This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Working with basic shapes
In the first part of this lesson, you’ll create all kinds of shapes, including rectangles, ellipses, and polygons.
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Shapes you create are made of anchor points, with paths connecting the anchor points.
For instance, a basic square is made of four anchor points on the corners, with paths connecting those anchor points (see the upper figure at right). A shape is referred to as a closed path because the ends of the path are connected.
A path like a line is an open path. An open path has distinct anchor points on each end, called endpoints (see the figure at right). You can fill both open and closed paths with color, gradients, or patterns.
Creating rectangles
The main logo art for the adventure company will be a bear. You’ll start by creating a few rectangles, and you’ll explore creating them using two different methods.
Select the Rectangle tool (
) in the toolbar.First we’ll create the larger rectangle that will be the body of the bear.
Near the top of the artboard, drag to create a rectangle, and then release the mouse button.
Don’t worry about the size yet; you’ll resize it shortly.
As you drew the shape, did you happen to notice the width and height in the little gray tool tip next to the pointer? That is called the measurement label. That label is a part of Smart Guides (View > Smart Guides).
Move the pointer over the small blue dot in the center of the rectangle (called the center point widget). When the pointer changes (
), drag the shape so it’s roughly in the middle of the artboard.With the Rectangle tool selected (or any other shape tool), this is how you need to move a shape. Otherwise, you will draw a new one!
Next, you’ll create a smaller rectangle using a more precise method to serve as the head of the bear.
With the Rectangle tool (
) still selected, click in an empty area of the artboard to open the Rectangle dialog box.In the dialog box, change the Width to 2.3 inches and the Height to 1.3 inches. Click OK to create a new rectangle.
Creating a rectangle by clicking rather than dragging is useful when you need to make a shape of a specific size. For most drawing tools, you can either draw with the tool or click to create a shape this way.
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Editing rectangles
All of the shape tools, except for the Star tool and Flare tool (currently), create Live Shapes. Live Shapes have attributes, such as width, height, rotation, and corner radius, that are editable without switching from the drawing tool you are using.
With two rectangles created, you’ll make some changes to them so they look more like the body and head of a bear and are scaled relative to each other.
Select the Selection tool (
) in the toolbar.Click the View menu and make sure that Smart Guides are on. A checkmark will appear next to Smart Guides in the menu if they are.
You can turn the Smart Guides on when they are useful. In this case, when you resize one of the rectangles, you will see a gray measurement label telling you its size.
Click anywhere in the larger rectangle to select it.
Drag the bottom, middle point of the rectangle until you see a height of approximately 4.6 inches in the measurement label (the gray tool tip next to the pointer), release the mouse button.
Since your rectangle might be bigger or smaller, I didn’t tell you which way to drag (up or down).
You can also resize shapes with more precision in the Properties panel, which is what you’ll do next.
In the Transform section of the Properties panel on the right, make sure Maintain Width And Height Proportions to the right of Width (W:) and Height (H:) is deselected (it looks like this:
).Setting Maintain Width And Height Proportions (turning it on) is useful when you change the height or the width and want the other value to change proportionally.
Select the Width (W:) value, and type 2.9 in. Press Return or Enter to accept the change.
Now you’ll rotate the larger rectangle so the bear body is horizontal.
Move the pointer just off a corner of the selected (larger) rectangle. When you see rotate arrows (
), drag clockwise to rotate the shape. As you drag, press the Shift key to constrain the rotation to increments of 45 degrees. When an angle of 270° shows in the measurement label, release the mouse button and then the key. Leave the shape selected.
A screenshot represents the rotation of the larger rectangle. The larger rectangle is to be rotated in the counterclockwise direction. The larger rectangle is selected and the top-right anchor point in the larger rectangle is to be used. A rotation tool appears near the top-right anchor point.
A screenshot illustrates the rotated rectangle. The small rectangle is at the right. The larger rectangle is rotated 90 degrees in the counterclockwise direction. The initial position of this rectangle is hidden.
