So far, our landscape scene consists of a pond surrounded by grass; now, let's create a sailboat to go in the pond. We'll use a couple of different tools to create the sailboat, the first of which is the Pen tool. While the Pen tool can be a difficult tool to master, it's also a powerful tool that allows us to create all sorts of different objects.
Working with the Pen tool is a bit different than working with the shape tools. When drawing with the shape tools, Illustrator creates all of the anchor points and line segments needed to create the shape—all we really do is specify where and how large that shape is. The Pen tool, in contrast, works by creating one anchor point at a time, letting us determine the curvature (or lack thereof) of each line segment as we go.
The Pen tool's sheer power makes it a bit intimidating at first, but with a little practice, mastery is not especially difficult—and it's well worth the effort. To explore how the Pen tool works, we'll start out by drawing straight lines, then we'll experiment with drawing curved lines.
Let's open a file with some templates we can use for practice, then practice drawing straight lines. To make it a little easier for us to see what we're doing, we'll use the Zoom tool to zoom in on the Straight Line section of the artboard before we start drawing.
NOTE: The following steps assume you have downloaded and extracted the exercise files to your computer’s desktop. If this isn’t the case, navigate to the location where you extracted the exercise files instead of the desktop.
To start opening the file Pen practice.ai, in the Menu bar,
Click File, Click Open
To navigate to the Desktop, if necessary, in the left-hand side of the Open dialog box,
Click
To open the appropriate folder, if necessary,
Double-Click the Illustrator Basics folder
To open the file,
Double-Click Pen practice.ai
To activate the Zoom tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To zoom in on the Straight Line section of the artboard, with the Zoom tool active,
Press & Drag a rectangle around the Straight Line section of the artboard
NOTE: Sometimes Illustrator will immediately zoom in to an area when we're attempting to draw a rectangle around an object we want to zoom in on – this is referred to as animated zoom. This can be turned off by doing the following: in the Menu bar, Click Edit, Point to Preferences, Click Performance, and in the Preferences dialog box that appears, uncheck the Animated Zoom checkbox.
Drawing straight lines
Drawing straight lines with the Pen tool is very easy, though perhaps slightly different than one might expect. Instead of clicking and dragging the tool, as we did with the shape tools, we'll click the artboard to create individual points. Each time we click to add a point (after the first one), Illustrator connects the new point to the previous point with a line segment.
The following video walks you through the process of drawing straight lines in Illustrator.
Learn how to draw straight lines with the Pen tool in this video.
Description of the video:
The Pen Tool is a very powerful tool that can be used to make all sorts of objects in Illustrator. In this video, I'll explain the basic concepts behind how the pen tool works. Then I'll demonstrate how to use the pen tool to create straight lines. Working with the Pen tool is a little bit different than working with the shape tools. When drawing shapes with the shape tools, illustrator creates all of the anchor points and paths that we need to create the shape. All we really do is specify where on our art board the shape is made and how large the shape is. The pen tool, in contrast, enables us to add one anchor point at a time, determining the curve or lack thereof of each line segment. As we go. The pen tools to your power makes it a little intimidating to use it first. But with a little practice, will get the hang of using the pen tool and no time. I'll start out with demonstrating how to draw straight lines with the pen tool in a document that I already have open. The first thing I'll need to do is activate the pen tool by clicking on it in the Tools Panel. Now, with the Pen tool active, I'm ready to start drawing a straight line. To do this, I'll click on the box labeled a to create the first anchor point. When I move my cursor away from the first anchor point, I see a colored line connecting the anchor point to my cursor. This indicator shows what my line would look like if I were to click on the art board at my cursor's current position to create a second anchor point. Next, I'll click in the box labeled B to continue creating a straight line. Once I click inbox be, a path will appear between the two points. Here. It's represented by a black line with a thin blue line overlaying it, connecting the two anchor points. The black line is actually our paths stroke. If we didn't have a stroke color applied, we'd only see the thin blue line connecting the two points. I can continue adding to this line by clicking to add more anchor points. And Illustrator will continue connecting those points with a path. Once we're done creating a line will need to indicate that to Illustrator in some way. Otherwise, the Pen tool, we'll keep on adding new points to our line. One way of doing this is to switch to another tool. I'll go ahead and switch to the selection tool to end the line I've been drawing. Now we know how to use the pen tool to create straight lines. If you're interested in learning how to draw curved lines, watch the video drawing curved lines with the pen tool.
When we finish creating a path, we need to tell Illustrator that we’re finished in some way. Otherwise, Illustrator will think we're trying to add more anchor points to the path, even after we're done. There are many different ways to end a path — switching to a different tool is one way to do this.
Let's practice drawing straight lines now. We’ll make a path consisting of straight lines, connecting the boxes underneath the Drawing Straight Lines heading in order from A to E. Afterwards, we'll end the new path by switching to the Selection tool.
