Hi everyone, this is Anne with Graphic Design How To, and today I'm going to give you some
tips and tricks on how to use the Pen tool in Adobe Illustrator CC.
Alright, let's get started.
Pen tool tip number one: Using Spacebar to Get a Better Curve.
So now we're in Illustrator, and I've created a new document.
I'm going to the Layers Palette.
I've added some pictures on this layer, and I'm going to create a new layer.
And then we'll lock the layer with the pictures.
I'm going to hit Z on my keyboard to zoom in.
So I'm going to be tracing this image.
I'll hit P to get my Pen tool which is right up here.
And I'll click once, come up here and click again.
And then for this curve, I'm going to click on the very tip here and then drag, but as
you can see, I've missed that point.
So I'm going to hold spacebar and now I can move that over.
So that is the first tip... using spacebar to get a better curve.
Tip two: As you're drawing, if you need to go a completely different direction, you can
click on the last point you drew,and it changes it to a straight point.
So if I try to click over here now, we'll get this curve, which we don't want.
So I'm going to undo (CMD Z).
And now I'll click back on that point and then try it, and it's no problem.
So to completely change directions, or to get rid of some crazy curvature, just click
right back on that last point you drew, and then draw.
And we'll go ahead and get back on the original point we drew.
The Pen tool cursor changes to a cursor with a little circle beside it, and that means
that you're going to close that path.
Tip three: Hold Shift to Make Straight and 45-Degree Lines.
For this next part, we're going to draw this square.
Normally I would just use the Rectangle tool to do this, but I wanted to show you how you
can do it with the Pen tool.
We'll click once and then hold SHIFT.
And when you do this, you can see it snaps to a 45-degree line and 90 degrees, and then
you can just click again, continue to hold SHIFT, click again.
So that's tip three: Hold SHIFT to Make Straight and 45-Degree Lines.
Tip four: To Get an Outline Instead of a Fill, Hit SHIFT X.
You'll notice as we draw this that it's filling in.
While still being able to be on your Pen tool, hit SHIFT X.
Now we have a thin black outline here, and you can see it changed right over here.
And we'll continue to hold SHIFT and SHIFT again until we get our little circle icon
and then close the path.
Tip five: Keep Your Tools Specific to What You're Drawing.
If you're drawing a normal shape, like this square or this circle, do not use the Pen
tool to draw those.
So I'm going to delete what we just did.
So instead of using the Pen tool for these types of shapes, go ahead and grab the correct
tool for that.
That makes it so much easier.
And we'll also hit L on the keyboard to get the Ellipse tool.
We're going to click in the middle and then hit SHIFT and OPT to drag the circle.
Hit V to get the edge.
So I can see what's under this, I'm going to click on it and then hit SHIFT X to switch
the fill and stroke.
And now we can see that we have another circle under here.
So if you're drawing a circle, use the Ellipse tool.
Don't use the Pen tool for that.
Tip six: CMD Click to Get Out of the Pen Tool.
So let's say we're drawing this piece.
I'm going to click and I'll click and drag right here.
And then I'll click here.
Now I want to stop drawing with the Pen tool right now, because if I click somewhere else,
it's going to draw a line like this.
I'll undo.
So to keep it from doing that, you can just hit CMD or CTRL... and click, and that will
release you from that line.
You'll still be on the Pen tool, but then you can choose a different tool at that point.
Now you'll notice this line isn't perfect.
I really want this to go right down the center.
So to do this, I'll hit A, which is my Direct Selection tool.
I'll click on that line, and then I'll use the handles to just kind of pull it up like
this.
So that's a good way to edit is using your Direct Selection tool, clicking on each node,
and then pulling handles.
You can also bring those handles closer to the node to get different results.
Okay, this is pretty much what I'm wanting.
I'm going to hit P to get back on my Pen tool.
And I'm going to just click here and click here.
I'm going to CMD click with my V tool.
