Closed (sort of)

TEOM as you know it has been closed. I will keep it up for reference but it no longer will receive tutorial updates.

There are plans for a completely new site. If you'd like to be notified once the other site is up, simply subscribe to my mailing list.

Thanks for the support throughout all these years :)

Illustrator CS2

Making Circles

Making Circles tutorial preview.

For many beginners it might be tricky to figure out how to make circles in Illustrator since there’s no “circle” tool.

What one also needs to figure out is that Illustrator’s tools don’t work alone, they are usually a combination of mouse and keyboard – and the ellipse tool is no exception.

To make a circle, all you have to do is hold the Shift key while using the Ellipse tool. Simple as that… But wait! There’s more.

If you only use the Shift key, the circle will increase/decrease towards the direction of the mouse, that means: if you start a circle on the top left corner of your document and drag the mouse to the bottom right corner, the circle will follow that direction.

Another key that you can use is the Alt key. Go ahead and hit it with the Shift key.

When you use these keys together the circle grows from the inside out, regardless of the direction that you are move the mouse.

The Alt key sets the first mouse click as the center of the object.
The Shift key is responsible for creating a symmetrical object.

This combination also works for creating squares, triangles, stars, etc.

Objects · Jan 01, 2006 ·