Color area under the curve

Question

I have an imported SVG graph in Illustrator CC like the one below. I want to color the area under the curve (the area under the curve that the red arrow is pointing to). I tried drawing new paths and so on and it's been a mess. Can anyone shed some light on how could this be done in the most efficient way? Thanks a lot in advance.

Jon

Answer 1

Quick and dirty:

1. be sure that the line in your graph is ungrouped from all other elements;
2. draw a rectangle that has its lower left corner in your origin and extends above the graph line, but just short of extends to the right of it;
3. arrange the rectangle behind your graph line;
4. copy the graph line: Ctrl / Cmd + C or Edit > Copy;
5. paste in front: Ctrl / Cmd + F or Edit > Paste in Front;
6. select both the front copy of the graph line and the rectangle;
7. select the Shape builder tool Shift + M;
8. click the area below the line, and Alt-click the area above the line and the line itself;
9. colour your area to taste.