Working with lines
Next, you’ll work with straight lines and line segments, known as open paths, to create another lamp. Shapes can be created in many ways in Illustrator, and the simpler way is usually better.
- Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window.
- Select the Zoom tool (
) in the Tools panel, and click once in the empty area near the upper-left corner of the artboard to zoom in. - Choose Reset Essentials from the workspace switcher in the Application bar.
- Choose View > Outline to switch from Preview to Outline mode.
- Click and hold down the mouse button on the Star tool (
) in the Tools panel, and select the Ellipse tool (
). In a blank area near the top of the artboard, draw an ellipse that has a width of 1.5 in and a height of 0.1 in, as shown in the measurement label that appears. - Select the Direct Selection tool (
) in the Tools panel. Drag across the top anchor point to select it. See the figure for where to create the selection. - Choose Edit > Cut, and then choose Edit > Paste In Front to create a new path that is directly on top of the original.
- Select the Selection tool (
), and select the bottom half of the shape. Press Shift+Down Arrow five times to move the line down. - Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window.
- Select the Line Segment tool (
) in the Tools panel. Position the point over the center of the path you just moved down (see the red X in the figure). When the word “anchor” appears, press the Shift key and drag down until you see roughly D: 2.5 in. The “D:” in the measurement label is Distance. - With the line selected, change the Stroke weight to 9 pt and change the Stroke color to black in the Control panel.
- Choose Select > Deselect, and then choose File > Save.
So far, you’ve been working in the default Preview mode, which lets you see how objects are painted with fill and stroke colors. If paint attributes seem distracting, you can work in Outline mode, which you’ll do next.
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Dragging across a path will select the line segment and anchor points associated with it. If you drag across an anchor point in a path, you also select the line segments on either side of the anchor point.
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TIP
Another method for cutting a path is to use either the Scissors tool or the Knife tool. You will learn about using the Scissors tool (
) and Knife tool (
) for cutting paths in Lesson 5, “Creating an Illustration with the Drawing Tools.”
This copies and pastes only the top half of the ellipse as a single path, because that is what you selected with the Direct Selection tool.
Pressing an arrow key will move a selected object 1 pt, by default. Pressing Shift+arrow will move an object 10 pts per arrow keypress.
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Next, you will take the two line segments that make up the lampshade and join them together as one path.