Now you’ll drag the smaller rectangle onto the larger rectangle. With the Selection tool selected, you can drag from anywhere within the shape bounds, as long as it is filled with a color, pattern, or gradient. You don’t have to use the center point like you did previously with the Rectangle tool selected.
Drag the smaller rectangle onto the larger rectangle where the head of the bear should go. See the figure.
A screenshot illustrates the movement of the small rectangle towards the large rectangle. The large rectangle is on the left. The rotated small rectangle is moved to the top-right corner of the large rectangle. The small rectangle overlap over the large rectangle. The position of the small rectangle is given in a tooltip, the initial position of the small rectangle is given in hidden line.
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Changing the color of the shapes
By default, shapes are filled with white and have a black stroke (border). Next, you’ll change the color of both rectangles to brown so they start to look more like a bear.
With the smaller rectangle still selected, click the Fill color box (
) in the Properties panel on the right. It may be lower in the panel.In the panel that opens, make sure that the Swatches option (
) is selected at the top. Select a brown color to fill the shape.
A screenshot shows the step of changing the fill color. The small rectangle in the design is selected, a bounding box appears over it. The fill color box within the properties panel is clicked. A panel opens which shows the swatches of colors. The needed color is selected.
Press the Escape key to hide the Swatches panel before moving on.
Change the Stroke Weight in the Properties panel to 0 (zero).
A screenshot shows the step of changing the stroke style. The small rectangle in the design is selected, a bounding box appears over it. The stroke box within the properties panel is clicked. A panel opens which shows swatches of colors. The needed style is selected.
Click the larger rectangle to select the body of the bear.
For practice, change the fill color to the same brown and set the Stroke Weight to 0 (zero) following the previous steps.
A screenshot shows the step of changing the fill color. The large rectangle in the design is selected, a bounding box appears over it. The fill color box within the properties panel is clicked. A panel opens which shows the swatches of colors. The needed color is selected.
Choose Select > Deselect.
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Rounding rectangle corners by dragging
The rectangles you created don’t look very much like a bear yet. Luckily, we can round the corners of the rectangles to make them more interesting.
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Click the larger rectangle to select it.
Choose View > Zoom In once or twice.
You need to see the Live Corners widgets (
) in each corner of the rectangle. If you are zoomed out far enough, the Live Corners widgets are hidden on the shape. Zoom in until you see them.Drag any of the Live Corners widgets (
) in the rectangle toward the center to round all of the corners. Drag until the corners are as round as they can be.The more you drag toward the center, the more rounded the corners become. If you drag a Live Corners widget far enough, a red arc appears on the shape, indicating you’ve reached the maximum corner radius.
Click to select the smaller brown rectangle (the head of the bear), and drag any of the Live Corners widgets (
) to round the corners a little.Leave the smaller rectangle selected.
Choose File > Save to save the file.
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Rounding individual corners
You can also round individual corners using the Selection tool. Next, you’ll explore rounding the individual corners of the head of the bear.
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A screenshot represents the properties panel. The more options button at the bottom-right corner of the transform section is clicked. This opens more options. Some of the options have combo boxes. The link corner radius values button is encircled. The transform section has X, Y, W, and H fields.
With the smaller rectangle selected, click the Live Corners widget (
) in the upper-right corner to select it, and then release.If you move the pointer away, you will see that the widget has changed in appearance, from this (
) to this (
). If you drag that corner widget now, it will be the only one that changes.
A screenshot represents the smaller rectangle selected, and clicking the Live Corners widget in the upper-right corner to select it.
Now, drag the selected corner widget away from the center of the shape to remove the rounding.
Be careful! If you don’t click, release, and then drag, you won’t select just the one corner widget. Instead, you’ll round them all!
A screenshot represents the smaller rectangle selected, and dragging the sekect Live Corners widget in the upper-right corner.
