combine and divide paths

[irate]

Forgive me if this is a silly question cos i am very new to illustrator...

i have a layer with a few paths on it

is there a way i can combine all the paths to create one object?

or take a path and split it into many paths, each new path being one segment of the old path?

or can i select multiple paths and combine them to create a new object?

the reason i ask is because i have drawn a book,
it currently consists of the main book with a dark brown fill and then a few extra paths ontop of it thatare meant to be pages in the book.
I drew each part of the book seperatly and now i want to combine them so i can add a fill to the page paths to make them white.

thanks in advance

 

[askIllustrator]

Your asking the right questions! You see, letting you decide who you want your art to come together is what makes Illustrator and industry standard. YES! you can do all of those things and more. Imagine subtracting one shape from another, like a triangle from a circle to make a pac-man. Open your pathfinder pallete and locate your scissors tool and go nuts. I cant teach you all the uses right here cause they are endless. Best thing you can do right now is click on it and see what it does, you will learn far more and faster that way. Keep up the good work, the quality of your art is about to take off and your life about to get a whole lot easier.