In Illustrator: How do I stop layer from Artboard 1 going into Artboard 2?

Question

I'm creating a thank you card that has a front and a back using two artboards in Illustrator. In the card design I am using a floral element and have placed it on the side of one artboard. However, I realised that because of its size and position, parts of it stretches onto my second artboard.

In Photoshop, I would use a layer mask to remove it from the second artboard. However I am not sure if I have done it correctly or if I am using the wrong thing, but does a clipping mask apply in this situtation for Illustrator?

When I try to make the clipping mask, instead of hiding that little piece on the left, it hides the entire element.

Answer 1

There is no direct correlation between artboards and layers in Illustrator.

The simple answer is to move the artboards farther apart. Or don't draw/position objects which extend past your bleed area.

You can add a Layer Clipping Mask to a layer though. However, you can only do this once per layer. So it's best to manually create a layer for each artboard. Note that Illustrator won't do that for you. So you have to organize as you construct.

To make a Layer Clipping Mask, draw a rectangle on the layer encompassing the area you want visible. Then, with that rectangle selected, choose Make Clipping Mask From the Layers Panel Menu.

See Here: Copying an artboard with a clipping mask

Answer 2

I'm not really sure why you have so many colors for layers, they don't really correlate to anything useful so I'd fix that up immediately. You should also be working in groups not layers inside layers ideally.

That being said, right now you are selecting the background layer. You need to be on the desired layer, have the path you want to use to become the mask as the top-most object and then go to Object>Clipping Mask>Make or Ctrl+7.

Answer 3

The is a script fitobjecttoArtboardbounds (basically it resizes any shape the size of artboard, best works with rectangles of course). This way i can easily mask everything inside the artboards and contents never overlap.