• Basic Tutorials - Adobe Illustrator

     3) Transform & Edit Artwork 

     Transform artwork

    Learn how to transform artwork with the Selection tool, Transform panel, and various transform tools in this video:

     

    What you learned: Transform artwork

    • Select a shape with the Selection tool in the Tools panel.
    • Drag a bounding box handle to resize or re-shape the shape. Smart Guide crosshairs show when it’s a perfect circle as you resize.
    • Adjust artwork numerically and with more precision in the Properties panel.
    • Press Shift+Alt (Windows) or Shift+Option (macOS) and drag a shape to resize from the center and constrain proportions. Release the mouse and then the keys.
    • Select a shape. Select the Rotate tool in the Tools panel. Click on the shape to set where to rotate. Drag anywhere around the shape to rotate it.

    Working with groups of content

    In this video, explore combining objects into groups.

     
    What you learned: Grouping objects
    • Click the Selection tool in the Tools panel. Drag across artwork to select it.
    • Click the Group button in the Properties panel to group selected objects together.
    • Drag a corner of the group to resize all objects together.
    • Click the Selection tool and double-click a group to edit the individual objects. Press Escape to stop editing and regroup the objects.

    Aligning content

    Explore aligning artwork in various ways using the Align options.

     
    What you learned: Aligning objects
    • Select multiple objects. Click Align To in the Properties panel to the right of the document and make sure Align To Selection is chosen to align the objects to one another.
    • Click an align option to align objects to one another.
    • Select a single object. Open the Align panel (Window > Align). Click Align To and choose Align To Artboard to align the objects to the artboard.
    • Click an align option in the Align panel to align objects to one another. Aligning to a key object allows you to align to a specific object.

    Cut and erase artwork

    Watch the video below to learn how to transform your artwork by cutting and erasing content. 

     
    What you learned: Erasing and cutting artwork
    • Select the Eraser tool in the Tools panel to erase parts of your artwork. Only selected content will be erased. Shift-drag to erase in a straight line.
    • To cut a path, click and hold the Eraser tool to select the Scissors tool.