Step it Up Review: Adobe Illustrator’s Pen Tool
On September 30, Rachel Ozley and I held an hour-long Step-It-Up teaching our UAB community the ins and outs of Adobe Illustrator. If you weren’t able to make it, or want a quick refresher, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Below is a segment of our class, teaching you all about Illustrator’s powerful pen tool. Sound interested? Great! Let’s begin.
What is the Pen Tool?
The pen tool is used to create vector-based images using a series of anchor points. You can easily create lines with the pen tool by simply clicking on different areas of the art board with the tool selected. Creating curved lines is slightly more complex but it’s not hard.
To get started, select the pen tool from the tools dock on the left side of the work space.
Step 1:
When you have selected the pen tool, click once on the art board.
Step 2:
On another area of the art board, make a second click. Then hold down your mouse or track pad and drag.
When you do this, you’ll notice that the pathway of the pen tool becomes curved.
The two red handles that extend from the point that you just created are called Bezier handles. You can click and drag these handles to make adjustments to the curve.
Step 3:
Now click, hold and drag on the first point you created to curve another line and complete the shape.
Step 4:
Select the direct selection tool in the toolbar on the left side of the work space. The white direct selection tool is similar to the black selection tool, but rather than moving entire objects, it can be used to move anchor points.
This tool allows you to manipulate objects or lines after they have been created.
Step 5:
Using the direct selection tool, click and drag on the end of a Bezier handle or a anchor point to manipulate the curve.
Step 6:
The pen tool is very useful for tracing objects in Illustrator.
a. To try this, download an image from Google, then in Illustrator, go to File>Place and choose the image you want to import.
Helpful Tip: Putting different elements within your AI file on separate layers can help you organize and arrange them. You can rename a layer by double-clicking on its name.
Step 7:
To begin tracing, lock the layer that your image is on, and start a new layer dedicated to the pen tool trace, seen in Step 6. Select the pen tool and a color that will be visible on top of your image.
Then, simply follow the outline of the image, clicking and dragging when you need to create a curve. Remember, you can make adjustments to a curved path with the direct selection tool.
Helpful Tip: Making a complete shape will allow you to fill the inside of the object. You will know that you are successfully completing a shape when you see the small “o” next to the pen tool:
Step 8:
When the shape is complete, the fill and stroke of the object can be adjusted using the color swatch options on the left of the work space at the bottom of the toolbar.
Now you know how to use the pen tool to create shapes and trace images!
If you have any questions, feel free to comment or stop by the Digital Media Lab at UAB.
Editor’s note: This post is a summary of our Intro to Illustrator Step It Up held on September 30. Our Step It Up Series are FREE one-hour tutorials covering specific topics and taught by our Media Fellows and are open to the public. Step It Ups are held on Fridays from 11:15 AM to 12:05 PM in Heritage Hall room 342.
