When starting out on your mission of learning about Adobe Illustrator, it can be overwhelming to know exactly where to start. Red Shark Digital, the leader in graphic design Greenville NC, is here to make this process simple! Learning how to use Adobe Illustrator is key when kickstarting your career or personal interest in graphic design, and with these tips, you can accelerate your education and get started creating! Are you searching for tips on how to use use the pen tool on Adobe Illustrator? Red Shark Digital is here to bring you the top design tips on how to use Adobe Illustrator, specifically how to use the pen tool! Follow along with our senior graphic designer as he breaks down step-by-step exactly how to use the pen tool for creative services Greenville NC!

How to use the Pen Tool

1. The Pen Tool allows you to create vector-based shapes using curves and anchor points.

2. When learning how to use the pen tool, you first need to know where the pen tool is located. The Pen tool is located in your toolbar just below the “Direct Select” tool, but you can also use the “P” key.

3. With the Pen Tool selected, you can now start placing anchor points onto your canvas to build the shapes you like.

4. Once you have almost completed the shape, click on the anchor point you started with to finish.

5. Another feature of the Pen tool is the option to delete anchor points within your shape. Our creative services Greenville NC team utilizes this feature to polish over our work.

6. To delete an anchor point, just hover over any given anchor and click. Once you have deleted an anchor point, your shape is now incomplete. Make sure to connect your floating anchor points!

7. Graphic design Greenville NC pro tip: this is helpful for times when you would like to have certain shapes or features of a design be on separate layers.

How to use the Fill Tool

1. First, select the item you would like to apply a fill to.

2. With your item selected, locate the "fill tool" in your toolbar, or the "Fill Tool" hotkey "I". (Another way to apply color to an item is by selecting a color within your "swatches panel" while your item is selected.)

3. Once you have selected the "Fill Tool," your cursor should change to an eyedropper. With this tool, hover over any color on your canvas and click. You will see your selected item change to that selected color.

4. Well done! This tool comes in handy for our graphic design Greenville NC team when building color palettes from images, or when you need the hex values of a color.

How to use the Crop Tool

1. Place the image you would like to crop into your Illustrator canvas by using hotkeys (CMD+SHIFT+P) or (CTRL+SHIFT+P).

2. With your item selected, locate and click the “Crop Image” button near the top of your window.

3. Once you have clicked, you will see a crop box appear around your selected image.

4. Now you can start adjusting your crop box to section off the desired parts of your image.

5. Once you have scaled your crop box to your desired area, hit enter and the crop will be applied to your image.

6. And voilà! You have successfully cropped your image within Illustrator, and you didn’t have to use a clipping mask or open Photoshop. Did these creative services Greenville NC tips help? Head to our resource pages for more free guidelines and walk-throughs!

How to Use Adobe Illustrator | Red Shark Digital

The most important thing to remember when learning how to use Adobe Illustrator: learning is a process! It is nearly impossible to master these skills overnight. With a lot of time, practice, and self-grace, learning how to use Adobe Illustrator will become second nature to you. These three tips may only scratch the surface when it comes to Illustrator, but our graphic design Greenville NC agency considers these tips fundamental when you are learning how to use Adobe Illustrator. For the ultimate design tips or creative services in Greenville NC, follow our Red Shark Digital Instagram or view our resource library!