Adobe Illustrator Intermediate (2023): Drawing in Illustrator

Name: Adobe Illustrator Intermediate (2023): Drawing in Illustrator
Author: Stephen Steinbach

Learn how to use the pen tool to create and modify shapes and symbols

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Stephen Steinbach, and in these lessons, I'm going to show you the intermediate drawing tools for Adobe Illustrator 2023. So we're going to begin by looking at the pin tool here. And for this demonstration, I'm going to go up to Workspace Essentials Classic and Reset Essentials Classic. So in this file, I have a sketch here, and that is just a link template. And we also have a layer here, and I went ahead and did the correct way to create this shape. So let's begin by starting over. So to begin, I'm going to have this template here, and I will go ahead and delete this original layer. Okay. And then I'm going to make a new layer. Okay. So the pin tool works by clicking, left click and dragging a Bezier curve out, and then coming down and dragging another one, and continuing like this. Now this way is the incorrect way to use this because your Beziers are sort of all over the place, and they don't really have any organization to them. So there's a better way to do this. So the first thing I want to do is I want to go to the fill color, and we want to tell it to be a no fill here. And the stroke will do maybe three. Okay. So with this now, what you want to do is you want to hold the shift key, and instead of going out in this direction like that, you want it to be completely straight. They're going to be there completely horizontal or completely vertical. Occasionally they'll be this way, but typically you can get them all with this one and that. So with this, I'm going to start, and I'm going to left click and drag, and then I'm going to come down here and go to the center part right here that I'm going to drag that this way. And you can see here that already looks pretty good. So I'm going to continue on here, I'm going to go down to the bottom here, I'm going to hold the shift key, and left click and drag. Okay. Now, if you use the white arrow tool, if you select this down, you can nudge the lines up and down just by with the up and down arrow. And if I want to change this as well, I can do that there. Okay. We'll grab the pin tool again. And this time, maybe I'll start right here. And with this time, I'm just going to click, hold the shift so it's perfectly horizontal and just click one time, pulling the shift key so it's completely horizontal, then hold the shift key so it's completely vertical. And then here, I'm going to come down to right here, and I'm going to hold the shift key and drag that up like that, and go ahead and use the white arrow tool again to move this in place. Then we'll use the pin tool again. I'm going to click on it, get closer so you can see this better. So click on the point itself and come down to this point, then we'll come down here and shift and clean that up a little bit here with this tool. So here we'll hold the shift key and drag that out. So we'll start here as well, and we will use the pin tool again here, starting here, left click and drag coming down here to the center point, left click and drag and then I just need to move that point. If you hit the escape key, move to this point as well, hold the shift key and hold the shift key like that and just drag this down lower, and we'll just continue on. So here, if I use the not the curvature tool, use the pin tool here and click on here and then come down to the bottom, which would be about right there, and then another one. Okay, so here I'm going to have to fix that first. So escape key, use the white arrow tool. So let's select this here and then I'm holding the shift key to move this back down. We'll use the pin tool again and this time we'll start right here and just come down here, left click to get that Bezier curve, hold the shift key and then dragging the here and then bringing that out and finally we'll just close this off here. Using the same technique, we'll use the pin tool to select there, coming down to the end here, escape, and you can see that this needs to come down now. And I might want to increase this one. And if you're having trouble with this, if you want to reset the Bezier, there's a way to do that. You can come back here to the anchor point tool and select that point and then just reset that Bezier, holding the shift key and then going back to the white arrow tool, holding the shift to get that in place. This one will come down a bit and this one will come out a little bit more. And let's finish it off here with the pin tool. We will select this point, we select this point, select this point and select this one shift and drag it out. In the next lesson, I want to show you how to create custom icons. Thanks for watching.

Intermediate Provider : Stephen Steinbach 4 Lessons · 23m in English

Course Description

In this course on Adobe Illustrator Intermediate 2023, you will learn how to create graphics using the pen tool. You will also learn how graphics can be created by using symbols. By the end of the course, you will understand how to utilize Illustrator’s tools to personalize graphics for your design needs. Professional designers use the pen tool in Illustrator to create complex shapes, and in this course you will dive into everything this tool has to offer. You will begin by creating vertical and horizontal curves, which is a technique that replicates the proper curve shapes on graphics. You will also learn about the direct selection and anchor point tools and how to use them in conjunction with the pen tool. Having a basic understanding of how the pen tool works is essential to becoming a skilled graphic designer. Follow along as we cover how to use these tools to create custom graphics.

What You'll Learn

Create graphics using the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator
Explain the different functions of the pen tool
Draw vertical and horizontal curves to replicate proper curve shapes on graphics
Use the direct selection and anchor point tools in conjunction with the pen tool
Draw custom icons in Illustrator
Create a custom symbol and build illustrations with it

Key Takeaways

Professional designers use the pen tool in Illustrator to create complex shapes, and this course explores everything the tool offers.
Graphics can be created in Illustrator using both the pen tool and symbols.
Creating vertical and horizontal curves is a technique that replicates the proper curve shapes on graphics.
Having a basic understanding of how the pen tool works is essential to becoming a skilled graphic designer.
By the end of the course you will understand how to use Illustrator's tools to personalize graphics for your design needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to create graphics using the pen tool, how to create graphics using symbols, and how to use Illustrator's tools to personalize graphics for your design needs.

Which tools does this course cover?

The course covers the pen tool, the direct selection tool, and the anchor point tools, and shows how to use them together to create custom graphics.

What topics are included in the lessons?

The lessons cover the Pen Tool, Creating Custom Icons (Parts 1 and 2), and Creating Illustration With Custom Symbols.

Who is this course suited for?

It is an intermediate Adobe Illustrator 2023 course for those wanting to create complex shapes, icons, and custom symbols; a basic understanding of how the pen tool works is described as essential to becoming a skilled graphic designer.