so today a short but a sweet Illustrator tutorial on some advanced tips when
using the pen tool what is that people welcome back to you
Satori graphics the home graphic design content right here on YouTube now for
the first ella straighter pencil tip let's first take a look at the basic
method to try and recreate this grade line here and then afterwards I'm going
to show you the advanced tips to improve things so normally you might go ahead
and grab the pen tool and then click and make some curved lines like so however
the problem here is that you don't have full control over the handles and thus
the line doesn't really come out smooth and perfect as we'd wish you can see in
the final outcome how kinked and how jagged the line actually is so let's
move it out of the way and use a different technique with the pen tool
instead of clicking once and the heading to the second Anchor Point
hold down the first click and extend out two handles now quick tip here is that
stretching the handles in the direction that you intend to create the line
really just helps make some smooth lines and then for the second anchor points I
can repeat the action of holding down a click and expanding the handles to the
direction of the line using this tip you would be able to make some smoother and
better pen tool paths in Adobe Illustrator also whilst of them the
vector path you can hold down the alt or the option key to cut a specific handle
away from the path and then you can manipulate it on its own so as you can
see this technique really results in some smooth pen tool paths
the next one I have showcased on my channel before but in case you've never
seen it we don't actually need to make curb lines to end up with a decent curve
back to path instead we can simply click an ad anchor points in the general
direction that we wish to go and then when ready hold down the option key and
then click once more you can then manipulate the line like I'm doing here
so many designers find this method easier especially more beginner users to
add a violist rate there you can take your time to use the adoption key and
create some super smooth curves so we're now going to go back to the technique of
holding down a click and extending the handles outwards and we're gonna try and
recreate this line here but see what happens when I arrive at the sharp turn
at the end of the line my extended handle is far too long and thus my pen
tool path is not going to match the line that I intend to take now I can just
click the anchor point and continue but that's quite messy and the line doesn't
look so neat and smooth as I like it to be it's pretty kinked and it's sharp in
the corner which isn't what I want so here's the advanced pen tool tip for
this situation click and extend the handles out as usual but when you
realize your handle is either too long or too short hold down the command key
on a Mac with a control key on a PC and your pencil path will be locked in
position but the only difference is that you can manipulate the relevant handle
the handle influency is the next course for the path so you want to have control
over its when you're using the pen to an illustrator so again I'll hold down the
command or control key and stretch out the handles like so in the direction
that I wish to take and as you can see the line is a lot
more similar to the original one so moving on to more advanced tips with the
illustrator pencil we're going to utilize the shift key in combination
with the techniques that we just used
so when holding down shift the handles fixed to a 45 degree position and for
the S shape here this is actually really perfect the second point doesn't require
that are you shift to get the line perfect but also I'm gonna use the
autopsy key to make some adjustments to the path as I go and then down to the
third points I again will use a shift function to lock it perfectly vertically
so finally in today's pen tool tips tutorial let's repeat the same technique
but halfway through making the second point I might feel that the point is in
the wrong position so I can actually hold down the spacebar and then relocate
the Anchor Point itself I will show you that one more time here in the third
points so simply hold down the spacebar on your keyboard and then you can
relocate the point remember if you want to keep boosting your skills as a
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next time guys design your future today peace