To activate the Pen tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To set the fill color to None, in the Swatches panel,
Click , Click
To add the first anchor point to the path, with the Pen tool active,
Click point A
To add the second anchor point to the path,
Click point B
Repeat step d to connect points C, D, and E.
To switch to the Selection tool and end the path, in the Tools panel,
Click
We're done working with straight lines — now let's take a look at how to create curved lines. Let's zoom out first, so we can see the entire artboard at once.
To activate the Zoom tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To zoom out, on the keyboard, press and hold:
Alt key, Click the artboard a few times until the entire artboard is visible
NOTE for MacOS Users: When zooming out, press and hold the Option key instead of the Alt key.
Exploring and drawing curved lines
Using Illustrator and other vector drawing programs, we can create shapes comprised of points and curves called Bezier curves, named after the inventor of the formula used to create the curves. Using the Bezier formula, every curve segment has a defined arc and is connected to other segments by anchor points.
In order to better see the parts of a curved line, we'll zoom in on the Curved Line section of the artboard and select the line that’s there. However, instead of using the Selection tool like we've used to select objects previously, we'll use a different tool to select the curved line — the Direct Selection tool.
The following video walks you through the contents of this section, and demonstrates the steps outlined in the sections Using the Direct Selection tool to select part of an object and Drawing a curved line.
This video walks you through the sections Using the Direct Selection tool to select part of an object and Drawing a curved line.
Description of the video:
[music] The Pen tool is a very powerful tool that can be used to make all sorts of objects in Illustrator. In this video, we’ll focus on creating curved lines with the Pen tool. I’ll start out by explaining some of the concepts behind working with curved lines. We’ll also gain a little experience working with the Direct Selection tool, which can help us change the appearance of curved lines. Finally, I’ll show you how to make a curved line with the Pen tool. If you watched the video on creating straight lines with the Pen tool, you know that making a straight line is a pretty simple task – just click to add an anchor point, then click a little further away to add another anchor point with a path connecting the two points. Making curved lines involves a slightly different process. Before we get into that, let's learn a little bit more about the anatomy of a curved line. I'm going to zoom in on the curved line that I have on my artboard, then switch to the Direct Selection tool to select a part of the curved line. The Direct Selection tool works a little differently than the regular Selection tool. While the Selection tool selects an entire object, the Direct Selection tool only selects part of an object, like an anchor point or a path between two points. With the curved line selected, we can see some colored lines coming out of the anchor points. These lines are called direction lines, and they indicate the direction of our curve. At the end of each direction line is a curve handle. We can change the shape of the curve by moving the anchor points or repositioning the curve handle to alter the shape of the curve. Moving an anchor point changes the shape of a curve by changing where the path itself is anchored, while moving a curve handle changes the size and direction of the curve. I’ll start the process of repositioning the center anchor point on this curved line by clicking on the line so its anchor points are showing. Once the anchor points display, I’ll click on the center one to select it. It’ll turn blue once it’s selected, and the other two points on the line will be white. With the anchor point selected, now I can press and drag it to a new location. Now, let’s practice moving curve handles to adjust the depth and direction of a curve. This is also done with the Direct Selection tool. With an anchor point on the line still selected, the curve handles extending from each point are visible. I’ll click and drag the top curve handle extending from the middle anchor point on the curved line to change the shape and direction of the curve. At this point, we’ve had some experience manipulating a curved line, and now we’re ready to actually draw one. As mentioned previously, it’s a different process than creating a straight line – I’ll demonstrate this now so you can see how to do it on your own. I’ll start by activating the Hand tool and pressing and pressing and dragging the artboard up so the part where I’m drawing my curved line is fully visible. Next, I’ll activate the Pen tool and get ready to draw my first point by pointing my cursor at the box marked 1. To create my first anchor point, I’m going to click and drag upwards. Direction lines will come out of the point as I drag, with one attached to my cursor. The direction I drag my cursor in is the direction the curved line will come out of the anchor point, so dragging upwards is going to create a line that curves upwards to start. When I let go of the mouse button and move my cursor away, I can see the preview of what my curved line will look like if I click wherever my cursor is at. Next, I’m going to position my cursor over box 2, then click and drag downwards to create my next anchor point. I see the direction lines again – if I want to adjust the curve of my line as I make the anchor point, while still holding down the mouse button, I can move my cursor and it will adjust the curve just like we did with the curve handles earlier. I’ll make the last point of this line by pointing to box 3, then clicking and dragging upwards. To tell Illustrator I’m done making this line, I’ll press the Escape key on my keyboard. Pressing the Escape key to end a line makes it so the Pen tool is still active, so we can start drawing a new line if we want to. Now we know how to create curved lines with the Pen tool, and change their appearance with the Direct Selection tool. [music]
Using the Direct Selection tool to select part of an object
The Direct Selection tool works a little differently than the Selection tool - while the Selection tool allows us to select an entire object, the Direct Selection allows us to select a part of an object, such as an anchor point. With the Direct Selection tool, we can then make changes to an isolated part of an object. This can be used to make changes to the shape of a line or an object.
