![]() The Pen provides the ability to construct ultraprecise paths, but has a learning curve almost as steep as that of the rest of Illustrator's features put together.Īs you draw more and more shapes on the Artboard, they will invariably overlap. (The Chopstick tool is still being developed.)įinally, there is the Pen tool, which goes beyond the scope of this chapter- but you'll learn all about it later. And you can even draw a triangle numerically by clicking once on the Artboard with the Polygon tool and entering a value of 3 in the Sides input box.įigure 3.11 This cartoon piece of sushi was drawn with the Pencil tool. While dragging, press the down arrow key on your keyboard and note how the number of sides on the polygon decreases to three, the minimum. To draw a triangle, select the Polygon tool and click and drag on the Artboard-but don't release your mouse button just yet. Those of you with sharp eyes might be wondering where, amid all the basic drawing tools, a Triangle tool is. Use both modifier keys together (Alt+Shift/Option+Shift) for additional control. ![]() To create a shape from a center point, hold down the Alt key (Option on a Mac) as you draw. In the case of an ellipse, holding down the Shift key while you drag will create a perfect circle. If you draw with a mouse or tablet, hold down the Shift key to constrain shapes (such as the rectangle or star) so that all sides are of the same length (equilateral), creating squares, perfect stars and polygons, and so on. Illustrator accommodates whatever drawing style you choose. Rather than clicking and entering numbers to draw, you can also click and drag with a mouse or drawing tablet-certainly a lot quicker than entering numbers. Be sure to try this with the other tools.įigure 3.7 Clicking with most tools on the Artboard gives you their numerical options.ĭrawing numerically is useful for precise drawing, but it may leave you feeling restrained creatively. In doing so, you've drawn a shape numerically rather than with a mouse. Leave the Points value as is, and click OK. ![]() In the Star options box, enter a value of 25 for Radius 1 (the star's inner radius) and a value of 50 for Radius 2 (the outer radius). You can access options for all the shape tools (Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon, Star, and Flare) and line tools (Line Segment, Arc, Spiral, Rectangular Grid, and Polar Grid) in this manner. Doing so displays the options for this tool. Select the Star tool in the toolbox and click once on the Artboard. If you're launching Illustrator for the first time, why not begin by exploring different ways to create lines and shapes? Illustrator provides a number of basic drawing tools that create different shapes but share common functionality and features. No matter how much I enlarge this vector graphic, it retains its crisp edges. Make your design much larger or smaller, and you'll experience no loss of quality-which is not the case with bitmapped images, which can get blurry and muddy when you resize.įigure 3.6 Size doesn't matter in the vector world. What you do need to know is that they contribute to the beauty of Illustrator. Thankfully, you don't need to know a thing about those equations when you create your vector art. Illustrator artwork is referred to as vector-based vector art uses mathematical equations to create lines and blocks of color. If you zoom in closely on them, you won't see any little dots. Images created in Illustrator (and other vector-based software programs) don't have pixels. A group of pixels put together form what is called a bitmapped image. If you've worked with photographs or artwork in Photoshop, you'll know that such images are composed of pixels-tiny dots, each with its own color. To understand how Illustrator works, it's helpful to contrast it with Photoshop. As you'll discover in this chapter's project, a lot of creative work can be done using just these tools. If you're new to Illustrator, that's a lot to cover, but it will provide a foundation for further study. ![]() In this section, we'll work on the essentials of Illustrator-the ability to use the drawing tools select and arrange your artwork work with strokes, fills, color, and type and utilize some basic effects. Graphic Design Portfolio-Builder: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator Projects
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