Tips for Creating Shapes in Illustrator CC

Illustrator CC gives the tools you need to make basic shapes. But, there are ways to improve upon those. The following simple tips can improve your skills at creating basic shapes in Illustrator:

• Press and hold the Shift key while dragging with the Rectangle or Ellipse tool to create a perfect square or circle. This trick is also helpful when you’re using the Polygon and Star tools — holding down the Shift key constrains them so that they’re straight.
• Create a shape from the center out by holding down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key while dragging. Hold down Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (Mac) to pull a constrained shape out from the center.
• When creating a star or polygon shape by clicking and dragging, if you keep the mouse button down, you can then press the up- or down-arrow key to interactively add or subtract points or sides to your shape.

Creating advanced shapes

At times, it may be wise to use advanced tools in Illustrator to create unique shapes. The Pathfinder panel is an incredible tool you can use to combine, knock out (eliminate one shape from another), and even create shapes from other intersected shapes.

You use the Pathfinder panel to combine objects into new shapes. To use the Pathfinder panel, choose Window→  Pathfinder.

Across the top row of the Pathfinder panel are the Shape modes, which let you control the interaction between selected shapes. You can choose from the Shape modes listed in the table below.

If you like the result from using Exclude Overlapping Shapes mode, you can also create a similar effect by selecting several shapes and choosing Object→    Compound Path→    Make. This command “punches” the topmost shapes from the bottom shape.

The shapes remain separate so that you can still adjust them, which is helpful if you like to tweak your artwork (but it drives some people crazy). You can turn the result of using the Shape Mode buttons into one shape either by clicking the Expand button after selecting the Shape mode or by holding down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Mac) when clicking a Shape Mode button. Option on a Mac makes separate objects. Expand makes multiple objects from a compound path.

Using the Pathfinders

Pathfinders are the buttons at the bottom of the Pathfinder panel that let you create new shapes from overlapping objects. This table summarizes what each Pathfinder does.

Using the Shape Builder tool

Using the Shape Builder tool, you can intuitively combine, edit, and fill shapes on your artboard. Follow these steps to create your own unique shape using the Shape Builder tool:

1. Create several overlapping shapes.
2. Select the shapes that you want to combine.
3. Select the Shape Builder tool and then click and drag across the selected shapes.

   

   The selected shapes are combined into one shape.

   The Shape Builder tool also enables merging objects, breaking overlapping shapes, subtracting areas, and more.

4. Create another shape that overlaps your new combined shape.
5. Using the Selection tool, select both shapes.
6. Select the Shape Builder tool again.
7. Hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac) key and click and drag across the newly added shape.
   Use the Shape Builder tool to subtract from another shape.

   It’s subtracted from the underlying shape.

Coloring fills and strokes is easier now, too. When you’re finished making your shape, you can use the Live Paint Bucket tool that is hidden in the Shape Builder tool to intuitively fill your shape with color.