Does Artboard Background Color Print

Past default, Adobe Illustrator opens with a white artboard. Technically the artboard is transparent, but white is what'southward used to indicate the space that the artboard represents. What if you lot desire to employ a color other than white though? In this tutorial I'll be demonstrating how to change the artboard colour in Illustrator, which simply requires changing the Document Setup.

Working with a white background can be frustrating at times, particularly when you're designing something like a logo or icons, and y'all demand to come across how the designs will look in lighter shades when placed against a night background. Of course, y'all could always pull the object you're designing away from the artboard to meet how it looks against the dark greyness background, merely what if you need to run into how it looks on a different color backdrop?

In this instance at that place are two options:

Create a rectangle in the color yous'd like your groundwork to be and then identify your object on top of it, or…
Modify the artboard color in Illustrator

Speaking from experience, the first option can be tedious and cumbersome, and as well unnecessary. In most cases you lot volition be ameliorate off changing the color of the artboard to arrange your design needs because it's a rather quick and uncomplicated procedure.

Alter The Artboard Colour in Illustrator

To change the artboard colour in Illustrator, open the Document Setup menu by pressing Alt + Control + P, then tick the box labeled, "Simulate Color Newspaper" and change the color of the checkerboard grid to whatsoever color yous'd similar your artboard to exist.

Unfortunately at that place is no style to direct modify the colour of the artboard in Illustrator, but there is a workaround that allows us to produce the same result, 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. Yous can apply this to any certificate you lot currently have opened.

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

For the written instructions, continue on.

Stride 1: Open The Document Setup Bill of fare

In society for u.s. to pursue this workaround we will demand to access the Document Setup carte du jour. To do so, press Alt + Control + P on your keyboard, or navigate to File > Certificate Setup using the toolbar menu.

The Document Setup bill of fare is a small bill of fare that allows you to alter certain backdrop of your certificate, such equally your preferred units of measurement, certificate bleed size (if whatsoever), and whether or not you lot'd like to employ an opacity checkerboard to your artboard.

Step 2: Change The Filigree Color

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

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

Simulate color paper

This simulation of color paper is what will allow you to alter the artboard colour in Illustrator to whatever you want.

One time that is enabled, merely click on the top color stripe, next to the checkerboard grid, and prepare that to whatever colour you lot'd like your artboard to be.

The location of the stripe:

Color stripe location

Once yous click on the stripe you volition be prompted to choose a color. This will be the color that your artboard is filled with.

Color picker

Unfortunately in that location is no way to specify a HEX color lawmaking, so yous'll need either the RGB or the HSL values for your shade if you have something detail in mind. Otherwise you can just cull a color manually using the interface.

One time yous've chosen your colour, click OK in the colour menu, and then OK in the Certificate Setup card to save your changes and close out of it.

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

Different color artboard

If your computer is annihilation like mine and so chances are that the color of your artboard has remained white despite setting a different color. This is but a screen rendering trouble though. All you take to practice is zoom in and out real quick to reset it, and your changed artboard color should go visible.

To zoom in and out, hold Alt and roll upwards and down on the mouse bicycle.

Reset The Artboard Color

If at any point y'all'd like to reset the artboard colour so that you can return to a regular white fill, simply navigate back to the Certificate Setup menu and deselect the "Simulate Color Paper" box, and click OK to save and shut out.

Tips and Precautions

Whenever you modify the artboard colour in Illustrator there are a few things that should be kept in mind.

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

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

If y'all'd like to consign the artboard color along with your graphic and then yous'd have to manually create a rectangle and fill it with the color you'd like to apply, and so position it beneath your graphic.

Conclusion

Although it'south good that Illustrator provides a way for you to change the color of the artboard, it would exist nice if information technology were labeled in a more than direct mode. Users shouldn't have to tinker around with random settings and seek workarounds for a feature that'due south pretty standard in alternatives like Inkscape and Affinity Designer. Hopefully this volition change in the hereafter.

If you have whatever questions or if any part of this lesson was unclear then just exit a comment below. As always, thanks for visiting!

Become A Master of Adobe Illustrator!

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

_{This mail service may contain chapter links. Read chapter disclosure here.}