Pen tool, path, and Pathfinder shortcuts, plus a vector icon workflow from basic shapes to clean, editable artwork.
| Category | Action | macOS | Windows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tools | Selection tool | V | V |
| Tools | Direct Selection tool | A | A |
| Drawing | Pen tool | P | P |
| Drawing | Pencil tool | N | N |
| Shapes | Rectangle tool | M | M |
| Shapes | Ellipse tool | L | L |
| Shapes | Line Segment tool | \ | \ |
| Content | Type tool | T | T |
| Transform | Rotate tool | R | R |
| Transform | Scale tool | S | S |
| Color | Eyedropper tool | I | I |
| Combine | Shape Builder tool | ⇧M | Shift+M |
| Arrange | Group / Ungroup | ⌘G / ⇧⌘G | Ctrl+G / Ctrl+Shift+G |
| Arrange | Join anchor points | ⌘J | Ctrl+J |
| Masking | Make clipping mask | ⌘7 | Ctrl+7 |
| Masking | Release clipping mask | ⌥⌘7 | Ctrl+Alt+7 |
| Artboards | Artboard tool | ⇧O | Shift+O |
| View | Zoom in / out | ⌘+ / ⌘- | Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- |
| View | Show / hide rulers | ⌘R | Ctrl+R |
| History | Undo | ⌘Z | Ctrl+Z |
| File | New document | ⌘N | Ctrl+N |
Path Concepts
Anchor Points
Every path is a series of anchor points connected by segments — click-drag while placing one with the Pen tool to pull out direction handles for a curve.
Direction Handles
Control the curvature entering/leaving an anchor — hold ⌥/Alt while dragging a handle to break it and adjust each side independently.
Compound Paths
⌘8 / Ctrl+8 combines multiple paths so overlapping areas punch through as holes — how a letterform's counters (like the hole in an "O") are typically built.
Live Corners
Drag the small circle at a rectangle/path corner (or use the Properties panel) to round it live, without converting to a separate rounded-rect shape.
Pathfinder Operations
Unite
Minus Front
Intersect
Exclude
Block it out with basic shapes first
Rectangles, ellipses, and the Pen tool for straight-ish forms — resist reaching for freehand drawing tools before the underlying geometry is right.
Combine with Shape Builder or Pathfinder
Select overlapping shapes and drag across them with Shape Builder (⇧M) to merge/erase sections visually, rather than manually editing anchor points.
Simplify the resulting path
Object → Path → Simplify removes redundant anchor points left over from boolean operations — fewer points means cleaner scaling and easier future edits.
Name layers/groups before it gets messy
Double-click a layer/group name in the Layers panel — critical once a file has more than a handful of objects, since Illustrator gives every new shape a generic name by default.
Quick Tips
⌘U / Ctrl+U toggles Smart Guides — the pink snap lines that align edges/centers/angles as you drag, faster than eyeballing the Align panel every time.