Editing an arrowhead

[Rina J]

Hi! I am brand-new to Illustrator (new job, new responsibilities) and have what is probably a simple question. I've done some research but can't find my answer -- perhaps I'm using the wrong terminology. I'm wording in version 24.1.2.

Basically, I need a couple of arrowhead types that aren't included in the standard options offered:

• An arrow similar to arrow 12, but more narrow (where the two sides of the arrowhead are closer to the main line).
• An "arrow" similar to arrow 21 (black dot instead of arrowhead), but with the black dot much, much smaller than the default.

How would I make these changes to the arrowheads? I seem to remember learning this in one of the tutorials I watched (or maybe in an article I read), but I can't remember where I saw it!

Thanks in advance!

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

The arrows are brushes. You can make a new one by drawing a line and adding whatever kind of arrowhead you want. Then with the line and whatever new arrowhead you made selected, click New Brush at the bottom of the Brushes panel to make a new Art Brush. You can double-click on one of the other arrows to see how it's set up. Now you can apply your custom arrows to any stroke.

[Doug A Roberts]

You will find an Arrowheads AI file at this location:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CC 2019\Support Files\Required\Resources\en_GB

Open it, and you'll find an artboard with instructions on creating new arrowheads at the top, and the current arrowheads arrayed on the page. To create an edit of an existing arrowhead, make a copy of it, make your edit, then add it to the Symbols panel in that file. After you're done, save the file to this location:

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator CC 2019\Plug-ins

Restart Illustrator. Your new arrowheads should be available in the stroke panel.

[Jeff Witchel, ACI]

If you follow Myra's suggestion of making an Art Brush, in the Art Brush Options dialog window, make sure to choose Stretch Between Guides for the Brush Scale Options. With this choice you can make sure your arrows are not stretched (distorted), just the line between the arrows. You can click on the dashed lines to drag them inward. Anything outside of the dashes will not be stretched.

[fixate.studio]

Thanks, Jeff and all. This was affirmative for me. I will also add, when creating a new brush with the Art Brush options, I've had success by erring towards keeping the guides overly inward, away from the arrowhead(s), rather than trying to align the guide right up to the end of the arrow head shape.