In this week’s free Deke’s Techniques, Deke shares an amazingly useful—-possibly magic, I’m not sure, but definitely mind-reading—-tool that’s new in Illustrator CC 2015. The Join tool allows you to brush over the endpoints of two previously unattached lines, and not only join them, but also trim away the excess bits of each line.

I guess, the term “join and trim away the extraneous bits” would have been too clunky for a new tool name. But that’s what it does. This is definitely a feature that shines in a video demonstration, so check it out.

And if you’re a member of lynda.com, Deke’s got an exclusive movie this week in which he shows you how to make the most of another, magical, just brush this stuff together and watch it meld, feature—-the Shape Builder tool. With it, and it’s variety of settings, you can change the shape collections on the top into the arguably whimsical artwork on the bottom.

If you’re not a member of lynda.com, you an get a free 10-day trial at lynda.com/deke to check it out. Illustrator, and Deke, reading your mind (and your gestures)!