Illustrator

TOPIC APPEARS IN:

Draw with the Pencil tool

The Pencil tool works primarily the same way in Adobe Illustrator and InDesign. It lets you draw open and closed paths as if you were drawing with a pencil on paper. It is most useful for fast sketching or creating a hand-drawn look. Once you draw a path, you can immediately change it if needed.

Anchor points are set down as you draw with the Pencil tool; you do not determine where they are positioned. However, you can adjust them once the path is complete. The number of anchor points set down is determined by the length and complexity of the path and by tolerance settings in the Pencil Tool Preferences dialog box. These settings control how sensitive the Pencil tool is to the movement of your mouse or graphics-tablet stylus.

For a video on drawing with the Pencil tool in Illustrator, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0039.

Draw freeform paths with the Pencil tool

  1. Select the Pencil tool .
  2. Position the tool where you want the path to begin, and drag to draw a path. The Pencil tool  displays a small x to indicate drawing a freeform path.

    As you drag, a dotted line follows the pointer. Anchor points appear at both ends of the path and at various points along it. The path takes on the current stroke and fill attributes, and remains selected by default.

Draw closed paths with the Pencil tool

  1. Select the Pencil tool.
  2. Position the tool where you want the path to begin, and start dragging to draw a path.
  3. After you’ve begun dragging, hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS). The Pencil tool displays a small circle (and, in InDesign, a solid eraser) to indicate that you’re creating a closed path.
  4. When the path is the size and shape you want, release the mouse button (but not the Alt or Option key). After the path closes, release the Alt or Option key.

    You don’t have to position the cursor over the starting point of the path in order to create a closed path; if you release the mouse button in some other location, the Pencil tool will close the shape by creating the shortest possible line back to the original point.