Now the fun begins--you actually start drawing something. You start with the easy shapes, such as rectangles and ovals, moving up to polygons, stars, spirals, and freeform objects. One of the great things about Illustrator is that there is usually more than one way to accomplish the same thing. As you progress, you get a feel of when using one technique might be better in certain situations than another. Specifically, this hour covers:
Time Saver: Probably the most important thing about Illustrator--let me correct myself--the most important things about Illustrator are the modifier keys--Shift, (Option)[Alt], and (Command)[Control]. Using combinations of these keys when you are drawing with the mouse controls different options. It's important that you become familiar with these key combinations to the point where they become second nature, and you don't even think about them--you just do it.
The most primitive shapes, rectangles, and ellipses are also the easiest shapes to create in Illustrator. There are several ways of drawing these shapes, each a slight variant of the other, and as you work more in Illustrator, you get a better feel for when to use each method.
As we discussed in the first hour, Illustrator is a vector art program. A vector rectangle or ellipse consists of three things: a starting point, an ending point, and a center point. You define the start and end point and Illustrator calculates the center point for you automatically. They say the best way to learn is to do it yourself, so let's draw, shall we?
Let's start by drawing a rectangle.
The Rectangle tool.
The Rectangle tool's cursor.
3. Click the mouse button, but don't let go. Drag down and to the right, and release the mouse button (see Figure 3.3).
Dragging to draw a rectangle.
Holding the Shift key while dragging forces your box, or constrains it, to be a perfect square--even on all sides. Throughout Illustrator, the Shift key is almost always the constrain key. Using it often takes the guesswork out of creating and manipulating your illustrations, as Illustrator does the work for you.
A rounded rectangle is one where the corners don't come to a point but are rounded. Now let's draw a rounded rectangle.
The Rounded Rectangle tool.
3. Click the mouse button, but don't let go. Drag down and to the right (see Figure 3.5), and release the mouse button.
Dragging to draw a rounded rectangle.
Holding the Shift key while dragging forces your rounded rectangle to have four even sides. To change the corner radius of the rounded rectangle, see "Drawing Rectangles Numerically," later in this hour.
Until now, we have been drawing our shapes by starting from the upper-left corner and dragging to the lower-right corner. Illustrator can also draw shapes out from the center.
The Centered Rectangle tool.
The Centered Rectangle tool's cross-hair cursor.
3. Click the mouse button, but don't let go. Drag outwards (see Figure 3.8) and release the mouse button.
Dragging to draw a rectangle out from the center.
The same technique applies to the Centered Rounded Rectangle tool (see Figure 3.9).
The Centered Rounded Rectangle tool.
Time Saver: If you have the Rectangle tool selected and you want to draw a box out from the center, hold down the (Option)[Alt] key before dragging. See how your cursor changes between the regular and centered cross hairs.
The previously mentioned ways of drawing a box are great when you want to draw something freely, but there are many times when you need to create a rectangle or square with exact proportions.
2. Click the screen and let go of the mouse button. Illustrator presents you with a dialog box (see Figure 3.10).
Drawing a rectangle numerically.
Depending on which tool you have selected, Illustrator draws the shape from either the center or the upper-left corner of where you clicked. Again, you can use the (Option)[Alt] key to quickly toggle between these two modes.
Ellipses (also known as ovals or circles) are slightly different than the rectangles we've been drawing. Whereas a rectangle is made up of four straight line segments, a circle is made up of four curved segments. In Hour 6, "Drawing Bézier Paths," we talk more in detail about straight and curved segments. Actually, drawing an ellipse in Illustrator is very similar to drawing a rectangle.
Now let's draw an ellipse.
The Ellipse tool.
The cursor for the Ellipse tool.
Dragging to draw an ellipse.
Holding the Shift key while dragging constrains your ellipse to a perfect circle.
You can also draw a circle from its center point.
The Centered Ellipse tool.
The cursor indicating the Centered Ellipse tool is selected
Dragging to draw an ellipse out from the center.
As with the rectangles, you can create an ellipse numerically.
Creating an ellipse numerically.
Depending on which tool you have selected, Illustrator draws the shape from either
the center or the upper-left of where you clicked. Again, use the (Option)[Alt] key
to quickly toggle between these two modes.
Great! Now that we can draw primitive shapes such as rectangles and ovals, let's move on to drawing more complex shapes. Of course, after you create a shape in Illustrator, you can edit it in all sorts of ways. We get to editing and transformations in Hours 7 and 12.
The next three creation tools are really cool. They first appeared in Illustrator 6 as plug-in tools, in their own little palette. Now they are fully integrated into the interface (grouped with the Ellipse tool in the Toolbox), with all of their coolness intact. The three tools are the Polygon tool, the Star tool, and the Spiral tool. These interactive tools create complex shapes in a fraction of the time it would take to draw them manually.
