Expert: Amy - 5/3/2009

Question
How would i take an image that i bring into illustrator like a logo from the internet and modify it, cut and paste a piece of the image, ex, picture of a dog and i only want the head.

Answer
Hi Kristen,

You can't cut and paste in Illustrator but you can mask.

Using the pen, pencil, rectangle, or any other shape tool and create a shape with no fill and no stroke over the area of the placed image that you'd like to be seen. Sounds like the pencil tool would be the best for your particular job.

Make sure the shape is in front of the placed image.

Then select both the shape and the image and hit Ctrl + 7 or choose Object > Clipping Mask > Make from the menu.

Now only the dog's head will show.

Of course you can always take the image into PhotoShop to erase the parts you don't want and then place it into Illustrator but masking is a great skill to learn!

Good luck
Amy