after requests on my last illustrator pen tool tricks and tips video today I
have a more in-depth Illustrated pen tool tricks video brought to you by Satori
graphics you can move to the timestamp in the corner to skip the intro
what is that people welcome back to satori graphics the home of graphic
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their newsfeed anyway let's jump in today's pen tool tricks tutorial in
Illustrator
the first illustrator pen tool trick is starting off fairly simple and that is
utilizing the shift key first of all you can access the pen tool by pressing P on
your keyboard we can find it here if you click once on the canvas illustrator
with the pen tool you can hold down shift and you'll find that you make the
next point perfectly straight from the first
also at 45 degrees and also at 90 degrees
you can move around in a 360 degree circle making a point to every 45-degree
angle
we're going to be looking how to use a Shift key for digital typography later
in the tutorial if we make an anchor point with the pen tool we can make a
curved line like so if we then hold down shift with the curved line the Bezier
handles can follow the 45 at 90 degree angle orientation as before you can see
the handle sticking and snapping into 45 and 90 degree positions as I move the
cursor with the shift held down
the next illustrator pen tool trick involves the alt/option key if we make
an anchor point and then a curb line we can hold down the alt/option key to edit
the handles independently
an important tip to note is that if you hold down holds and then shift the
handle will follow the 45 90 degree rule as before I'm going to show you why
that's important next
here I have a calligraphy style letter locked down as a template to draw around
you can press ctrl or command I to open up the rulers and then we need to use
vertical horizontal guides to place just where the letter touches when we use the
pen tool we can use the tricks and techniques that we've just covered at 90
degrees angles but never use 45 degree for typography I will show you why I
mean now so carefully place your guides just touching the letter at 90 degree
angles
with the pen tool click but without and shift how down and then drag on a handle
in the direction that you want to head
never bring the handle pass you're posing guide so in this point here I
will not move it past a guide on the right you now have a curb line to which
you can move to the next point hold down shift M if you click and drag to make
the handles keeping things in 90 degrees angles the entire time we can use all to
adjust the handle curves taking our time to be precise with everything shift will
help keep things level also from the new point to repeat the process of holding
down alt and shift together and then drag our handle and then make the new
point if you carry on with this technique carefully you'll be able to
draw out perfectly smooth and crisp lines using the pen to an illustrator
it does take some time to get used to but it is the most methodical and best
way to work with the pencil when creating lines illustrator especially
for typography such as this
as you can see I use the pen tool tricks and techniques we discussed at the ray
start the video
practice this technique and master the pen tool with typography
we all know that you can edit anchor points into the rec selection tool by
the way if you press a on your keyboard you can access a direct selection tool
the whatever in the middle of making a path with the pen tool
this next illustrator pen tool trick will allow you to access the selection
tool without clicking off of the path or the pen tool simply hold down the
command key on a Mac or the ctrl key on Windows and you'll be able to access a
direct selection tool now you can edit the path and continue drawing without
changing tools in the tool panel
the next illustrator pen tool trick involves a spacebar key on your keyboard
again if you are drawing a path and you click to make a new anchor point you can
hold down the spacebar and you will be able to change the position of the
anchor point this can be helpful if you make a mistake or if you are unsure of
where to place the next point
another subtle but effective use of the spacebar when using the illustrator pen
tool is that if you hold it down it will allow you to navigate around the screen
with ease all while strong with the pen tool maybe you need to Drew off of the
screen and instead of clicking off the path just hold down the spacebar and
click and drag like so
this next pen tool trick is activated for those who have illustrator CC if we
draw a path with the pen tool and then take the direct selection tool we will
find out the white circles appear in the corners of the shape we can then edit
the shape like so and if we highlight more than one corner or a section we can
adjust them simultaneously this pen tool trick will really help you when making
shapes were later designs for example
the last pen tool trick before the Satori bonus tip of the day is about adding and
removing anchor points on the path quickly if you make a path using the
Illustrator pen tool and then hover the cursor over the anchor point you will
notice a minus icon appear if you then click this will remove the anchor point
also if we hover over the path itself with the anchor points in place we can
then add an anchor point we can then go ahead and edit the anchor points like so
if you come over to the pen tool in the tool panel you will see that a stroke
occurs for these functions are here
the Satori bonus tip of the day is practice practice the pence with a
master it there's a link in the description below for a game that uses
the same functions and features of the illustrator pencil and you can play
through the levels with increasing difficulty this is a fun way to improve
your knowledge and your skills with the pen tool
also you can google search pentool practice and take a look at the images
you will find heaps of templates for you to try and draw around so download a few
of these and then try your skills on them
keep practicing because practice does make perfect so there were my a
Illustrator pen tool tricks what did you think of today's video let me know in
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sure you have a great day and until next time design your future today peace