The Polygon tool is used to create shapes such as triangles, pentagons, and octagons (for those of you who like making stop signs).
The Polygon tool.
The cursor, indicating the Polygon tool is selected.
Dragging to draw a polygon.
Rotating the polygon in real time as you're creating it.
Adding sides to your polygon.
Removing sides from your polygon.
7. Press the Spacebar, and the polygon "freezes," enabling you to move the mouse and position the polygon on the page.
8. The tilde key (~) creates duplicates of the polygon as you drag and move it.
9. Release the mouse button.
You can use any combination of the modifier keys simultaneously as you create your polygon.
You can also create a polygon numerically.
2. Click the mouse button. Illustrator presents you with a dialog box (see Figure 3.24).
Creating a polygon numerically.
The Star tool is one of the great time-savers. It used to be a real drag to create stars and starbursts--now it really is just a drag!
The Star tool.
Dragging to create a star.
Rotating the star in real time, as you draw it.
Adding points to your star.
Removing points from your star.
7. Press the (Option)[Alt] key to align the segments on either side of each point-- the point's shoulders--with each other so that they form a straight line (see Figure 3.30).
Aligning the shoulders on your star.
Changing the inner and outer radius with the (Command)[Control] key.
10. Press the tilde key to make numerous copies of your star as you drag (see Figure 3.32).
This was created by holding down the Option, Shift, Spacebar, and tilde keys simultaneously, while dragging the mouse.
You can use any combination of the modifier keys simultaneously as you create your star.
You can also create a star numerically.
Drawing a star numerically.
4. Click OK.
There was a time when drawing spirals was very difficult, but it's easy now thanks to the Spiral tool. By simply clicking and dragging, you can create interesting spirals while controlling the number of winds (how many times it goes around) and attributes, such as whether the spiral goes clockwise or counterclockwise. Do not confuse the Spiral tool with the Twirl tool, which looks similar. We'll cover the Twirl tool later in the book.
The Spiral tool.
Dragging to create a spiral.
Rotating the spiral as you draw.
Adding segments to your spiral.
Removing segments from your spiral.
Adjusting the decay of the spiral with the (Command)[Control] Key.
Many spirals can look like waves.
You can use any combination of the modifier keys simultaneously as you create your spiral.
You can also create a spiral numerically.
Creating a spiral numerically.
Until now, we have been drawing predefined, symmetrical shapes. Now we move into the world of freedom--creating freeform shapes with the Paintbrush tool (see Figure 3.42).
The Paintbrush tool.
Drawing with the Paintbrush tool is easy. Just select the tool, press the mouse button, and drag. Let go of the mouse button as you complete each stroke in your drawing.
The Paintbrush is actually creating a filled object in the shape you draw.
When using the Paintbrush, there are several options that can change the way your drawing looks. Double-click the Paintbrush tool in the Toolbox, and Illustrator presents you with the Paintbrush Options dialog box (see Figure 3.43).
The different options available with the Paintbrush tool. Variable width is grayed out if you do not have a pressure-sensitive tablet installed.
You can give the Paintbrush a calligraphic style for effect (see Figure 3.44). You can also change the line caps and joins (see Figure 3.45). But the most powerful feature of the Paintbrush tool is the ability to change the width of your shapes. If you have a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, you can set a variable width, and the harder you press as you draw, the thicker your shape is (see Figure 3.46). If you do not have a pressure-sensitive tablet, you are only able to set a fixed width.
This shape was created in one stroke, with the Paintbrush's calligraphic option turned on.
The top shape was created with rounded caps and rounded joins, while the lower shape was created with square caps and mitered joins.
No doubt, after this lesson, you created a masterpiece that you want to keep forever, so let's save your work.
You just learned to save a file. The very nature of a computer is to crash when you least expect it to, and when you are relying on it most. It's a good idea to get into the habit of saving your files frequently and keeping backups of them in case you lose them or they become corrupt.
Using the Variable Width setting with a pressure-sensitive tablet, you can create a shape with natural-looking, hand-drawn thicks and thins.
Your feet are definitely wet, as you learned to draw simple shapes. You had fun creating polygons and using the Paintbrush tool, and you learned the power of using the modifier keys as you draw. Next, you begin to learn to edit and manipulate the shapes you created today.
Modifier keys--The Shift, Control, (Option)[Alt], and (Command)[Control] keys found on your keyboard.
Corner radius--The amount of curve at the corners of a rounded rectangle.
Interactive tools--Tools that let you change options on-the-fly as you are drawing with them.
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