd like to use, and then position it beneath your graphic.

Conclusion

Although information technology'due south expert that Illustrator provides a way for you to change the color of the artboard, it would be nice if it were labeled in a more straight way. Users shouldn't accept to tinker around with random settings and seek workarounds for a feature that's pretty standard in alternatives similar Inkscape and Analogousness Designer. Hopefully this volition change in the future.

If you accept any questions or if whatever function of this lesson was unclear then simply go out a annotate below. As e'er, thanks for visiting!

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Want to learn more about how Adobe Illustrator works? Check out my Illustrator Explainer Series - a comprehensive drove of over 100 videos where I go over every tool, feature and role and explain what it is, how information technology works, and why it'south useful.

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