When I try to draw a straight line in Illustrator, the pen tool won't just draw. The spot you put the tool down on becomes a middle anchor and when you change to the selection tool after drawing it, selected line disappears and only a tiny box remains where the middle anchor point was. I cannot get it to be an actual line. No matter what color or size I try to make the stroke, nothing happens. If I make the line curved, it works.
It sounds like you're trying to use the "Pen" tool in the same way that you'd use the "Brush" tool.
When you use the pen tool, you click wherever you want an anchor point to go, then you click where you want the next anchor point to go, and so on. It's not a "click and drag" kind of tool (although, you can manipulate the curve of the line by clicking to put down and anchor point and then dragging before you release the mouse).
The brush tool (or paintbrush) will probably behave more like what you expect.
Or it's completely possible i'm misunderstanding the problem... can you share some screenshots, or even better a screen recording of the action you're trying to do?
Already have an account? Login
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.
AdChoices