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Working with drawing modes

Illustrator has three different drawing modes that allow you to draw shapes in different ways. They are found near the bottom of the toolbar: Draw Normal, Draw Behind, and Draw Inside.

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  • Draw Normal mode: Every document starts by drawing in Normal mode, which stacks shapes on top of each other.

  • Draw Behind mode: This allows you to draw behind all artwork on a layer if no artwork is selected. If artwork is selected, the new object is placed beneath the selected object.

  • Draw Inside mode: This mode lets you draw objects or place images inside other objects, automatically creating a clipping mask of the selected object.

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