Expert: Richard - 1/24/2010

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I have drawn the outlines of some images in Adobe CS Illustrator, but because I don't know how to 'fill' in colour on CS-Illustrator, I have been copying the files over to my Photoshop CS2 to colour and edit. I have then tried to re-paste them in illustrator to construct the final board, with a few images on it. However, all the images appear in white boxes, which i can't get rid of.

I have tried deleting the background in photoshop, but when the file is re-opened in illustrator - it still has a white background. The file is being saved as Jpeg to minimize memory usage as a i have lots of big images/files.


I have also tried creating a path on CS-Illustrator but im not too sure about that procedure and it hasn't worked either.

Can you please help with a quick an easy solution to getting rid of the white box in illustrator so i can overlap my images.

Thank you

ANSWER: Answer 1: To 'Fill' objects with colour in Illustrator.
On your main tool pallette at the bottom is two squares of colour, usually black and white as default. They look very similar to Photoshop's Foreground & Background colours.
In Illustrator these are your Fill Colour & Path Colour, One is for the colour of the line which creates the object and the other is for the colour inside that line. To fill an object with colour just select it and double click on the Fill Colour Box.

Answer 2: To import images with transparency into Illustrator.
jpegs do not include transparency, all transparency info is discarded if you save as a jpeg.
Save as a .psd or .png with transparency activated.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I have tried filling in colour using the method described above, however it doesn't seem to do it correctly.
It only seems to fill out at angles between the points. Ie. if there's a path drawn, copied and then mirrored to create a whole image quicker, it doesn't fill in the colour in between the image- even though the points have been joined together. Would this whole image have to be made from one pathway?

Also, is there anyway of making the white box around the image transparent, once it has been opened in Illustrator CS?  

Answer
For an object to fill fully with colour, it must have a complete path. It sounds like your end points of your two halves are not joined properly. Using the draw path tool mouse over an endpoint and you should see a little 'slash' appear - this lets you add to that path. Then mouse over another endpoint you want to join this to and you should see a little "o" - this lets you join the two paths. If you are having trouble understanding google "adobe illustrator join two paths"

You can't edit your jpegs in Illustrator. You will have to resave as either a .psd or a .png or even a .gif (so long as transparency is activated in the last two).

To be honest, you should not be saving as a jpeg anyway, that compression is really for photos, I prefer to use .png for any raster graphics.

Hope this helps