The app may be supplementary to the desktop version, and slightly stripped down – there’s no familiar tools like image tracing, or as many stroke options, as of yet – but overall it could be said to be slightly smarter because of the dynamic nature of working on a touch screen. You might be used to keyboard shortcuts, which still exist (though not in their entirety) so the touch shortcut should be thought of as an evolutionary adaptation, or iPad translation, and one that adds to the already mentioned fluid nature of the app.Ĭreate your own custom guides (Image credit: Ben Brady) For instance, with the touch shortcut held, you can adjust singular nodes and snapping points, making your editing techniques a lot more instantly nuanced and intuitive. The touch selection aspect, or touch shortcut (a little white circular module) allows a variety of editing options once lines or shapes are drawn. It essentially takes away from the need to navigate to the adjustment toolbar to make any changes. Everything from changing layer order, transparency, adjusting strokes, or moving and locking shapes can be accessed through this neat little menu, and it’s super-easy to select any shape, no matter how small or partially hidden, and adjust while you're focused on the drawing itself. Although it’s still easy to dip into the layers or properties tab, the focus is more on having everything a mere touch away on your ‘desktop’ or canvas.Ī small menu appears below every selected drawn shape allowing you to edit with far more fluidity. It has turned Illustrator into a tool more honed toward drawing, making the drawing experience, and the vectorisation of drawing feel far more natural and easier to edit. The main highlight is really the optimisation for Apple Pencil. Adjustment menus pop up for any shape selected (Image credit: Ben Brady)

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