A screenshot represents the smaller rectangle selected, and clicking the Live Corners widget in the lower-left corner to select it. Then dragging it to remove the corner radius.
Follow the previous steps to remove the rounding from the lower-left corner of the rectangle as well.
Click the corner widget in the lower-right corner and release to select it.
Then drag it toward the opposite corner, rounding the corner as much as possible.
A screenshot represents the smaller rectangle selected, and clicking the Live Corners widget in the lower-right corner to select it.
A screenshot represents the properties panel. The more options button at the bottom-right corner of the transform section is clicked. This opens more options. Some of the options have combo boxes. The link corner radius values button is encircled. The transform section has X, Y, W, and H fields.
Choose Select > Deselect, and then choose File > Save.
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Discover other ways to round corners 
There are so many ways to round corners. To learn more ways, check out the video Discover other ways to round corners, which you’ll find in the Web Edition. For more information, see the “Web Edition” section of “Getting Started” at the beginning of the book.
Changing a corner type
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Aside from dragging to round corners, you can also use the Properties panel to change the type of corner radius and make more precise adjustments. The three types are shown in the figure at right.
Now you’ll make a copy of the larger rectangle and change the corner types for a few corners. This rectangle will become the belly of the bear.
Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window to see the entire artboard.
Select the larger rectangle, and to copy it, choose Edit > Copy, and then paste it by choosing Edit > Paste.
Drag the copy just below the other rectangles.
You might need to select the two original rectangles and move them up a bit. If you do, make sure to select the copy again before continuing.
In the Properties panel, click More Options (
) in the Transform section to show more options. It’s circled in the following figure.Ensure that Link Corner Radius Values is off—it should look like this:
. You can click the button to toggle it on and off. It’s circled in the figure.
A screenshot represents the properties panel. The more options button at the bottom-right corner of the transform section is clicked. This opens more options. Some of the options have combo boxes. The link corner radius values button is encircled. The transform section has X, Y, W, and H fields.
Each corner value in the panel corresponds to a corner in the shape.
For the next step, pay attention to which corner is adjusted in the figure. Since the rectangle was rotated earlier, the corner values in the panel no longer seem to correspond to the correct corner in the shape.
Change the lower-left and lower-right corners of the rectangle to 0 (zero).
A screenshot shows the step of removing the rounding from two corners of the selected rectangle. The bottom-left and lower-right corner
Aside from changing the corner radius, you can also change the corner type. You can choose between Round (default), Inverted Round, and Chamfer.
Change the Corner Type setting for the upper-left corner and upper-right corner of the rectangle to Chamfer (
).Make the corner radius for the same corners smaller. Make them both around 1 inch.
Press the Escape key to close the options panel, and leave the rectangle selected.
A figure shows resizing the rectangle with the bottom rounded and top chamfered corners being made narrower by dragging the bounding handle on the right to the left.
Drag a side handle to make the shape narrower. See the figure.
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Creating an ellipse
The Ellipse tool is used to create ellipses and perfect circles. Next, you’ll create an ellipse with the Ellipse tool (
) to make an eye for the bear.
Press and hold the mouse button on the Rectangle tool (
) in the toolbar, and select the Ellipse tool ().When you draw the circle that will become the eye of the bear, make it bigger than an eye should be so you can work with it more easily.
In an empty area of the artboard, Shift-drag to make a perfect circle that will become the eye of the bear. As a reference, I made mine about 1 inch in width and height. Release the mouse button and then the key.
Zoom in to the circle by choosing View > Zoom In a few times or by pressing Command and + (macOS) or Ctrl and + (Windows) a few times.
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Editing an ellipse
With the eye shape (circle) created, now you’ll change the appearance and put it in place.
Press the letter D on your keyboard to apply the default of a white fill and black stroke.
A screenshot shows the change of color of the small circle in the artboard. The circle is selected, a bounding box appears over it. Presing the letter D on the keyboard changes the fill to white and stroke to black.
