9 Hacks for Adobe Illustrator That Changed My Life

This video will demonstrate 9 legendary hacks that pro designers use in Adobe Illustrator. Professional designers use these lesser-known techniques to make their work stand out and look more professional, and now you can use them too!
0:00 Intro
0:27 Design tip 1
1:03 Design tip 2
2:03 Design tip 3
3:00 Design tip 4
5:45 Design tip 5
7:01 Design tip 6
8:54 Design tip 7
10:06 Design tip 8
11:19 Design tip 9
#adobe #illustrator #tutorial #design #designer #graphicdesign #graphicdesigner #hacks #tricks #tips
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[@raedjibrail5565]

I've used Adobe Illustrator for over 20 years and still learned something new! Thank you for the colour across all platforms tip - super useful.

[@ForeverDansky]

Hey that’s so great to hear, thank you! Glad the video has been helpful 😊

[@code.design]

This should be in the cc cloud app. I work for many agencies and none use bridge. Global cc settings: Same for document presets and scripts. Why not Adobe why!?

[@markjjnstradling]

Hi Dan, your videos never cease to be of use to me as a non-designer business owner using Ai. The Icons, Swatches and Tiling hacks were extremely useful. Thanks very much.

[@aurelianfreeman1800]

I just love this kind of content: informative, no useless bla-bla, and straight to the point. Keep it up...and thanks for sharing, mate!

[@marilynisaacs7739]

Brilliant as always!!! I learn SO MUCH every time I watch one of your tutorials. Thanks!!

[@ForeverDansky]

Thank you, that’s so great to hear 😊🙌

[@BobbyLaneProductions]

I love how easy your hacks are to follow and they're all pertinent.. thanks!

[@mannansheikh715]

Your illustrator's work is wonderful sir, which is very useful for me, thank you. I see and follow your works regularly.

[@simoharjane7823]

YOU ARE SO GOOD WITH YOUR ILLUSTRATOR CONTENT . LEARNING LOT FROM YOU

[@carpenterhillstudios8327]

Thank you! (I also like the frershness of you doing it in real time. You have jiust saved me hours or frustration with aligning points. Most important though is generating palettes I'm in the middle of a big project requiring that colors across multiple images be consistent but varied. No more recreating color swatches be hand, (though that is also fun).

[@shanmaxx5]

Daaaang 'transform each' gonna save my life!!! didn't know about that. 🤯

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha yea it’s a beauty mate, and a HUGE timesaver that one! 😅

[@chasebros4948]

Nice. I knew pretty much all of these except merging anchor points with pathfinder. I had no idea that you could do that.

[@DavidPeyrouty]

Helpful, like always... Thank you, very much, and long life, to your channel!!!

[@QuanticDreamer]

Thank you!!! So much graphic design goodness in one video!

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome! 👍😁

[@christinaline4842]

Didn’t know I could add all selected colours to the swatches panel! I’ve been adding my colours one by one. I will use that all the time now 😁

[@ParTzzaN]

Great video my friend, I'm just started using Illustrator and I found it so fun to learn specially by magnificent contents like yours. Peace mate

[@terencegibbins3894]

Wonderful video presentation as always. Many thanks for making and uploading. Really appreciate it so very much:)😊

[@ForeverDansky]

My pleasure 😊

[@munequa81]

Just came across your channel and wow! Thank you for all of these time saving tips!

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome 😊 Glad you like them thanks!

[@kennethmurphy8585]

I always, always love learning something new from you after 30 years of using Ai. Thank you Dansky!!!

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome! 👊 Happy to help 😊

[@m.saffar0073]

Bruh, You save my century. Thanks for sharing. Peace. ❤

[@edwardanderson3506]

New to the channel. Love the info and enthusiasm!

[@MiRofek]

Awesome hacks! As always. Thank you sir.

[@muhammadusamawp2174]

Dansky you’re really a blessing for me 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@ForeverDansky]

Thank you, that’s so kind of you ❤️

[@meaganthemarionette4899]

Tip number 8 blew my MIND, this is great!!

