Making an O shape with the Pen tool?

[hob]

Hi.

This evening I've decided it's about time I tried some vector art. So I've fired up Illustrator and started penning about.

I'm trying to trace out an O shape on my t-shirt, so I've done the outside of it, but I can't work out how to cut out the inside of the shape!

I realise this is pretty basic stuff, but I can't seem to work it out just by playing, googling, Adobe Help files etc... I've tried Clipping Mask but I can't seem to get it to work... maybe that's not the right thing...

 

[Airship]

For the record, an O shape is called a circle.
It sounds like you want to cut a hole out of another larger vector. You can do that with the pathfinder tools (which can be found in the window menu.)

 

[iMeowbot]

Another way to do this is to select the shape and the hole, and pick Object->Compound Path->Make. This will give you something that acts more like a group, while the pathfinder gives you semi-independent shapes with grouped appearances.

 

[hob]

Thanks guys