I'll click on this circle, and then OPT drag it for this circle.
So all that's left to do at this point is color everything, add an outline to this piece,
fill these with white, and then make this stroke a lot bigger, and then copy and paste
the square and then cut it here.
So I'm not going to go through all that because I think it would bore most of you.
You're here for the Pen tool.
So let's move on to the next tip.
Tip seven: How to Draw Smooth Curves with Something Like Typography.
So I'm going to hit CMD R to get my rulers up.
And we're going to draw some guides on this 'd'.
You want the guides to be exactly at the top, bottom, left and right of the 'd', touching.
I'm going to zoom in.
I'm going to unlock this and target this layer.
And now we'll put the opacity at 50%.
And I'll lock it back.
Now sometimes drawing like this, you're going to need more guides.
So we will want one here too.
We'll go ahead and draw another one here, too.
I'm going to do this entire piece first.
We'll also add a guide here.
I'm gonna click P, and click right where that guide hits the top.
Then I'll hit SHIFT and OPT, and click and drag, which will give me these handles just
like holding SHIFT in other places, it's going to lock to 90 degrees, 45 degrees like that.
Now we don't want to go too far out here, we definitely don't want to go past this other
ruler guide.
So maybe about right here.
And now when we come down here, it does something really nice with our curve.
Then I click right here, and then I'll hold SHIFT and OPT again and do the same here.
Click, and then hold SHIFT and OPT here and come right up here like this.
Now I don't want a fill, so I'm going to hit SHIFT X.
And you can see that we'll have to modify this.
So I'll hit A on my keyboard, click that, and then we'll drag this node down a little
bit.
And I think that this curve is a lot better than what I actually drew on my iPad here.
So we'll go ahead with this.
I'm going to hit P. I don't actually want this to be a point right here, but we can
change that later.
For now it's okay if it ends as a point.
I'm going to click down here at the bottom and then hold SHIFT and OPT.
And then we'll come all the way back up here and click and drag, and I'll just finish this
up.
I'll click CMD or CTRL on a PC, and drag this anchor point down, because it shouldn't go
past this top part.
And now we can have it meet up there at the top.
Now I'll click and hit SHIFT X to get the fill back to orange, then we'll click on this
point.
And when you see these little white dots, that means you can pull those in and round
it out.
So those are the basics of creating smooth curves with a Pen tool.
Now one more thing I want to touch on.
If you're in the Pen tool, and you hold OPT, you get a little caret- looking cursor.
And that is the Convert Anchor Point tool.
So if I click a point with this, it's going to get rid of those handles completely, and
it hardens the edges.
This is still curved here because of the handles on this point.
But this has no handles anymore.
So that's what happens if you hit ALT or OPT when you're on top of an anchor point.
But if you're just on the line, you'll get the Reshape Artwork tool, and you can just
click right on the edge of a line and reposition it.
So that's pretty useful.
Tip eight: Redrawing With the Pencil Tool.
After you've created your artwork with the Pen tool, you might notice that you forgot
something, maybe you wanted to actually have this little nib part in here.
You can hit N, which is your Pencil tool, and redraw that part of a line.
Now, this really works well with lines that are not perfect.
So if they need to be little rough, or hand-drawn looking, the Pencil tool is perfect for that.
So to redraw this section of line, I'm going to zoom in a little bit and hit N, I will
start out going this way on the line.
And then I'll add that nib.
And then I'll continue going the same way on that line.
So you can see how imperfect it is.
But that is what the Pencil tool is great for.
It's just redrawing lines.
So I can start this way, and as long as I end up going the same way on that line, it'll
redraw it.
Now you can't actually go one way and then end up going back this way.
It doesn't work very well.
You can see there's an extra line in there.
So make sure you end up going the same way on the line.
Okay, that's my video for this week.
If you liked it, please click on the 'Like' button.
And I'll see you again next week with another graphic design tutorial.
Thank you!!!