[@ForeverDansky]

Awesome! 🙌

[@chell2133]

These are amazing tips, I mainly use Ai for lettering and logo design so the "Average" function is a big game changer!

[@vdphotosnfun]

Absolutely Fantastic Video, very useful 👍🏻 Thank you for sharing

[@ForeverDansky]

My pleasure, thank you ☺️

[@mdnaimulislam]

Thank you so much 😊 sir Love from Bangladesh ❤❤❤

[@klalazarian1]

Dio you have a tutorial on how you made that anchor? I'm a newbie and this would help me so much! Thank you!

[@lamouralice4533]

9:00 tip 7 is out of this world 👍🏻

[@arlenedabbas1247]

Great job! I am constantly learning, I love it!

[@ForeverDansky]

Thank you, that's so great to hear Arlene! 😊

[@HowieD1975]

AWESOME Tutorial!!!! 1) I have to export a lot of Solidworks drawings into Illustrator (I export them as .DFX files). when the drawings come over the lines are broken up into a ton of tiny little segments... is there any way to join the lines so that they are not so broken up? 2) How did you create that grid and center all those icons? Did you make a table like in InDesign? That was super cool how you were able to scale all those icons from the center of each square. Would love to see a tutorial on how that was created.

[@bryanvanmaalsen2697]

Very useful tips. Thanks a lot for sharing! 👍🏾

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome! 😃

[@SWORLD1991]

very useful, thank you.

[@curveeditor]

Really very helping thank you.

[@wilsonudeagha2112]

Thank you so much, Dansky.

[@ForeverDansky]

My pleasure! ☺️

[@REIGNOFCHIC1]

I love your channel so much! Thank you for your awesome content! God bless you 😊

[@ForeverDansky]

You are so welcome! 🙏

[@user-qc7ny8hv4s]

Absolutely a great tutorial I'm amazed ❤

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks!

[@davidmoore7115]

SO great, the first 2 are always a problem for me so big thanks

[@ForeverDansky]

Awesome, glad I could help! ✌️🥳

[@joebuckaroo82]

thanks for these hacks. If anyone is interested, the color mosaic one only works if the image is embedded rather than linked.

[@flytetime7637]

Some great tips. Thanks!

[@ForeverDansky]

Glad it was helpful!

[@DimitrisVakri]

i never thought the second one would be considered a hack, I use it pretty much every time xD Also I had never noticed that Join Tool, I always use the Pencil! Loved the rest 7 though :)

[@jhatter67]

Some great tips & tricks thanks!

[@ForeverDansky]

Happy to help!

[@lamouralice4533]

Omg, you really help me out with starting to use this software 😂 Thank you ❤

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome 😊

[@raedjibrail5565]

So many tips, so little time. Wonder how many I'll remember tomorrow?!

[@user-js2bv2ir4b]

Just created a new KZbin-Playlist called "ultra useful tutorials" just because of this video! :D awesome!!

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha wow, that's amazing Paul! Thank you 🙏

[@davismccarty6424]

Link please ?

[@TheTulipanka123]

Tip #3 - OMG!! Thanks!

[@ForeverDansky]

Happy to help 😁

[@Cyanide157]

Learned so much here

[@sethp5640]

Awesome vid!! Thank you!

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks! Glad you liked it! 😊

[@fadisoueidi4127]

These are great tips. thank you

[@ForeverDansky]

You are so welcome! 🙏

[@fabriciomachado1394]

Thanks, man!

[@indigoinarritu6096]

Great video! Thanks.

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome! 😊

[@Mustekaa]

This video is so helpful thanks. And also I have a question, is there a way for me to resize things without holding down shift and maintain proportions like in the photoshop? I did a lot of research for this but couldn't find any settings for it, is it possible? Thanks in advance.

[@ForeverDansky]

You’re welcome ☺️ Ah no afraid not, pretty sure Illustrator requires a Shift key press, and doesn’t have a toggle option in the settings.