Let's activate the Direct Selection tool, then select the curved line.
Zoom in on the Curved Line section of the artboard, if necessary.
To activate the Direct Selection tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To select a part of the curved line, with the Direct Selection tool active,
Click a part of the curved line
The following diagram shows the selected curved line:
When selecting part of the line with the Direct Selection tool, we can see the line's anchor points and its direction lines, which extend from the points. The Direct Selection tool enables the selecting and editing of individual segments in the curved line. The three points in this curved line "anchor" the curved segments, and the direction lines control the direction and amount of the curve.
We can change the shape of the curve by moving the anchor points or dragging the endpoint of the direction line (also referred to as the curve handle) to alter the shape of the curve. Moving an anchor point changes the shape of a curve by changing where the path itself is anchored, while moving a curve handle changes the size and direction of the curve.
Let's practice manipulating the shape of a curve now.
To select the anchor point to move, on the curved line,
Click the middle anchor point
To move the selected anchor point,
Press & Drag the middle anchor point to the left a short distance
To change the size of the curve,
Press & Drag the bottom center curve handle downward a short distance
To change the direction of the curve,
Press & Drag the same curve handle upwards and to the right
All of these changes should have altered the appearance of the curve in very specific ways. Now, let's get some practice drawing curved lines before we move back to our landscape.
Drawing a curved line
Drawing curved lines takes practice, but as you gain experience working with the Pen tool to make curved lines, you'll be able to better anticipate how the Pen tool will create curved lines.
Drawing curved lines is a little different than drawing straight lines. Pressing and dragging as we create a point with the Pen tool will turn the point into a curved point. As you're pressing and dragging, a pair of straight lines will extend from the point you've made — these are our curve handles. When you let go of the left mouse button and move your mouse away, you'll see a preview of how your line will curve, similar to the following image:
Clicking to add another anchor point at this point will connect the first two points with a stroke, and moving our mouse again will show us a new preview line to indicate how our curve might look if we were to click to add another point.
Let's switch back to the Pen tool and get some practice with making curved lines. Once we’re done, we’ll end the path using a different method than we did previously — this time, we’ll press the Escape key to end our path. After we're done practicing making curved lines, we'll close Pen Practice.ai and move back to the landscape drawing.
To activate the Pen tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To start drawing a line that curves upwards, with the Pen tool active,
Point to point 1, Press & Drag upwards
To add an anchor point and make the line curve downwards from the new point,
Point to point 2, Press & Drag downwards
To add another anchor point and make the line curve upwards again,
Point to point 3, Press & Drag upwards
To end the path, on the keyboard, press:
Escape key
To close Pen practice.ai, in the Menu bar,
Click File, Click Close
If asked to save the file, in the dialog box that appears,
Click
Creating an object with the Pen tool
At this point, we’re ready to start creating the sailboat for our landscape illustration. We’ll start out by using the Pen tool to draw the curve that will be the boat’s hull.
Before we start working, we'll want to change our fill and stroke colors, as they may still be set to the colors we used to create the pond. We’ll change the stroke color to black and the fill color to none, so we can see the grid in the background as we draw the boat. Once we’re done drawing, we’ll set the fill color to brown so the shape we make looks more like a boat.
To ensure nothing is selected on the artboard, if necessary, in the Menu bar,
Click Select, Click Deselect
To change the stroke color to black, in the Swatches panel,
Click, Click the black swatch
To change the fill color to none,
Click, Click
To activate the Zoom tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To zoom in on the artboard, in the empty space above the green rectangle,
Click several times until the grid squares appear larger
To activate the Pen tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To add the first anchor point,
Point at the intersection of two major gridlines, Press & Drag downward four grid squares
The first point should look like the following image:
To position the cursor in the location where the second anchor point will be drawn, on the artboard,
Point to the intersection of two major grid lines, two inches to the right of the first point
NOTE: The second anchor point will be 8 smaller grid squares to the right of the first point.
To add the second anchor point,
Press & Drag upward four grid squares
The path should now look like the following:
To finish drawing the path, on the keyboard, press:
Escape key
To switch to the Selection tool, in the Tools panel,
Click
To select the boat hull, if necessary,
Click on the curved line
Ensure that the shape's fill is active.
To add a fill color to the boat, in the Swatches panel,
Click a brown swatch
To deselect the boat, with the Selection tool active,
Click away from the boat
At this point, the boat should look similar to the following image:
You may notice that while there’s an outline around the bottom part of the boat, there isn’t one across the top — that's because this is an open path. Open paths are different from the shapes we've made previously, as an open path has a starting and an ending point, while a closed path does not have any openings, and its starting and ending point is one and the same. We've made closed paths while working with the Shape tool previously, and can also make them with the Pen tool if we wish.
Let's save our work before using the Shape tools to finish making the boat.
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