I am using ILLustrator CS and the brush tool is locked? Where is the option to unlock it?

Hi, I am using illustrator CS. I placed an Image to trace it. I finished the image. Deleted the layer with the photograph but now the brush is not working. The pencil is fine but the brush has this circle synbol as if saying that I can't use it.





Where can i unlock it?


I have switched from outline view to printview and nothing.





Thank you!I am using ILLustrator CS and the brush tool is locked? Where is the option to unlock it?
Hi! There is no way to ';lock'; a tool in Illustrator (or any of the other CS programs that I can recall). More than likely, the LAYER your brush drawing is on is locked.





You can easily determine this by looking at the layer palate. Does the layer with the brush tool art have a ';lock'; symbol to the right of the eye symbol? Most likely it does. Simply by clicking on this lock icon, the layer will be unlocked, and you may continue with your brush tool. The lock symbol may be toggled on and off.





There are other lock options under the OBJECT menu at the top of the page. If you click on OBJECT, and slide down to LOCK, you will see that you have options to lock the selection, all artwork, or other layers. Perhaps you may have chosen one of these options by error. If so, slide down to ';unlock all'; and everything should be back to normal.





If you are working doing artwork with a brush, I am not certain why you are in outline view or print view. You should toggle those off, and only be working in a normal view. As I read the additional information you have added, the circle with a line through it does NOT mean that the brush tool is locked, rather that it is only not available for you to use鈥攆or some other reason. Hmmm, have you checked the layer that you have highlighted? You would have to be on the correct activated layer for the brush to work.





As far as tracing your image, have you tried the very easy to use Live Trace that is located under the OBJECT menu also. There are a lot of selections as to how and in what style Illustrator will automatically trace your image, eliminating any need to use brushes manually.





If you are using a registered version of Illustrator, the HELP menu at the top of the page can answer a lot of these questions for you, and be a source of learning more things.





Hope this helps. Best wishes!I am using ILLustrator CS and the brush tool is locked? Where is the option to unlock it?
The REAL answer is that you don't have any brushes loaded! I had the same problem and it drove me nuts. Brushes only worked in a new document, not in an existing one. When I loaded the default brushes, voila! It worked! Report Abuse