This is a keyboard shortcut that I use a lot to remove formatting from shapes and get them back to a default (that’s what the “D” stands for) appearance of a white fill and black stroke!
Change the Stroke Weight setting in the Properties panel to 19 pt.
A screenshot shows the change of stroke width of the small circle in the artboard. The circle is selected, a bounding box appears over it. The stroke width drop-down list box in the appearance section is changed to 19 point. This drop-down list box is encircled. The stroke width changes in the small circle.
We need the fill to be black and the stroke to be white. So the opposite of what is applied to the current shape.
To swap the fill and stroke colors, click the Swap Fill And Stroke arrow (
) toward the bottom of the toolbar on the left.To see everything, choose View > Fit Artboard In Window.
Drag the circle by the blue center dot (the center point widget) onto the head of the bear, as you see in the figure.
A screenshot represents the movement of the small circle. The small circle is moved to the head of the bear . This small circle represents the eye of the bear. This is moved in the top-left direction, an arrow mark represents the movement. The transform section consists of the X, Y, W, and H fields. The W, H, and maintain width and height proportions buttons are marked out.
Next you’ll make the eye smaller. By default, stroke weights do not scale (they stay the same). So if you were to make the circle a lot smaller, for instance, the stroke weight would stay 19 pt and look rather large. See the figure for an example. To scale the stroke as the circle scales, you can turn on an option.
Click the More Options button (
) in the Transform section of the Properties panel. Select Scale Strokes & Effects in the panel that opens.
The screenshot shows clicking the More Options button in the Transform section of the Properties panel. Then selecting Scale Strokes & Effects in the panel.
Shift-drag the circle to make it smaller. When it’s small enough to look good, release the mouse button and then the key.
Drag the eye where you want it on the bear head.
Choose File > Save.
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Changing stroke alignment
As you’ve seen, strokes are borders of an object or path. By default, strokes center on a path, which means that along the path, half the stroke weight is on one side and half is on the other.
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You can adjust this alignment so the stroke appears in the center (default), inside, or outside. Next, you’ll change the stroke so you can still see the fill of the eye.
With the eye circle still selected, zoom in by pressing Command and + (macOS) or Ctrl and + (Windows) a few times.
Click the word “Stroke” in the Properties panel to open the Stroke panel.
In the Stroke panel, click the Align Stroke To Outside button (
) to align the stroke to the outside edge of the circle.
A screenshot represents the change of stroke style of bear's eye. The inner circle of the bear's eye is selected. Then, the stroke box within the appearance section is selected. A menu opens. The option, align stroke to outside button in the align strokes option is selected. This button is encircled. The diameter of the inner circle is increased.
I hope you can see the difference when the stroke is aligned to the outside. Zoom in if you need. I made the eye a little smaller after aligning the stroke.
Choose Select > Deselect.
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Creating a pie shape from an ellipse
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Ellipses have a pie widget that you can drag to create a pie shape. Next, you’ll make a new circle and turn it into an ear.
With the Ellipse tool (
) still selected, change the Stroke Weight in the Properties panel to 0.Shift-drag to make another circle in an empty area of the artboard.
This circle will become the ear of the bear—but you can make it bigger and scale it down later, if you want.
With it selected, do you see the pie widget (
) on the right side of the shape? You can drag that to make a pie shape.Drag the pie widget clockwise around the bottom of the ellipse, and then release.
A screenshot represents the black circle. This circle is selected. A bounding box appears over the circle. The pie widget at the right side is selected, this is encircled. This movement is represented by an arrow mark.
The figure shows the pie widget being dragged by the cursor in a clockwise direction.
Notice that there is another pie widget in the same place from which you started dragging this one. The pie widget you just dragged is called the pie start angle, and the other pie widget is called the pie end angle.
Drag the other pie widget (the pie end angle) from the same place counterclockwise around the top of the ellipse. Don’t worry about how far.
