Blog Post 32 - Stage 2 - Adobe Illustrator - Shape Tools

Examples of the Shape Tools and different fills

The first introduction to Illustrator involved looking at the are the Shape Tools. These tools are particularly useful as it allows one to quickly and simply create a whole host of different shapes to any size they want, and one they have been created one can edit them to a style or colour of there choice, including the colour, outline colour and outline thickness. 

Personally I feel that the Shape Tools are particularly useful as it really is a base point to use which you can them work upon using a range of other tools too full express your creativity and design. To begin with, as you can see to the image on the right, I decided to simply try a few of the Shape Tools to get a feel of the program and how things work. For each of the Shape Tools that were explored (Rectangle Tool, Polygon Tool and Star Tool) I decided to look into the finishing and colouring aspects that could be used. As you will notice, the first of each shape is a simple fill of the colour Red, with no outline. 

Gradient Slider

The second in the line-up is that of a Linear Gradient Fill which gives a gradient between that of Yellow to Red through Orange which was possible to make using the Gradient Slider in Illustrator. By using this this allowed me to change the rate of the gradient to my liking. The third shape consists of a Radial Gradient Fill, once again through between that of Yellow to Red through Orange, and as well as this I decided to include a 4 Point Stroke Outline in Black. Finally, the fourth shape consists of the same Radial Gradient Fill and Stroke Outline, however an Effect called "Sponge" was used to create an effect that looks like a sponge has been used over it. Just as a side point the use of the Selection Tool was used to select each of the shapes so that one could then go ahead and edit their colours etc.

Having now looked at the Shape Tools that are on offer in Illustrator, it is very likely indeed that I will be using these on my On Disc Logo and now that I have looked at these I will move onto the Pen Tool.