Spirograph Effect

1. Draw an ellipse - it doesn't have to be a perfect circle.

2. Select your ellipse. Using the rotate tool, click an inch or so below your ellipse. This sets the point around which you will rotate your ellipse. Now click and drag, starting somewhere above your ellipse and moving to the right. Hold the alt key, then release the mouse button (this will make a copy of the ellipse).

3. Your image should look about like this now:

4. And for the cool part, just keep pressing 'ctrl+d' (command+d for macs) to repeat the last step over and over until you have a "circle of circles". For more excitement, if you can handle it, just hold down 'ctrl+d' for a while.

5. Don't forget to try different shapes, rotation angles, and stroke & fill. Here is the same image with the 'Text Divider 15' brush applied to the paths: