Transparency grid showing up behind bubbles

Thank you for your tips, everyone. However, I cannot figure out a solution using your suggestions. If I select just the background "transparency" grid, this is what I'm left with:

I even tried recoloring the artwork and I'm still left with something that doesn't quite look like it should. This is a little discouraging. I know this is a great piece of artwork, but I cannot figure out how I can use it and maintain a transparent background which really limits how I can take advantage of it.

Mallory,

In addition to what Myra and Barbara said, I believe the seeming transparency grid just consists of square paths of two (no transparent) colours, as in expanded Layers palette in the screenshot.

You should be able to (Direct) Select one of each kind, then Select>Same>Fill and Stroke, then delete to get rid of them.

Sometimes there is a clipping mask or compound path that needs to be released before you can select the objects you want to use. If that is the case, you can select the artwork and choose Object > Clipping Mask > Release or Object > Compound Path > Release.

There was a similar discussion not long ago that you can see here Shutterstock images and 'transparent' backgrounds. HELP PLEASE I'd recommend opening the artwork up in Illustrator to see what makes up the image. You'll probably need to select some parts to get rid of the background which isn't completely transparent. Depending on how the bubbles are made, you might want to select them and change the gradient colors or add a fill in the appearance panel and set a blend mode in the Transparency panel. Here's more info on Transparency and Blend Modes How to edit artwork using transparency and blending modes in Illustrator