Introduction
In this video, you'll get into creating artwork in Illustrator, using the building blocks of all things - shapes.
With a document open, let's finish some of the artwork here to finish this flyer.
And you'll see some finished artwork on the right; you can use as a guide.
Drawing and transforming shapes with basic shape tools
In the Toolbar, select the Ellipse Tool.
We're going to start by drawing a pear.
Drag to make a shape down here, and it'll become the main pear body.
Shapes have a box around them when selected.
You can use this box to resize by dragging a side or a corner.
To move this shape, you can drag it from the center point.
Try moving and resizing it a bit.
You learned about changing the fill color of shapes in the first part of this series, this time you're going to simply sample a color from another shape.
So, either press I on the keyboard, or go select the Eyedropper Tool over here in the Toolbar, then click this final pear.
Don't worry, you'll learn all about color in another part of this series.
Let's make another ellipse on top and practice moving and resizing it where you want it to be.
If you look over here in the Properties panel, you'll see things like Size, Rotation and more, and you can change these values by choosing or typing them in.
Let's practice.
You'll make another circle over here to make a kiwi, but this time, press the Shift key as you draw to make a perfect circle.
When you're done, release the mouse, and then the key.
To stretch it a little, drag a point on the box around it.
And don't forget, you can sample color from something else by pressing I on your keyboard.
For a last bit of practice here, go ahead and use the Shape Tools to make a spoon.
You'll make a circle and a rectangle.
Now let's combine the pear shapes to make them one shape.
With the Selection Tool selected,
Combining and subtracting shapes with the shape builder
select one circle, then Shift-click the other, so you select them both.
Using the Shape Builder Tool, you're going to drag across to combine them - kind of like this.
Let's practice combining to make this fork.
These two shapes need to become one.
So, select them both.
You'll be switching to the Selection Tool and other tools a lot in here.
To combine them, use the Shape Builder Tool and drag across.
These rectangles right here, I'm going to actually remove them from the main fork shape we just made, using the Shape Builder Tool.
Select all of the shapes by dragging across them with the Selection Tool.
I'll zoom in a little, so you can see this more easily.
With the Shape Builder Tool, to remove shapes, you want to press the Option or Alt key.
Once you see a minus, you can drag across whatever shapes you want to remove, and you've got a fork.
I'll show all my artwork again.
This rectangle that is supposed to be a carrot needs some help to look like an actual carrot.
We need to reshape it.
Reshaping artwork using direct selection and live corners
With the Direct Selection Tool, you can reshape shapes.
Select the Direct Selection Tool, then click in the carrot.
You're going to see all these little points - these are called anchor points - in the shape.
These points control the shape of the carrot path.
If you move one, it reshapes it.
Click one of the points down here and release.
It's now selected.
You can then drag it.
Try moving this other point too.
Last step is to round the corners.
With the Direct Selection Tool click to select the whole carrot, not just the point you drag.
Drag any of these little widgets in the corner and you'll round all of the corners.
Shapes are stacked on top of each other.
The pear you made actually needs to be behind the stem and the seeds that were already there, so you can arrange the pear.
With the Selection Tool, select the pear.
To move it behind, click Arrange in the Properties panel over here and Send to Back.
Now we've made and worked with some shapes, now let's try drawing some more freeform artwork with the Pencil Tool.
Creating freeform shapes with the pencil tool
Select the Pencil Tool in the Toolbar.
There are several tools that you can use to create these types of paths.
This tool lets you draw like a pencil on paper, except it makes paths and shapes that you can edit.
Before you draw, we want to set some options.
So, double-click the Pencil Tool, and to make what you draw a little bit smoother, drag this slider over a little.
To fill what you draw with color, select this.
And Live Feedback is super helpful, so you can see what you're drawing right away.
Click OK.
Come over here and let's try drawing this pepper.
You can start drawing anywhere.
It doesn't have to be perfect.
I will say that zooming in can help draw something like this to give you a little more control.
When you get back to where you started, you'll see a little circle next to the pointer, release, and you made the shape.
I can always redraw parts of this pepper if it doesn't look right.
Just start on the path, redraw, and reconnect it, and you're done.
You can change the color to whatever you want.
If you want, you can use the Eyedropper Tool.
Here's a quick bonus tip
Drawing inside shapes with draw inside mode
for how to draw something inside of this water bottle.
Select this water bottle's shape, choose Draw Inside.
Any shapes you draw or paste are now inside of this water bottle.
Select the Pencil Tool to draw with.
First, change the Fill color over here in the Properties panel.
That way you can see what you're drawing.
I'll pick a darker color than the bottle, then draw a shape in the bottle.
You don't have to close the shape like you did with this one.
And you got it.
When you're finished, make sure you select Draw Normal, which is default.
Otherwise, everything is in the water bottle.
There you have it.
Shapes are the foundation of Illustrator, but they're just the beginning of what you can create in here.
Dig into this file and get some more practice by recreating some of these other shapes.
