Drawing Tips

• Basic Drawing with Vector Points and Bezier Handles
• Filling Shapes and Borders, Color
• Basic Head Template

Tools

• Blend Tool
• Illustrator Tools
• Illustrator Tools
• Pen Tool
  • Pen Tool1
    • Click where you want a point, Illustrator will create a straight line path between the points you click
    • Click and drag to create end points of a curved path
  • Pen Tool2
    • Hold down the shift key before clicking a second point to constrain the path to a perfectly straight line from the first point
    • DO NOT use the diagonal line tool
• Selection Tool (Black Arrow) to choose objects and move them (click on the object not on the border)
• Direct Selection Tool (White Arrow) to select points or handles to edit or move
• Type Tool—
  • Click and drag a text box first. DO NOT simply click and begin typing.
  • Use the Character Window (Menu Bar>> Window>>Type>>Charcter) to access a majority of the type options
  • Turn a letter or word into a letter-shaped path by first selecting the word and then choosing Create Outlines (Menu Bar>>Type>>Create Outlines)

How To:

• How to convert image colors to Grayscale—Grayscale Link
• How to do Image posterization—Scanner Darkly Link
• Use the PLACE command found under FILE in the menu bar to import scanned images or photos (JPEGS or PSD files) from Photoshop.
• Use the LAYERS window found under WINDOWS in the menu bar to separate different parts of your drawing while you are working on it. (for example, place a jpeg of your pencil drawn logo in a bottom layer, lock it and then create a new layer on top of it to do your illustrator drawing. Another common example would be to do all of your type on one layer and all drawn elements on a separate one.)
• How to make Clouds
• How to Create Glass reflections