The Adobe Illustrator Shape Builder tool allows you to merge and trim shapes on the fly, but have you tried using it for trimming strokes and individual paths? Did you know the Shape Builder tool can also be used to color your artwork? In this post and demonstration video, I show you a powerful and versatile workflow to level up your vector illustration skills.

Using the Shape Builder tool to trim paths and color my art is one of my favorite illustration workflows because I can start with simple vector line drawings and evolve them into brightly colored versatile artwork - and the secret is in the Shape Builder tool settings. For a complete demonstration, watch the video. The main topics I cover are:

Using the Shape Builder tool to trim overlapping pencil tool paths and separate them into individual shapes
Coloring the shapes using the Shape Builder tool's color swatch previews
Treating the paths as both individual strokes/fills
Applying brushes to add texture to the line work
Copying and nudging paths to rearrange and experiment with compositions
Building illustrations from basic shapes using techniques like rounding corners

Shape Builder Tool Color Settings

Access the Illustrator Shape Builder tool settings by double-clicking on the tool in the panel. You can choose Artwork or Color Swatches in the options under Pick Color From.

The Artwork option spreads the artwork color you first mouse down on, spreading it into the shapes you are merging as you drag. If you mouse down on “none” or no color, then the color on mouse release is applied to the merging shapes.

The Color Swatches option uses the active color, or the last color you selected by default. To control which color you apply as you use the Shape Builder, check the Cursor Swatch Preview box. This activates a swatch cursor similar to Illustrator’s Live Paint feature.

The Cursor Swatch Preview shows 3 swatches from the document Swatches panel. Use the keyboard arrow keys to page through your swatches to select a different color. When you click and drag with the Shape Builder tool, the chosen color is applied to the shapes as you merge them. You can also click with the Shape Builder tool to color shapes while dividing them (cookie-cutter style) by their intersecting regions, like using the Pathfinder > Divide function.

Using the Shape Builder Tool to Trim Paths

In the demonstration video, I use the Shape Builder to trim overlapping Pencil tool paths and separate them into individual shapes. I start my drawings in Illustrator on the iPad, and edit them on the desktop version of Illustrator. While Illustrator on the iPad has a Shape Builder function, it’s less powerful and versatile than the desktop version.

Start the process by drawing with a uniform stroke with the fill color set to none. Draw open paths that cross other lines in your art, creating intersections you can later trim to create shapes.

Use the keyboard shortcut (Shift + M) for the Shape Builder tool. To trim your drawing, select all of the paths, then hold the Option or Alt key and drag over the line to trim it to the intersecting path. Option/Alt is used to subtract with the Shape Builder tool (notice the minus sign cursor).

You can also hover over a path with the Shape Builder tool and then click, while holding Option/Alt to remove the path.

Coloring with the Shape Builder and Gap Detection

When you hover over your selected drawing, you’ll see a highlight pattern showing you the region to be filled with color when you click or drag.

If a region is not showing a highlight, this may be due to a gap in the line work. Double-click on the Shape Builder in the tool panel and check the Gap Detection setting. You can choose a preset size or customize it with a specified length. Click OK to return to coloring your art.

Separating Strokes and Fills to Build Versatile Artwork

In the video, I demonstrate taking Shape Builder tool art with strokes and fills and separating it so you can work with the line art and the filled shapes separately.

This can be achieved simply by making a separate copy of the art and assigning it a stroke color with the fill set to none.

Once you’ve separated the art into strokes and fills, it’s much easier to stylize the line art using custom vector brushes to add texture and change the line weight and color. My course on Art Brush Workflows teaches how to make vector brushes in Adobe Illustrator.

Merging Divided Shapes

When coloring the different colored regions of your art, the Shape Builder tool creates divided or “cookie-cutter” shapes, which is not always optimal for illustration because if shapes are not kept perfectly aligned, gaps will show.

After using the Shape Builder to color, I prefer to make copies of shapes and merge them, creating background and foreground shapes - for example, a cat background with stripes sitting on top rather than the stripes cut out of the cat shape.

Nudging and Re-registering in Adobe Illustrator

One of my favorite techniques for working with my art in several parts is to nudge and re-register. This allows me to work on copies of my art and always put them perfectly back together. I teach this my beginning course, The Heart of Illustrator, part of my Laura Coyle Courses membership. Here are the steps:

Open Preferences (Command/Ctrl + K)
Set the Keyboard Increment to 1 inch (or your preferred increment)
Select art, Copy (Command/Ctrl + C), Paste in Front (Command/Ctrl + F)
Use the keyboard arrow keys to nudge the copy aside, hold Shift to nudge x10
Extra Copy/Nudge Shortcut: Copy and nudge at the same time by selecting art, holding Option/Alt as you click the arrow key once.

Vector Versatility

I love to use the Shape Builder tool to color and edit my drawings and create spot illustrations. It's a game-changer for flexibility – you can easily edit both strokes and fills and apply color with the Shape Builder. The Illustration style is up to you - you can use clean, uniform strokes or add textured linework with brushes or vectorized drawings.

The versatility of vector art is why I love working in Adobe Illustrator. Enjoy! - Laura