Working off an open Path - An open path may occur when you draw a shape with the pen, pencil or brush tools. If you wish to keep working off one of the end points of an open path, select the pen tool and move up to the end point of your choice, a "/" will appear, this means that you are ready to select the anchor point and keep extending your shape as you wish.

To join two points - select the points that you want to connect with the direct select tool: First select one, then shift/click and select the second point. Make sure you are only selecting two points; if you are selecting both of the shapes entirely, you will not be able to join them, and instead you will be greeted with an alert sign.

If you want to adjust the points to become one actual point, you will have to bring them together as close as possible, then select the points as described above, and right-click, select "join" the points will be joined. You can then delete one of the points if you wish to have more efficacy with the adjustment of your shape.

Path Finder - This tool is used to join different shapes. You can join overlapping sections, sections that do not overlap, or a section that is at the top or bottom. You can also divide the shapes according to their overlapping. To access this tool, at the top menu select: Window > Pathfinder. Then experiment with the different options, while combining two elements.

Knife Tool - Like scissors, only, unlike them, you do not need to click on one side of the shape and the other, you simply slice across.

Gradient Tool - Works similar to Photoshop. To access it make sure to click the gradient tool on the menu palette, then select colors accordingly in the color palette found by selecting at the top menu Window > Color. You can create different gradations by clicking between colors in the gradient menu. Which you can access at the top menu: Window > Gradient. Experiment.

Reflect - Allows you to flip the object horizontally or vertically. If you want to duplicate the object you can copy and paste it first, then select at the top menu: Object > Transform > Reflect. You also have a reflect Tool on the Tool Palette Menu, experiment with this one.