Chapter 5: painting, About painting, Painting with fills and strokes – Adobe Illustrator CC 2015 User Manual
Page 186: Painting methods
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Last updated 6/5/2015
Chapter 5: Painting
About painting
To help you add visual interest to your artwork, Adobe Illustrator provides calligraphic, scatter, art, pattern, and bristle
brushes. In addition, you can use the Live Paint feature and Shape Builder tools, to paint different path segments and
fill enclosed paths with different colors, patterns, or gradients. Using the Shape Builder tool, you can create new
complex new shapes by merging simple shapes. Using opacity, masks, gradients, blends, meshes, and patterns provides
limitless opportunities for creativity. The Width tool provides the ability to create strokes with variable width that make
very articulate outlines.
More Help topics
Painting with fills and strokes
Painting methods
Illustrator provides two methods of painting: assigning a fill, stroke, or both to an entire object, and converting the
object to a Live Paint group and assigning fills or strokes to the separate edges and faces of paths within it.
Paint an object
After you draw an object, you assign a fill, stroke, or both to it. You can then draw other objects that you can paint
similarly, layering each new object on top of the previous ones. The result is something like a collage made out of shapes
cut from colored paper, with the look of the artwork depending on which objects are on top in the stack of layered
objects.
For a video on using brushes,
.
Paint a Live Paint group