But the essential skills in creating figures out of existing shapes are usually developed first with the Pathfinder Panel. Once you discover the functions of each of the Pathfinder tools, you’ll be relieved at how much faster you can assemble shapes with cleaner curves and angles.Īs you advance in using the Pathfinder panel, you may find Illustrator’s Shape Builder a more efficient tool.

You begin to recognize the possibilities of negative space around shapes, not just what’s inside the lines.

The forms and shapes made with Pathfinder tools help you see in a new way. It’s interesting to discover what vector tasks they execute in projects for icon design, 3D or flat vector objects, hand-lettering, complex illustrations, etc. The tutorials below will get you used to what the Pathfinder tools can do.

That of using curves, lines, and geometric shapes to combine, merge, cut out partial sections to create entirely new forms.

With the tools in the Pathfinder Panel, we employ another drawing technique. Usually, we draw freehand with brushes or learn to draw with the Pen Tool and its Bezier curves. The Pathfinder Panel in Adobe Illustrator enables users to develop a new drawing skillset in vector design.

Pathfinder illustrator