Colour fill issues

[Ayden38595887lcjy]

Hey everyone. I've run into a wall on the learning curve. I've created this hand with a lot of trial and error. I've spent the past 6 hours trying to work out why it's not filling with colour and getting colour outside of the shape I've created. Being totally new to this I know it's something I've either done, or not doing, but no amount of googling is helping find an answer. I'm hoping one of the amazing wizards in the community can help me solve my problem or direct me to a post that offers the solution. Fingers crossed it's a simple fix. Thanks team.

[Ton Frederiks]

You have many open paths. If you fill an open path it will fill between the start and end points of the path.

Try selecting two open points at the time with the Direct Selection tool (A) and join them using Object > Path > Join

Repeat until you have a single closed path for the hand.

[Jacob Bugge]

Ayden,

In addition to what Ton said, I imagine the end Anchor Points of adjacent open paths are not coinciding.

This means that you can get a lot of small straight segments between the parts you have now, and they may be visible when zooming in, or even when looking at the final size, unless you make them coincide and become a single Anchor Point.

For each pair you can select (by ClickDragging across at a slanting angle and make sure only two are selected), then Object>Path>Average (Both), then join.

There is a cunning way to draw (a draft version of) the whole hand in one go/path with curves and (especially inner) corners right from the beginning. Presumably, you have already worked with the Direct Seletion Tool (and maybe other tools) to adjust the shapes.

[Monika Gause]

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@Jacob Bugge  schrieb:

For each pair you can select (by ClickDragging across at a slanting angle and make sure only two are selected), then Object>Path>Average (Both), then join.

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Select those points and press cmd+Alt+Shift+J (Ctrl instead of cmd on Windows)

This shortcut will automatically first average and then join. No dialog box.

[Jacob Bugge]

Indeed, Monika. I never use Average, so obviously too hard to remember.

[Ton Frederiks · Accepted solution]

And it may be useful to spend some time with this tutorial.

https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/learn/illustrator/web/use-pen-tool?locale=en

[Mohammad.Harb]

Press ctrl + Y to see the path in outline mode 

here you can easily check if the path is open or closed.

[Ayden38595887lcjy]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who responded to my help request. I followed the advice and got it to work how I needed. Nice to have a supportive group of people helping each other out. As a newbee I really appreciate it. 

Oh and thanks for the tip of the tutorial. That would have made it a whole lot easier from the beginning lol. But as they say, you learn more from your mistakes. Cheers

[Ton Frederiks]

Good to hear we could help.