Tools of the Trade Class

This is what we will create:

1. Open Illustrator and create a new document (File > New)
2. Create a star using the Star Tool under the Rectangle Tool
3. If you hold down the “Option” key before you click with your mouse, you can put in the exact dimensions of your star. For this exercise, I used: Radius 1=.375 in, Radius 2=.13 in, and Points =5.

4. Make sure your star is still selected, and using the “align” palette, center your star in the center of your page. Make sure “Align to Artboard” is checked in the fly out menu of the palette.

Illustrator Tip: If you are ever missing, or cannot see one of your palettes, you can turn it on using the “Window” menu. All your palettes will be under there.

5. With the star still selected, select your “rotate” tool in the tool palette. Holding the “option” key click wherever you want the pivot point of your circle to be. Mine is about 2 inches directly beneath my star. You will notice the blue “target” symbol moves from the center of your star, to the new place you just clicked.
6. In the dialog box that appears, type in an appropriate degree. I used 20. Click “Copy” NOT “OK”.
7. You should have something like this:

8. Now just press “Command + D” which is the shortcut for “duplicate”. Continue till you have a full circle of squares
9. Once you have your circle, you can use your black arrow tool to select all your stars and change the fill color and stroke to whatever you like.
10.  For this exercise, I got rid of my stroke, and changed the fill to the black and white radial gradient swatch from the swatches palette. Then I replaced the black in the gradient with orange my selecting the orange swatch in my “swatches” palette and dragging it over the black crayon in the “gradient” palette.

Ta-da!!