Page 25 - CS6_AI_Look_Inside.pdf

11. Move the cursor to the right until a green line connects to the center of the
second shape. Click, press Option/Alt-Shift, and drag down and right until a
green line connects to the bottom of the second shape.
Pressing the Option/Alt key allows you to create a shape from the center out; in other
words, the point where you click will be the exact center of the resulting shape.
Pressing Shift as well constrains the new shape to equal height and width, growing out
from the center point where you first clicked.
Note:
Don’t worry about
Click here, press Option/Alt-Shift…
the spaces between the
objects. You’ll adjust the
object spacing in a later
exercise.

…and drag to here.

12. When the cursor feedback shows both Width and Height values of 108 pt,
release the mouse button.

13. Save the file and continue to the next exercise.

control Fill and stroke attriButes

At the beginning of the previous exercise, you clicked the Default Fill and Stroke button
in the Tools panel to apply a white fill and 1-pt black stroke to the objects you created.
Obviously, most artwork requires more than these basic attributes. Illustrator gives you
almost unlimited control over the fill and stroke attributes of objects on the artboard.
As you complete the projects in this book, you will learn about styles, patterns,
gradients, effects, and other attributes that can take an illustration from flat to
fabulous. In this exercise, you learn about a number of options for changing the basic
fill, stroke, and color attributes for objects on the page.

1. With icons.ai open, choose the Selection tool at the top of the Tools panel.
Click the left rectangle on the artboard to select it.

The Selection tool is used to select entire objects.
Note:
2. Open the Swatches panel.
Remember, panels can
The Swatches panel includes a number of predefined and saved colors, which you can
use to change the color of the fill and stroke of an object. You can also save custom always be accessed in the
swatches, which you will learn about in Project 2: Balloon Festival Artwork. Window menu.

Project 1: International Symbols 33