A screenshot represents the black circle. This circle is selected. A bounding box appears over the circle. Another pie widget at the right side is selected, this is encircled. This movement is represented by an arrow mark.
The figure shows the pie widget being dragged by the cursor in a counter-clockwise direction over the top of the circle.
The ear shape you are making will look best if we see exactly half of it. That requires the two pie widgets you dragged to be at precise angles to each other—showing 180 degrees of the circle. You can adjust them with precision in the Properties panel.
In the Properties panel to the right, click More Options (
) in the Transform section to show more options. Choose 90° from the Pie Start Angle (
) menu.Choose 270° from the Pie End Angle (
) menu.
A screenshot shows the black circle in the artboard. The circle is cut into a semicircle, this semicircle is selected. A bounding box appears over the semicircle. The more options in the transform section is selected. This opens a section below. Pie start angle, pie end angle, and two other drop-down list boxes are present in the transform section.
Press the Escape key to hide the panel.
Drag the half-circle ear on top of the bear head.
With the ear still selected, change the Fill color in the Properties panel to a lighter brown than the bear head.
Try adjusting the size of the ear if you need to make it look better, and rotate it slightly.
In the screenshot, the ear of the bear is selected and positioned over the head of the bear with the Task bar beneath it.
Want a little practice? You could make a new ear (or copy) to give the bear two ears! The new ear might look better if it were behind the bear head—so you can choose Arrange > Send To Back.
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Drawing lines
Lines created with the Line Segment tool are Live, and similarly to Live Shapes, they have many editable attributes after they are drawn. Next, you’ll create a line with the Line Segment tool. This line will become a leg of the bear.
Press and hold on the Ellipse tool (
) in the toolbar, and select the Line Segment tool (
).In an empty area of the artboard, press and drag in any direction to draw a line. Don’t release the mouse button yet.
As you drag, press the Shift key to constrain the line to a multiple of 45 degrees. Notice the length and angle in the measurement label next to the pointer as you drag. Drag directly to the right until the line is around 0.5 inches in length. Release the mouse button and then the key.
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Editing a line
Now you’ll rotate and change the stroke weight and color of the line.
With the line selected, change the stroke weight to 90 pt in the Properties panel to the right of the document.
The screenshot shows the stroke weight option circled in the Properties panel.
Click the Stroke color box in the Properties panel, and make sure that the Swatches option (
) is selected in the panel that appears. Select the same brown color as the body of the bear.Since this is a leg, and a bear leg is not horizontal, it needs to be rotated. Yes, you could have drawn it that way, but then we wouldn’t explore rotating lines!
With the new line selected, move the pointer just off the right end. When the pointer changes to a rotate arrow (
), press and drag up until you see an angle of 90° in the measurement label next to the pointer. That will make the line vertical.Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window.
Select the Selection tool (
) in the toolbar, and drag the line by the center point to make it a leg for the bear.It’s a little short—so let’s make it longer. For the following figures, I moved the belly shape that was below the bear out of the way.
Drag the end of the line to make the leg longer.
Make a copy by Option-dragging (macOS) or Alt-dragging (Windows) the line to where the other leg should be. Release the mouse button and then the key.
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Creating polygons
Using the Polygon tool (
), you can create shapes with multiple straight sides. By default, the Polygon tool draws hexagons (six-sided shapes). What’s different about polygons is that they are drawn from the center. Polygons are also Live Shapes, which means attributes such as size, rotation, number of sides, and more remain editable after you create them.
Now you’ll create several polygons to make the claws of the bear.
Press and hold the Line Segment tool (
) in the toolbar, and select the Polygon tool ().Choose View > Smart Guides to turn them off.
Choose Select > Deselect.
Press the letter D on your keyboard to apply the default of a white fill and black stroke. Otherwise, the stroke will be a rather large 90 point!
Move the pointer into an empty area of the artboard. Drag to the right to draw a polygon. As you drag, press the Shift key to straighten the shape. Release the mouse button and then the key.
