In this part . . .

In this section, I cover the essentials of creating new graphics in Illustrator. You meet the various tools that create new graphics:

• The basic shape tools that you use to whomp up stars, rectangles, ellipses, and so forth in a jiffy

• The Pencil tool, your handy friend for drawing free-form lines (get it? — hand-y?)

• The Line and Arc tools, which enable you to create quick and easy lines and curves

• The Pen tool, which gives you the power to create lines and shapes with astonishing precision

• The Brush tool for painting complex objects on-screen with ease

You also discover how to add solid colors, patterns, and gradients to your graphics. Finally, I slide you the skinny about some cool effects that you can create in Illustrator, such as fading out your artwork by using the Transparency feature; coloring a single piece of artwork with multiple colors, gradients, or patterns; and making your viewers’ eyes bug out with 3D effects that’ll have them wearing red and blue glasses.