

instead of creating new shapes from the pen tool you can also cut and contort shapes you already made, combining shapes also as the same effect.
the shape builder tool can either unite or minus shapes that are sacked on top of each other
the crop tool crops everything out side of the top layer shape
the blob brush tool creates a free form shape that can also be used with the eraser tool
Drawing basic shapes can be done with the shape tool and can be modified if needed .
the pencil tool allows you to create freeform lines, the pen tool an create shapes or be used to trace images.
complex paths require you to hold shit and curve the line you made.
you can reshape shapes and you can create curves and tight edges.
if you mess up a path you can erase them and go back with the smooth eraser and path eraser.
You should use the rulers to help you align and mark points on your work, you can create guide lines for shapes as a reference point .
the align panel allows yo to evenly space things out on your document, you can space them vertically or horizontally.
by double clicking on a specific piece can show you the outlines of that object.
the bounding box allows you to change the height and size of the image selected.
Bit map vs. vector
vector images can be made bigger or smaller to fit and look clean while bit map have a set amount of pixels and cannot be made bigger or smaller
you can have multiple art boards on one document, the art board panel allows you to switch to multiple canvases or look at all . of them at once
you should always use keywords after saving your work so you will find the document easier
I used the line tool along with the shape tool to make most of the shapes. I used the paint brush tool to make the red background and I cut the image in the bottom right corner to fit in between the line.