Notice that you didn’t see the gray measurement label (the tool tip), since it’s part of the Smart Guides that you turned off. Smart Guides can be helpful in certain situations, such as when more precision is necessary—maybe you want to know how large the shape is—and can be toggled on and off when needed.
Click the Fill color box (
) in the Properties panel, make sure that the Swatches option () is selected, and change the color to a lighter brown.Change the Stroke Weight in the Properties panel to 0 (zero).
Choose View > Smart Guides to turn them back on.
Now you’ll make it look more like a claw, by turning the shape into a triangle.
With the Polygon tool still selected, drag the little side widget (
) on the right side of the bounding box up to change the number of sides to 3—making a triangle.Choose File > Save.
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Editing a polygon
Now you’ll change the size of the polygon and create a nail from it.
Select the Selection tool (
) in the toolbar.Drag the polygon to the bottom of one of the legs. See the figure for where.
Zoom in to the claw shape by pressing Command and + (macOS) or Ctrl and + (Windows) a few times.
To make it smaller, press the Shift key and drag a corner to change the width and height proportionally (together). When it looks like the size of a proper claw, release the mouse button and then the key.
With the polygon shape now created, you’ll round one of the corners so the claw is a little less sharp. We need to round only one of the corners, so you will select the corner you want to round.
With the Selection tool selected, a polygon shows only a single Live Corner widget, so you can’t round just one corner with the Selection tool. To round only one corner, you will use the Direct Selection tool.
Select the Direct Selection tool in the toolbar. Click the Live Corners widget (
) in the corner showing in the figure.Drag the selected Live Corners widgets toward the center of the triangle to round the one corner a little.
Select the Selection tool (
) and drag the triangle into position like you see in the figure.To make a copy, choose Edit > Copy and then Edit > Paste In Front.
A copy is placed directly on top of the original.
Drag it into place on the other leg, like you see in the figure.
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Creating a star
Next, you’ll use the Star tool (
) to create a star that will become the tail of the bear. Currently, the Star tool doesn’t create Live Shapes, so editing the star after the fact can be challenging.
When drawing with the Star tool, you use keyboard modifiers to get the number of points you want and to change the radius of the star’s arms (the length of the arms). Here are the keyboard modifiers you’ll use in this section when drawing the star:
Arrow keys: Pressing the Up Arrow key adds arms to the star as you draw it, and the Down Arrow key removes them.
Shift: This straightens the star (constrains it).
Command (macOS) or Ctrl (Windows): Pressing this key and dragging while creating a star allows you to change the radius of the arms of the star (make the arms longer or shorter).
Creating a star will take a few keyboard commands, so don’t release the mouse button until you are told. This section may take a few tries!
Press and hold the Polygon tool (
) in the toolbar, and select the Star tool ().TIP
You can also click in the Document window with the Star tool (
) and edit the options in the Star dialog box instead of drawing it.In an empty area of the artboard, press and drag to create a star shape. Drag until the measurement label shows a width of about 1 inch and then stop dragging. Don’t release the mouse button!
Press the Up Arrow key a few times to increase the number of points on the star to eight. Don’t release the mouse button!
Press Command (macOS) or Ctrl (Windows), and start dragging again, toward the center of the star a short distance, as you see in the figure, and then stop dragging without releasing the mouse button. Release Command or Ctrl but not the mouse button.
Pressing Command/Ctrl when drawing a star keeps the inner radius constant, making the arms longer or shorter, depending on how you drag.
Press the Shift key. When the star straightens out, release the mouse button and then the key.
Select the Selection tool (
), and drag the star onto the back end of the bear like you see in the following figure.Click the Fill color box (
) in the Properties panel, make sure that the Swatches option () is selected, and change the color to a darker brown.Click the Arrange button in the Properties panel and choose Send To Back to send the star behind the rest of the bear.
Drag it into position as you see in the figure.
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