Revise Paths with the Pencil Tool

Need to change the shape of a path? Click some­where on the path with the Pencil tool, and begin draw­ing. The path will incor­po­rate your revision.

This is also a gotcha.

Drawing across or very close to an exist­ing path makes Illustrator com­bine the new and exist­ing paths, often to the user’s con­ster­na­tion. The solu­tion is sim­ple: Hold the SHIFT key as you begin to draw to ini­ti­ate a new path inde­pen­dent of, and with­out alter­ing, any oth­er near­by paths.