One of the great tools introduced in Adobe Illustrator CS5 was the the Shape Builder tool. This particular tool has the ability to combine and separate shapes. If you are already familiar with Illustrator, you probably already knew there was a way to do this with the Pathfinder panel in older versions of the program. Adobe added the Shape Builder tool as a more intuitive alternative to the Pathfinder.
Below is an graphic broken down into it’s most basic shapes—several ovals and a rectangle. Next the shapes are put together to form what will be a mug. To actually draw a mug with one of the drawing tools would be fairly difficult unless you had extensive knowledge of the pen tool. Using simple shapes to build your objects guarantees that you will have nice curves, symmetry and most importantly...it’s simple!
Once you have your shapes arranged, you will use the Shape Builder to add shapes together and subtract shapes from other shapes. Drag the Shape Builder tool across shapes you want to add together. Use your Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) to switch the tool to subtract. The final result is below:
A simple way to make a mug in Illustrator—once I had the shapes drawn, it took me around 20–30 seconds to create the illustration above. Now that is fast and efficient. Thank you Adobe Illustrator Shape Builder!
[message type=”simple”]Interested in learning more about Shape Builder and the other great features in Illustrator? We offer small, hands-on Illustrator classes, taught by expert instructors. We teach from experience—not from a manual.[/message]