[@SabtuSoreAdventure]

Thanks for the tutor

[@morav_]

thank you this helped me in my internship

[@offsign]

Hi, again great vid. Let me know, is there any option like Transform each but add values in mm/cm instead of percentage? Thank you

[@thomasjoel1409]

Definitely!

[@brogotitdjkaoticthemusical6732]

You are the GOAT … thank you bro 💯

[@ForeverDansky]

Happy to help!

[@MrBobbyd45]

Good video. Is Illustrator good for simply drawing and sketching?

[@ahmriyad]

I love your vidieos so much and wait for new vidieos By the way love from Bangladesh❤

[@ForeverDansky]

Thank you so much 😀

[@Dzine007]

These were very useful tips 👍👍

[@ForeverDansky]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Saad_rehmani]

Hi Dan can you please upload a Photoshop tutorial. I really love your Photoshop tutorials

[@awonadvertising6587]

Thanks your Experience

[@Nicc565]

6:40 damn that was so satisfying and usefull

[@annabellamigliaccio13]

super nice hacks! Thanks ;)

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome!

[@MushafMehdi1]

that second one helped alot. i was manually deleting all the anchor points with direct selection tool, the paths sometimes gets deleted with the anchor point as well.. that made a huge chaos but THE LEGEENDARY LIFESAVER DAN saved us

[@ForeverDansky]

Aha yea it’s a nifty workaround, and much quicker than scripts! I learned about this technique the other day from a comment on another video 😃

[@MushafMehdi1]

@@ForeverDansky hah from a comment that's cool

[@user-bl4oq4xq4s]

Is there a way to have two tiled windows of the same document (with changes updating) but have one document's active selections not appear? Sorry if that wasn't very clear- thank you so much for these videos! It's making it much less painful to learn Ai!

[@dantheman2907]

Handy tips as always.

[@ForeverDansky]

Fantastic! 👍

[@agapelovesls]

Thanks, for sharing

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks for watching!

[@Gary_DeAfrique]

This was really helpful thank you. Actually answered some problems I recently had. I've used all these apps for over 20 years, but you always learn something new. PS: Eww math

[@graphicworld9964]

very helpful video

[@AsadKhan-ib8xi]

Thanks

[@madzoroyal]

God of Illustrator ✨

[@mimissathullah1]

Good one 🔥

[@kylesfisher]

Do you know if there is a way to create a colour average from an image that gets applied to a shapes above? In a similar way object mosaic tool works but to pre-set shapes not just a grid? Would help load for low poly portraits.

[@oluwafemiadebisi7006]

Thanks for sharing

[@ForeverDansky]

My pleasure!

[@artemnovokhatskyi]

very helpful video👌😊

[@ForeverDansky]

Awesome! 🙌

[@subhanudin7601]

Thank you

[@ForeverDansky]

You're welcome!

[@infographie]

Excellent.

[@ForeverDansky]

Many thanks!

[@lettertosohan]

awsome!

[@rakan_turk]

Thank you so much, Could you make a video how to edit an AI file in PSD?

[@Talisrune]

Design tip #2 man... the number of times I've found multiple points stacked on top of each other somehow messing with a design, and have had to sort them out... Usually when someone has hacked together a dieline and didn't clean up where all the points meet.

[@jarmelo2006]

Nice 👍🏿

[@MoreCreativeGFX]

Superb

[@AOKUWARE]

6: select anchor points in middle and hit cmd+J

[@ForeverDansky]

Yes! This is my go-to shortcut if not already using the Pencil Tool or drawing freehand 👍

[@bboygavin]

Awesome

[@pdronys]

nice tips

[@S04B3L]

I like your energy, most big design youtubers make me sleepy

[@ForeverDansky]

I appreciate that! Thank you ☺️

[@VOXLaibae]

Can you make videos on t shirt designing? Any short course?

[@timz9862]

I’ve been hacking Illustrator to try to get it to do what I want it to do for 30 years. I really miss Macromedia Freehand and hate Adobe for killing that app. I STILL don’t understand the point of having two different selection arrow tools. Freehand could let you do everything with one selection tool. I could work so much faster in that app.

