In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw different shapes using the shape tool in Adobe Illustrator.

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Drawing shapes for illustrator is one of the basic skills in illustrator. In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw shapes illustrator by following the simple steps given below.

Step 1-- Draw a rectangle tool
First of all, go to the tool bar located towards the left side of the window, click the shape tool icon and hold it for a while. By doing so, you will get a list of options with different shapes to select from.
Let's start by using the rectangle tool first. Pick up the tool by clicking on it, and draw it on the canvas by holding and dragging your cursor on the canvas, like so.

Step 2 -- Draw a triangle tool
Now let's make a simple envelope using this shape only. For that, we need a triangular shape. So let's pick up the polygon tool from the list and double click on the board. This will open up the properties dialog box from where we can configure how the shape will be drawn. Over here, we will reduce the number of sides to 3 and press ok. With that done, you can see that a triangle has been drawn on the canvas.

Step 3 -- Create an envelope
Now let's align the triangle on top of the rectangle, like so. You can alter any shape using the direct selection tool. Pick up the direct selection tool from the toolbar, select the bottom anchor points of the triangle and drag them to align with the sides of the rectangle. With that done, select the centre point of the triangle and drag it downwards to the centre of the rectangle. And here you go, a basic envelope made by drawing and altering two basic shapes.

Step 4 -- Draw a drop shape
Next, select the ellipse tool and drag the cursor on the art board. To draw a perfect circle, press the "shift" key while drawing the shape. Now let's alter this shape. For that, pick up the direct selection tool once more and click on the top anchor point over here. Now you can move the anchor point in any direction and play around with the shape. For example, let's make the shape of a drop here. For that, notice here that there are two handles with the anchor point. Drag the handles towards the anchor point and notice that the curve on both the lines connecting to the anchor point has been removed, and instead would now show straight lines pointing to the anchor point. Now drag the anchor point upwards and the result would be an object in the shape of a drop.
To give the object more detail here, let's fill the shape will a radial gradient and reduce the opacity to 80%.

Step 5 -- Draw a star
Another option over here is the Star tool. Let's select the star tool from the list and draw it on the art board, like we did with the previous shapes. So here's a basic start shape. You can also change the property of this object according to your requirements. For example, let's change the number of points of the star.
With the star tool selected, double click on the art board and the property dialog box would open up. Over here, let's increase the points to 16 and hit ok. This way you can make a custom shape using the star tool.

Step 6 -- Create a flare
The last option here is the "flare" tool. Let's select the flare tool from the list and draw it on the art board. You can keep any size for the flare, and place it anywhere on the canvas. To see how it is implemented, let's position it on this shape we made before. Now let's change the color of the shape and there you go. A sort of a special effect given to a basic shape over here.
And that's basically how you can draw and alter basic shapes in Adobe Illustrator.