Illustrator CS6 One-on-One Fundamentals 1

Table of Contents
Shortcuts ................................................................................................................................ 1 Making line art..................................................................................................................... 1
Meet the line tools ....................................................................................................................... 1 Creating custom guides ............................................................................................................. 1 Drawing a heart with the arc tool .......................................................................................... 2 Adjusting control handles ........................................................................................................ 2 Drawing a target with the Polar Grid tool........................................................................... 2 Pasting one shape inside another .......................................................................................... 2 Drawing an arrow with the line tool..................................................................................... 2 Rotating, filling and stacking ...............................................Error! Bookmark not defined.

Shortcuts
V = black arrow A = white arrow Cmd + ; = hide/show guides Cmd + j = join path outlines Cmd + f = paste in the exact location Cmd + 1 = zoom out to 100% Cmd + g = group Shift + d = alternate between paste options \ = Line tool Hold the spacebar to move an object while it is being drawn Cmd + 8 = make compound path Cmd + k = preferences menu Shift + x = swap stroke and fill colour

Making line art

Meet the line tools
Illustrator offers five line tools;
Straight line draw straight lines A smooth arc quarter ellipses, arcs are great for laying down basic curving shapes Spiral Rectangular grid good for laying down guidelines Polar grid

Creating custom guides

You can locate the centre of an illustration using the Rectangular Grid tool. There are two ways to change the number of horizontal and vertical lines in a rectangular grid;

One is by clicking rather than dragging to create the grid and then entering the details manually The other is while dragging, keep the mouse held down. You can press the direction controls to alter the amount of horizontal and vertical lines.

You may also want to change these path guidelines to Snapping Guidelines. Do this by clicking View > Guides > Make Guides. The idea is that you can turn anything you draw in Illustrator into a Snapping Guide.

Drawing a heart with the arc tool

Press the shift key while dragging to create an arc in order to get a perfect quarter circle While dragging press the f key to flip the direction of the arc

Adjusting control handles

When you select a line with the white arrow, you will be able to see control handles. They allow you to modify the curvature of a path. If you want to constrain the angle of the control angle to exactly horizontal or vertical, press and hold the shift key as you are dragging. If you want to join path outlines, marquee the path outlines in order to select them, then go to Object > Path > Join.

Drawing a target with the Polar Grid tool

To draw any shape from the centre outwards, press and hold the alt key when dragging. If you want to bring up the menu box just click, if you want to bring up the menu box, but also create a shape from the centre, press alt + click. To make a polar grid with alternating colours, in the menu box select Create compound path from ellipses and Fill grid.

Pasting one shape inside another

At the bottom of the tool box there are 3 options;
Paste in front Paste behind Paste inside

You can alternate between these options using the shortcut shift + d.

Drawing an arrow with the line tool

To curve the end of lines, select the line, click on Stroke and select the second rounded cap icon.

Using the spiral tool

Press r to flip. Hold command to edit size of spiral and hold the up or down arrow to alter the length.

Illustrator CS6 One-on-One Fundamentals 3

Drawing Geometric Shapes

Using the Ellipse tool
Hold command while you are dragging to create the shape in order to have the shape cut across guide lines.

Creating compound paths

A compound path is a hole within a shape, e.g. the gap in a capital A. Select both shapes, fill with desired colour. Object > Compound Path > Make.

Drawing a multi-point star

Press the up and down arrows to add points to the star, hold command to increase the spikiness of the star.

Adding and aligning a center point

Window > Attributes > Up down arrow > Show center This sometimes doesnt show the exact centre, it acts as f there was a rectangular bounding box around the shape.

Drawing rounded rectangles

Use the up and down keys to increase the roundness or sharpness or the corners.

Reflecting across an axis

Change rotate tool to reflect tool. Hold down alt and click on the point you which to reflect across, chose horizontal or vertical.

Modifying the constraint axis

Illustrator > preferences > general > change constrain angle. This will allow you to extend a line without changing the angle of it.

Using the flare tool

Cmd = holds halo, shift = holds rays. Up and down to add or decrease rays.

Using the top secret tilde key trick

The tilde key allows you to create hundreds to thousands of lines as you draw. ` (to the left of the z).