Fact is everybody wants to do it, but the learning process is grueling..  so keep up the self depriving act of learning the art that is the envy of many.  Here are a few tips.  

If you haven’t had fun with the symbols palette (Shift-F11) yet then you are in for a treat!  If you are familiar with flash then you are in for a bigger pay off down the road.  If you use Illustrator CS3 (or Legacy Illustrator 10 and Higher) then you can turn any piece of artwork into a reusable symbol by simply dragging it into your symbols palette.

Why use Symbols??  Answer One: Symbol Sprayer and Other Sick “S” Tools

Illustrator’s symbol sprayer tools are pretty cool and let you create some really complicated artwork.  Not only that but you can apply different effects to a single or group of symbols using the symbol tools. 

Using the Symbol Sprayer

If you double click the Symbol Sprayer Tool in the Toolbox then you can adjust the settings to your wishes. You might need to experiment a bit to find the setting that fits your purpose.

Answer Two: Change everything at the same time!!!

If you are using symbols, you can change all of the instances of the symbol in one shot, not matter how much you’ve customized it, as long as it remains a symbol.

Edit A Symbol Instance

To edit a symbol (or all of the instances of the symbol), In CS3 you simply double click the instance of the symbol in your symbols palette.  Edit your symbol. 

 -> 

Double Click out side the image to get out of symbol edit mode.  Walla!

On the other hand later versions may require you to:

1. Select an instance on the canvas,
2. Right Click -> Break Link to Symbol (or button on palette)
3. Edit the artwork.

To update the symbol instances:

Easy Way: hold down Opt/Alt and drag the edited artwork onto the symbol in the palette.

1. Select the symbol in the Symbols palette then select the artwork
2. Click Redefine from the fly out menu.