How to use Opacity Masks in Adobe Illustrator

In this video you will learn what an Opacity mask is and how to use them in Adobe Illustrator. I will show you two different ways in which they can be applied to help you understand how they can be used in your illustrations.
An opacity mask is something that you can apply to any object that you create, giving you the ability to define the transparency of that object with more control. This will help you add visibility to your designs in creative and dynamic ways.
Please feel free to download a copy of the bird working files used in this tutorial -
www.sofiavaran...
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Check out more of my illustrations and art at www.sofiavaran...
Music featured in this video -
Busybody by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommon...
Artist: audionautix.com/
Today's Plan by DJ Freedem
Blackberry K Two by Squadda B
Cat Circus by Doug Maxwell
Thanks for watching!

[@rachelbache]

Omg thank you SO MUCH! I’m mainly a photoshop user where clipping is so so easy. Being new to illustrator - I feel like I’ve been playing around for weeks trying to find out how to do it with! Still a lot steps for something that I feel like could be so much more simple - but got there in the end

[@fazrominho]

Amazing tutorial! Thanks Sofia for sharing 😍

[@sofiavarano7959]

Thanks and you're very welcome!

[@huzaifabarwaniwala2152]

Very nice tutorial sofia, thank you

[@sofiavarano7959]

you're very welcome :)

[@schlaubischlumpf3729]

I loved this tutorial and I adore your mural! 🤟🏼

[@sofiavarano7959]

Thanks so much!!

[@claytonwest9299]

Very informative,..thank you.

[@sofiavarano7959]

You are very welcome Clay, I will add more dogs into the next tutorials just for you!

[@stamsingh3071]

IN THE END I WAS LIKE... OH.... SOFIA IS SOO BEAUTIFUL.

[@sofiavarano7959]

Thanks so much!

[@69mustang]

20 steps for a gradient transparency. In Coreldraw with 2 steps your done.

[@whatevermedi6347]

Your dog is so indescribably cute ^•^

[@sofiavarano7959]

haha Thanks so much! :)

[@FranzReuchlein]

It looks quiet here. But, your explanations are clear to follow.

[@barscekergil2833]

thank you Sofia!

[@sofiavarano7959]

You're welcome! :)

[@udhayk27]

when i save the file as a JPEG, the mask stops working and the effect doesn't show up in the picture, any idea why not?

[@nolejniczak]

WOW, thank you!!!!

[@sofiavarano7959]

You're very welcome Natalia! Glad you enjoyed :)

[@AndreiSaliakhov]

Many thanx!!!

[@sofiavarano7959]

You're welcome!

[@marvatz]

amazing

[@sofiavarano7959]

Thank you!

[@keepplayingnice]

In the last part for clipping the lines, it seemed very much like just creating a clipping mask in the regular way. Is there a difference or is it just two ways to do the same thing?

[@sofiavarano7959]

Hi! Great question. Yes, there a few ways to create clipping masks and essentially they all have the same outcome. I enjoy using this way as it allows me to have greater control over the clipping mask and edit with ease. I hope that helps. Thanks :)

[@hamtheadmin]

How do you leave the opacity mask?

[@sofiavarano7959]

In the transparency window, click on the square on the left. This will leave the opacity mask. To edit the opacity mask, click on the square to the right. I hope this helps! :)

[@briansolis9007]

This tutorial is gonna be so confusing for beginners.

[@andylau7268]

Teaching is a hard job. You know how to do it, but why not explain you are doing while you make a move?

[@sofiavarano7959]

Thanks Andy for your feedback. I'm not really sure what you mean do you mind explaining? I appreciate any feedback. Thanks! :)

[@tamariakhlouri1235]

@@sofiavarano7959 I think they mean that we need more information about those actions. I can see what you are doing, but I don't understand what is happening, why do we copy and paste the birds body? how did the blue lines disappear? I got confused too

[@sofiavarano7959]

​@@tamariakhlouri1235 Sorry for any confusion in the video, it's a hard one to explain. Can you let me know the time stamp of the section of the video you are finding confusing and I will do my best to help you out :)

[@tamariakhlouri1235]

@@sofiavarano7959 Thank you, for being so attentive. at 3:50, when you started hiding the blue lines that hung outside the bird's body, that was the most confusing part for me. I don't understand how the the lines outside the body disappeared, and I just don't get how the white body helped with hiding the lines that are outside it's space :)

[@sofiavarano7959]

​@@tamariakhlouri1235 Thanks for your reply :) In that section we want the blue lines in the tail to only be visible inside the birds body. To do this we copy the white bird shape and paste it into the blue lines opacity mask (in the transparency panel). Any object that is white inside an opacity mask means it will be 100% transparent on the art board, while all the black areas have a 0% opacity, therefore will not be shown on your art board. At around 1:40 in the video I explain how different grey values work when using opacity masks. I hope this helps :)