Other Drawing tools in Illustrator on Web (beta)
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Are you a budding graphic designer or just getting started with the Illustrator application? Illustrator on the web (beta) introduces an easy-to-use drawing tool to enhance your drawing skills.
Illustrator on the web (beta) offers a range of drawing tools, including the Pen tool, Pencil tool, Blob brush tool, and more. With the addition of the Quick Pen tool (beta) in the toolbar, creating artwork in Illustrator has become a user-friendly and enjoyable process.
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Quick Pen tool (beta)
With the Quick Pen tool (beta) you can create custom paths and shapes with precision and control.
Quick Pen tool (beta) is a new, versatile, and user-friendly drawing tool that empowers users to create a wide range of shapes, from straight lines to smooth curves and sharp corner arcs.
Here is a list of features this tool offers:
- Draw Straight Lines: You can position the Quick Pen tool to start a straight segment and click to define the first anchor point. Click again on the canvas to set the endpoint of the line. Holding the Shift key while clicking allows you to constrain the angle of the segment to multiples of 45 degrees.
- Draw Smooth Curves/Arcs: Clicking on the canvas enables you to draw smooth curves and arcs, making it easy to create flowing, curvilinear shapes.
- Draw Sharp Corner Arcs: Clicking anywhere on the canvas lets you draw sharp corner arcs, allowing you to create angular shapes and corners.
- Flip Sharp Corner Arcs: This feature helps in flipping the direction of subsequent sharp corner arcs while drawing, which can be useful for creating mirrored or symmetrical shapes.
- Access Actions: The tool provides access to various additional actions, such as showing or hiding the toolbar, resetting the toolbar, giving feedback, and more, offering customization options to enhance the user experience.
Shortcuts and Tips
- Press CTRL/CMD and scroll up/ down with the trackpad to adjust the Arc height.
- Press the Option (macOS)/ ALT (Windows) key to switch to different modes like lines, continuous arcs, sharp corner arcs, etc.
- Press C to Flip Arc
- Click and Drag to edit curves, lines, and points.
Play this video to learn how to make shapes with lines and arcs using the Quick Pen tool (beta).
Pen tool
The Pen tool allows you to both draw and edit paths and curves by manipulating anchor points and handles. You can create an anchor point by clicking on the canvas, resulting in corner points, or by clicking and dragging to generate smooth points. While using the Pen tool, you have the flexibility to add or remove anchor points along the path and fine-tune the handles of a smooth point, all without the need to switch to a different tool. |
Pencil tool
The Pencil tool in Illustrator simulates drawing with a pencil on paper, allowing you to create both open and closed paths. It's particularly handy for quick sketches or achieving a hand-drawn aesthetic. One of its advantages is the ability to make immediate changes to your drawn path. As you use the Pencil tool, anchor points are automatically placed along the path; you don't have control over their specific positions while drawing. However, once the path is drawn, you can fine-tune the anchor points as needed. The number of anchor points created depends on factors such as the path's length, complexity, and the settings in the Pencil Tool Preferences dialog box. These settings determine how responsive the Pencil tool is to your mouse or graphics tablet's movements. |
Blob Brush tool
By selecting the Pencil tool in the Toolbar and then accessing the Blob Brush tool, you can generate filled, compound paths. When you use the Blob Brush tool to paint new shapes, they will seamlessly combine with existing shapes that share the same appearance settings. |
We also have other shape tools like Rectangle, Polygon, and Ellipse that might help you create predefined shapes.
To know more about these tools, check out this help article.
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