[@terencegibbins3894]

Yes, really salient and very relevant points raised here. I also miss Macromedia Freehand so very much, but adapted to Adobe Illustrator because I had to. This video is brilliant though:)😊

[@JerryN7970]

Here’s the quickest explanation I can give for the 3 arrows. - The Selection tool (black arrow) selects an entire object or group of objects as a whole. - The Direct Selection tool (white arrow) selects individual anchor points or the line between anchor points - The Group Selection tool (white arrow with the plus sign) selects individual objects out of a group or compound path. A tip for using them is no matter which of the arrows you are on, you can quickly toggle between all 3 on the fly by pressing the cmd/ctrl key and/or the option/alt key and/or shift key. I don’t remember what or how, I’m often blindly hitting those keys (or a combination of them) until the right tool comes up. But it’s quicker than going up and selecting the other tools every time.

[@timz9862]

@@JerryN7970 Yes, I know what they do, but I don’t understand the point of them. FreeHand did everything with one selection tool by holding down modifier keys. You should be able to toggle the selection tool you need and automatically have it switch back to the main selection tool when you let go of the modifier key. FreeHand did that back in the 90s. Illustrator still doesn’t.

[@TRoush118]

Hello. I'm wondering how I can end my current pen line on a previously drawn pen stroke while tracing an image by hand? I am trying to trace an image with pen tool and then laser cutting said trace but I need all closed paths.

[@user-he1vd3tx1i]

when I use shape builder tool it changes the size of an object a little bit, which cause problems for big cnc cutting files. bcs, those small changes in every shape create a big difference in total. any suggestion for that??

[@mrplaytoearn]

Hi Dan, I have a problem exporting as an SVG file in Illustrator and Photoshop too. I have 2 text layers, the back text is colored and the front text is black and they are overlapping each other. Unfortunately, the Cricut Design Space will not be able to handle the svg file properly, due to the overlapping problem. I tried to unite them before the export but then the colored text will be changed to black. Do you have any idea, how can I unite them without losing the colored text and save it as an SVG file properly? Thank you so much for your help.

[@patrickortner1988]

i wish i have your brain in graphic design.

[@artzonead2238]

Good 👍🏻

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks ✌️

[@rizwan7037]

great❤

[@ForeverDansky]

Thanks!

[@rizwan7037]

@@ForeverDansky brother I really love you and your amazing teaching style GOD BLESS YOU

[@spinnerz]

Bedankt

[@ForeverDansky]

Hey thank you so much! 😍

[@spinnerz]

@@ForeverDansky just a little gesture! I've been using illustrator for over 14 years. It's not my favourite Adobe app but watching the video's makes me love it a lot more and still learning new things!

[@Vektorgarten]

#1 does not merge the points. You end up with 3 stacked anchor points. It also does not retract the handles.

[@wafamoh1341]

why option" creat object mosaic" is not work with me ?? its show with grey color and i cant sellect it

[@FunDumb]

Design Tip #8: Mosaic images. The one key piece of info you need in order to complete this, is to make sure your image is EMBEDED into your document otherwise you'll not get the option to Object > Create Object Mosaic.

[@FunDumb]

And the swatches, add selected colours, is my favourite tip.

[@dangergame1357]

🔥🔥

[@david_arthur_brown]

Learning the keyboard shortcuts ia an essential Ai hack. Setting up actions too.

[@muhammadusamawp2174]

Hey Dansky! I need your assistance please. When I go to Transform each tool. The constrain option doesn’t appear. I got Illustrator 2022. This Tip was really a life saving for me but unfortunately the constrain option ditched me 😭 Help me out Please 🙏

[@muhammadusamawp2174]

Sorry I’ve the 2020 version of Illustrator

[@muhammadusamawp2174]

And I’m talking about Tip no 3

[@ForeverDansky]

Hey there, if the 'link icon' doesn't appear in the 'Transform' window, just adjust both values for the 'Scale' equally 👍

[@rkgurustatus2002]

Download ka link dona