angelize,
Thank you for sending that example. It made a lot more sense seeing your process than it did watching a video of someone draw random shapes with the brush tool (that I've mastered ). I had a hard time understanding why you need to convert lines to shapes until I tried it with the actual file and using the correct tool after converting. It won't take me 3 hours the next time!

One question: the curve of the "B" in the first example is very linear and smooth. When I try to follow a curve like that, my line is much more jagged, and often I'll get an extra node in the middle and have to re-draw the line. Any idea why that happens?

Thanks!

Jim