Managing artboards in Illustrator is comparable to managing a canvas in digital form. They make it possible to construct different compositions in a single document, making them perfect for working side by side visually on various project iterations.
A short easy way to resize the artboard is to use the Artboards Tool (Shift + O) to click and drag the transformation handles in the corners of the page to resize the artboard in Illustrator. The aspect ratio will be kept if Shift is held down. Use the width and height fields in the tool options menu to adjust the artboard to a specified size.
Illustrator actually allows the user to open multiple artboards simultaneously. Opening a new document, you want to make sure it is sized correctly.
What Is An Artboard
Any project on Adobe Illustrator is done on a canvas called an artboard. The artboard size is always adjustable in the illustrator and changing the size of an artboard is simple at any stage of the design process.
Artboards are areas that may be printed or exported. You may define your own unique artboard size or build artboards from predefined sizes. Creating PDF documents, setting up a workspace, and isolating aspects for applications like Adobe After Effects are typical uses of many artboards.
Scaling and Resizing In Illustrator
The way Adobe Illustrator handles document scaling is distinctive. Instead of using the menu system to search for the document’s attributes, you are given access to a special tool that is both practical and easy to use. Additionally, the tool gives you additional options for resizing the Illustrator artboard than just numerical inputs.
How To Resize An Artboard In 3 Steps
Step 1: Adding Values To The Artboard Tool
Go to the Toolbar on the left-hand side of your screen, then go to Artboard Tool from your toolbar. Or you could press Shift + O from your keyboard.
Add Values For Width And Height
When selected, you should notice a tool settings menu at the top of your screen when you have Artboards Toolset. There are numerous input fields available in the tool settings menu.
Given that we want to change the artboard’s size, the inputs we need are width (represented by the W field) and height (represented by the H field). Whatever size you want your artboard to be, enter it in the input areas.
For each dimension, manually enter the size you want your artboard to be, then press the Enter key to make the adjustments. You should adjust your artboard’s size accordingly.
If you want to measure anything in a different way than pixels, just write the symbol for that measurement after your numbers.
IN for Inches
CM for centimetres
MM for millimetres
PT for points
Step 2: Sizing The Artboard By Percentage
If you want your canvas to be sized using percentages;
Adding the % sign after the number may even scale the artboard in percentages. So, for instance, if you wanted to reduce the width of your 1,000-pixel wide artboard by 50%, all you would need to do is enter that percentage in the W box, and after applying, the artboard’s width should decrease to 500 pixels.
The aspect ratio is shown by the chain link indicator between the width and height input fields (seen above with a red outline). Each dimension will scale appropriately when it is enabled. Therefore, if you reduce the width by 50%, the height will likewise decrease by 50%.
Step 3: Manually Resizing The Artboard
After selecting the Artboards Tool, transformation handles, which appear as tiny square nodes, should be discernible at both the corners and the sides of your artboard. Then the artboard’s width and height may then be changed by clicking and dragging on one of the corner handles, much like an object.
How To Create A New Artboard
By using the Artboard tool and dragging a region on the page that meets your specifications for size, shape, and position, you may create a unique artboard.
By double-clicking the Artboard tool, you may preset an artboard or specify specific artboard dimensions. Set your desired options in the dialogue box and click “OK.”
How To Duplicate An Existing Artboard
Select the Artboard tool and drag it to the desired location while holding down the “alt” (Windows) or “options” (Mac OS) button. This will clone an existing artboard with its contents.
By choosing an existing artboard with the Artboard tool and selecting the New Artboard button in the Properties or Control panel, you may copy the artboard but not its contents.
How To Resize Multiple Artboards
Depending on the size of your artboards, you can have more than one artboard per document. Using the Artboard tool, you may create, resize, or remove them as necessary.
To resize two or more artboards in a project, you need to do them individually in the same document. When changing the size, use the techniques you discussed above while holding down the Shift key and selecting the artboards you wish to resize.
Conclusion
The amazing part about artboards today is that you can make numerous revisions or iterations of the same project within the same document. For instance, I could replicate the artboard and utilize that one if you wanted to see how the design would appear with a different color or typeface.
When creating an artboard, you choose a value that you believe would work the best, but later on in the process, you can improve on the go as you come up with better ideas.
