I share with you what I recently learned in Adobe Illustrator.

It's the use of the rotate tool to create flowers (or perhaps some fractals or a sun background).




Click on the ellipse tool and draw an object.



Click rotate tool. By default the anchor stays in the middle. Click the lowest part of the object (which transfers the anchor from midpoint to the bottom of the object ). See Step 1.

Drag the object to its left (or right) and before releasing the mouse, click 'Alt'. (This creates a copy of the object at an angle where you released the mouse). See Step 2.

Click Control-D repeatedly (short cut key for 'Transform Again') to complete a full circle. See Step 3.

Acknowledgements go to bitterbox and tutsplus where I learned this tutorial.

Some samples here.