This is the most time-saving and useful tools within this blog post, so make sure you practice this one! Bonus Tip – Draw Inside & Adobe Colour Themes You can move this shape around (and also the mask around), by selecting the layer within the ‘’ layer. Your shape has now been masked within that shape. Select both of your shapes and press and hold CMD + 7 (or Control + 7 on Windows). It can save a heap of time and make your creations look brilliant.įor example, lets say you have a shape you want to mask within another shape. Clipping MaskĬlipping masks are certainly overlooked and underrated to those who are Adobe Illustrator beginners (and if you are a beginner, I highly recommend Adobe’s tutorials). However it’s a lot easier to see all of your paths without the distraction of colours and vectors. Within this view you can see all of your different paths like you can in normal viewing mode. Well you can, by holding CMD + Y (Mac) or Control + Y (Windows). Have you ever wanted to see the paths in your Adobe Illustrator file? With the tool still selected, you can flick between different colours by using your left and right arrows. You can then click into each shape and change the colour. Select your shapes that you want to change the colour, click on the ‘Live Paint Bucket’ tool ( or K on your keyboard), and when you hover over a shape the outline turns red. Much like the shape builder tool, you can colour a shape (or multiple shapes) with the live paint bucket tool. This is an ideal tool if you’re creating complex illustrations which overlap and combine. You can then click and drag from one shape to another, which combines your shapes together. With the shapes selected, choose the ‘Shape Builder Tool’ ( or Shift+W), and hover over your selected shapes. To use, create a few overlapping shapes (circles, rectangles and any paths of your choosing). I only just came across this brilliant tool, but what magic it is! If you haven’t heard of this one you’ll love it. You can see that once you select a new colour, your ‘blended shape’ will change too. If you don’t like the colour of your blended shape, you can change the colour by clicking the colour wheel at the top right of the horizontal toolbar.Ĭlick on this palette icon and double click the colour below ‘New’. *Bonus* Changing the colour of your blended shape From here you can input ‘Smooth Color’, ‘Specified Steps’ to ‘Specified Distance’, according to your preferences. You can dictate how smooth or how many ‘steps’ are between the two shapes whilst having the shape still selected, and double-clicking on the Blend tool within the toolbar. Then hay presto, a nice gradient is made! Click on the first shape, and then click on the other shape. Most simply, create 2 shapes (like the images below) and choose the Blend tool in the toolbar ( or W on the keyboard). The blend tool is brilliant to help you create neat-looking gradients and shapes in Adobe Illustrator. These tools and shortcuts are often overlooked, which you can use to your advantage! This blog post is perfect for beginners as these tools are easy to use, but can also be revealing for the most experienced Adobe Illustrator users.Īs a side note, if you’re new to my blog, do check out my other articles on how to help you with creativity, freelancing to the world of illustration. Within this blog post you will discover my top 5 underrated tools in Adobe Illustrator that can drastically help your creations. However as this software is so powerful and sometimes complex for some, this can lead to certain tools been unused or even forgotten. It can help create mind-blowing vector illustrations to eye-catching designs, like some of my examples within my portfolio (wink-wink nudge-nudge). Want to learn how to improve your illustrations, artworks and designs.Īdobe Illustrator is a powerful and dynamic piece of software for any designer or illustrator. Do you want to discover 5 Adobe Illustrator tools?
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