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This tutorial will show you how to draw shapes, add color to them, and remove the outline.

Create a Shape

  1. Select the Rectangle Tool by clicking on it towards the top of the Tool Panel or by pressing the ‘m’ key on your keyboard.
rectangle icon in tool panel

NOTE: You can access other shapes by long-clicking the rectangle tool.

long click rectangle tool in tool panel to see other shape tools
  1. Make a rectangle by click-and-dragging with the rectangle tool selected.

NOTE: To make a square, do the same while holding the Shift key.

drawn rectangle in document

Add Color to a Shape

You will find the appearance settings for your shape in the Properties panel. If you don’t see the Properties panel, you can access it from Window in the menu bar.

  1. Click the white Fill swatch
fill setting in properties panel
The swatches panel will open.

  1. Select the color you want, or the color closest to what you want.
click the fill swatch to open the swatches panel

Your shape will fill with the color you selected.

rectangle with color added
  1. To adjust the color you selected, double click the Fill swatch in the color panel.
color palette in tool panel

The color picker window will open.

click swatch in color palette to open color picker
  1. Adjust the hue slider and selection circle to find the color you want.
illustrator change color by moving slider and selection circle

Tip: If you need this exact color for other elements in your design, you can copy the color number from the color picker. To apply it to something else, open the color picker for that item and enter the color number.

color number is found in color picker
  1. Click the OK button and the new color will be applied to your shape
rectangle with color changed

Removing the Outline of Your Shape

Stroke is the design term for an outline. The Stroke settings are found in the Appearance panel.

  1. Click the Stroke color swatch to open the swatches panel.
stroke swatch in appearance panel
  1. To remove the stroke, click on the none swatch, the upper-left most swatch.
click the stroke swatch to open the swatches panel

The none swatch is white with a diagonal red line through it.

remove color by clicking the none swatch

The outline will now be removed from your shape.

rectangle with stroke removed
  1. Save your progress by selecting Save in the File menu.
save from file menu