If you’ve been an Adobe Illustrator user for some time, you surely have an established workflow, one that comprises favorite tools and fail-safe methods. Although it’s good to trust in your skills, it’s also easy to get stuck in outdated workflow processes … the comfort zone of your tried and true ways. However, you may have overlooked some new or modified tools that could turbocharge your workflow. Here are some of my favorites:
The Appearance Panel
The Appearance Panel first appeared in 2000, in Illustrator 9, and has evolved over the years. It’s my go-to solution for managing object aspects. Once keyed to the Appearance Panel, you can change both fill and stroke attributes, plus colors. You can also add and edit any object effect. Further, it’s the only way to add multiple strokes or fills to a single object. You can create a pattern fill and then add a solid-fill color with a blend mode, to create a different appearance. Also, you can change the stacking priority of every attribute with a simple drag and drop.
Isolation Mode
Isolation Mode dates to Illustrator CS2. Back then, it felt more like a handicap than an asset, but it has since improved significantly. Isolation Mode isolates an object from a group, clipping mask or layer, which allows you work on the object without accidentally changing the surrounding artwork. Double clicking any object will automatically place it into Isolation Mode. Once there, it moves to the foreground, while the surrounding art drops behind and grays out. Double clicking anywhere outside of the isolated image exits you from the mode. It’s a great alternative to repeatedly locking and unlocking, ungrouping or hiding objects and layers.
Blob Brush
The Blob Brush, an intuitive, natural way to draw or edit a complex shape in Adobe Illustrator, arrived with Illustrator CS4. Painting with the Blob Brush gives you a filled, compound path — not a regular brush with a stroke attribute. Painting over existing shapes with the same attributes automatically merges newly drawn shapes with the existing shape retained. The Blob Brush, combined with the Eraser Tool is a natural way to draw and edit vector art. If your workflow kit includes a pressure-sensitive tablet, you can even draw varied-width line shapes.
Shape Builder Tool
The Shape Builder tool, first packaged with Illustrator CS5, is similar to an interactive Pathfinder tool. It allows you to create complex graphics without guesswork, or the typical trial-and-error procedures inherent in the Pathfinder method. Shape Builder allows you to merge overlapped, intersecting-object sections by dragging across them. You can also selectively merge and delete intersecting sections, and change intersecting shapes’ colors with a simple click.
Width Tool
The Width Tool — it allows you to vary the width of a stroke along a path — was also first packaged with Illustrator CS5. Previously, complex stroke creation required defining custom brushes. The Width Tool also allows for infinite stroke widths along a path — simply click and drag anywhere in a stroke to change the width at that point. You can save newly defined, variable-width paths as stroke profiles in the Stroke Panel.
Drawing Modes
Drawing Modes, also introduced with Illustrator CS5, allows you to establish a stacking order — Inside and Behind, for example — before you draw. Use the Behind mode to draw behind an existing object, without having to move it; use the inside mode to draw inside the boundaries of an existing object. It’s faster than the Make Mask command, supports paste and place, and retains the color properties of the receiving shape.
Live Corners and Live Shapes
Live Corners, first introduced in Illustrator CC and then improved via Live Shapes in Illustrator CC 2014, refers to the circular widget found at the corners of any selected object. The Live Corner widget provides the interactive ability to apply corner treatments to objects. With Illustrator 2014, the Rectangular and Rounded Rectangular shapes became dynamic; they remain fully re-editable. The Transform Panel now offers Shape properties, so you can control shape size, rotation and corner attributes. In addition, the CC-based software stores Rotation properties, which makes it easy to return a shape to its original rotation.
Conclusion
Illustrator has been around for almost 28 years and many of our favorite, but original drawing tools have been improved over time. Others, such as the Blob Brush, present a new approach to vector drawing. Take a few minutes to check out the above features, to turbocharge your workflow.