in a previous video we introduce you to the pen tool
just to recap essentially creates anchor points in segments
or lines between each of those anchor points to help you create
more dynamic illustrations in this example
it is creating straight lines between each of the anchor points
in addition to creating straight lines we can also create curves
but in this video we're not going to cover the basics of the pen tool
what we're gonna do is talk to you about how to be more efficient when
you're using the pen tool
so you don't have to go back later and add anchor points, and delete anchor points
anchor points and convert them corner to curve or
kind of mess with them using the Direct Selection Tool now it's not that those
things are wrong
but sometimes you just don't have enough time or use the pen tool that you
just need to be more efficient
so the first technique we want to show you is right now
I'm down with my particular illustration but notice that it's still, sense I haven't
closed this shape, it still thinks I'm trying to draw now
I could hit escape, or I could actually close the shape
or what I can do is hold the command or control key on the keyboard
and its going to temporary change my tool to the Direct Selection Tool
then I can click on the art board and its gonna get me out of that
illustration and when I let go command or control
its gonna turn right tool back to the pen tool so that's an
easy way to get out of it without having to always use the escape key or switch to
different tools or what not
so let's see another handy option that you can do here
if you want to create straight lines, if I click on this
anchor point I can create any direction line I want to
if I'm not holding down any modifier keys if I hold the shift key though
it will constrain its so that I can create only straight
lines or perfect angles so to speak
so I'm gonna move over here while holding Shift key and click on this part
to create my second anchor and again I'm still holding SHIFT and I'm creating
perfect
straight lines
and again to get out in the illustration
I'm gonna hold command control and click on it art board
let's talk about how to create curves
again just refresh to create a curve you're in a click and drag
in the direction you want the curve to go so I want this curve to move up so I'll
click and drag my first anchor point up
notice that I can also hold shift here and its gonna make my handles
perfectly straight so I'll move it about their you don't want to create
too tall or two shorter also create
dramatic curve so to speak
you want to go about as high up as we think we won our curve to go
so we're gonna click on the second complaint and bring it down
so that it pulls that curve up, again we're going to command or control and click on the
artboard to get our that illustration
so how do we then create this curvy line
well you're just going to do the same thing you're going to hold the shift key
to make a perfectly straight handle click and drag down
and then you can turn every which way if you wanted to
actually mimic the curve we have here if you don't have this
practice drawing you would have one either with your textbook
or maybe you can create one on your own or you can just read it
practice and follow along by eyeballing it, so again I'm going to click and drag
up click and drag down
up
and down command or control click
to get out of that illustration so here's where you can really become more
efficient what happens when you want to create curves
but you want all the curves to go in the exact same direction
well when you first create the first one again
always with the first when you're gonna move your mouse in the direction you
want the curve to go
for the next one we're going to click and drag down because then that top handle is
gonna pull that
curve up now the problem is is this handle down here
is gonna mean that when I try to click on this anchor it's going to create
a curve that's down here because this particular handle
controls the second curve so
essentially what I need is I need this handle to move up here
so I can create another top curve to do that
I'm gonna hold alt and its gonna temporarily change my pen tool to a
the convert anchor point
I'm gonna click and drag on the handle
and move it up, so now I can click and drag down
and alt in drag that lower handle backup
click and drag down, alt
and drag that lower handle backup click and drag down
alt drag up, click and drag down
and notice when I see click and drag down I've already released the alt
and the only time I hold alt is when I want to move this particular lower
handle
so command of control click to get out of that illustration
now the last thing we want to cover is how to create curves
and straight lines in the same illustration again we're going to start
out with the curve and click and drag up
click and drag down and it's the same concept as before except for this time
you want to get rid of this handle to create a straight line
you don't wanna move it any which we need to you so
in order to do that hold alt and go back to the anchor you just created and click on
it
and its gonna get rid of that unused handle so then we can hold shift to
create a straight line from the last incurred to this one
and now alt
drag to drag a new handle out so we can go from straight line to curve
so click and drag now
alt click to get rid of that
handle click to create a straight line
and then alt drag to drag a new handle out so we can create
a curve, so again command or control click
on the art board to get out of the illustration so those are ways to be a
little bit more efficient with the pen tool
so that as you're drawing you can do things on the fly and get what you need
now what I highly recommend is that you go online
and you find pictures or illustrations that you wanna try to mimic so you can
practice the pen tool
if I turn all of these off, and I went and found a picture this awesome penguin, he has
some
pretty simple curves but he also has some straight lines here and here and this
part of
his eyes that can allow me to practice those curves and those straight lines
so I put his picture on the art board and I locked that layer
and what I could have done is I could have clicked on this particular picture
and go to transparency and reduce the transparency of that photo
there you go, so that I can still see it
but it's a little bit faded so I'll lock that so I don't
change it, and then what you do is you just go through each part and you use the
Pen Tool
so here's the feet and then there's a layer they did that her feet details
so this is just allowing a person to practice their particular pen tool
skills
on something that's already created so again
we do the underarms then then we added the blackbody
than the white body gray for details
white eyes, black eyes and then the beak
so again this is not an illustration I created from scratch
but I highly recommend that you do this find a picture maybe
and icon of some sort what I did is i went into Google Image Search
and I typed in penguin vectors because I like penguins
and I found this guy right here
all these other ones they would have been good to work with but they
didn't have as many straight lines as he had
in here in and wanted to be able to practice both so make sure that you
try this and you practice
any which way you can and I know it can be frustrating at the beginning but I
promise you
a couple times practicing with these you're gonna love the pen tool
and you'll never want to go back