Draw with the Pen, Pencil, or Flare tool

Select the Pen tool.

Position the Pen tool where you want the straight segment to begin, and click to define the first anchor point (do not drag).

Click again where you want the segment to end (Shift-click to constrain the angle of the segment to a multiple of 45°).

Continue clicking to set anchor points for additional straight segments.

The last anchor point you add always appears as a solid square, indicating that it is selected. Previously defined anchor points become hollow, and deselected, as you add more anchor points.

Complete the path by doing one of the following:

• To close the path, position the Pen tool over the first (hollow) anchor point. A small circle appears next to the Pen tool pointer  when it is positioned correctly. Click or drag to close the path.

  note: To close a path in InDesign, you can also select the object and choose Object > Paths > Close Path.

• To leave the path open, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) anywhere away from all objects.

  To leave the path open, you can also select a different tool, or choose Select > Deselect in Illustrator or Edit >Deselect All in InDesign. In InDesign or Illustrator, you can also simply press Enter or Return to leave the path open.

Select the Pen tool.

Position the Pen tool where you want the curve to begin, and hold down the mouse button.

The first anchor point appears, and the Pen tool pointer changes to an arrowhead. (In Photoshop, the pointer changes only after you’ve started dragging.)

Drag to set the slope of the curve segment you’re creating, and then release the mouse button.

In general, extend the direction line about one third of the distance to the next anchor point you plan to draw. (You can adjust one or both sides of the direction line later.)

Hold down the Shift key to constrain the tool to multiples of 45°.

Position the Pen tool where you want the curve segment to end, and do one of the following:

• To create a C‑shaped curve, drag in a direction opposite to the previous direction line. Then release the mouse button.

• To create an S‑shaped curve, drag in the same direction as the previous direction line. Then release the mouse button.

Continue dragging the Pen tool from different locations to create a series of smooth curves. Note that you are placing anchor points at the beginning and end of each curve, not at the tip of the curve.

Complete the path by doing one of the following:

• To close the path, position the Pen tool over the first (hollow) anchor point. A small circle appears next to the Pen tool pointer  when it is positioned correctly. Click or drag to close the path.

  note: To close a path in InDesign, you can also select the object and choose Object > Paths > Close Path.

• To leave the path open, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) anywhere away from all objects.

  To leave the path open, you can also select a different tool, or choose Select > Deselect in Illustrator or Edit >Deselect All in InDesign.

After you click to create an anchor point, keep the mouse button pressed down, hold down the spacebar, and drag to reposition the anchor point.

Complete a path in one of the following ways:

• To close a path, position the Pen tool over the first (hollow) anchor point. A small circle appears next to the Pen tool pointer  when it is positioned correctly. Click or drag to close the path.

  Note: To close a path in InDesign, you can also select the object and choose Object > Paths > Close Path.

• To leave a path open, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) anywhere away from all objects.

Using the Pen tool, click corner points in two locations to create a straight segment.

Position the Pen tool over the selected endpoint. In Illustrator and InDesign, a convert-point icon appears next to the Pen tool when it is positioned correctly (In Photoshop, a small diagonal line, or slash, appears next to the Pen tool). To set the slope of the curved segment you’ll create next, click the anchor point, and drag the direction line that appears.

Position the pen where you want the next anchor point; then click (and drag, if desired) the new anchor point to complete the curve.

Using the Pen tool, drag to create the first smooth point of the curved segment, and release the mouse button.

Reposition the Pen tool where you want the curved segment to end, drag to complete the curve, and release the mouse button.

Position the Pen tool over the selected endpoint. A convert-point icon appears next to the Pen tool when it is positioned correctly. Click the anchor point to convert the smooth point to a corner point.

Reposition the Pen tool where you want the straight segment to end, and click to complete the straight segment.

Using the Pen tool, drag to create the first smooth point of a curved segment.

Reposition the Pen tool and drag to create a curve with a second smooth point; then press and hold Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and drag the direction line toward its opposing end to set the slope of the next curve. Release the key and the mouse button.

This process converts the smooth point to a corner point by splitting the direction lines.

Reposition the Pen tool where you want the second curved segment to end, and drag a new smooth point to complete the second curved segment.

Select the Pencil tool  .

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.

Select the Pencil tool.

Position the tool where you want the path to begin, and start dragging to draw a path.

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.

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.

Select an existing path.

Select the Pencil tool.

Position the pencil tip on an endpoint of the path.

You can tell you’re close enough to the endpoint when the small x next to the pencil tip disappears.

Drag to continue the path.

Select both paths (Shift-click or drag around the two with the Selection tool).

Select the Pencil tool.

Position the pointer where you want to begin from one path, and start dragging toward the other path.

After you begin dragging, hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS). The Pencil tool displays a small merge symbol to indicate you’re adding to the existing path.

Drag onto the endpoint of the other path, release the mouse button, and then release the Ctrl or Command key.

Select the path you want to change.

Position the Pencil tool on or near the path to redraw.

You can tell you’re close enough to the path when the small x disappears from the tool.

Drag the tool until the path is the desired shape.

Select the Flare tool .

Press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS), and click where you want the center handle of the flare to appear.

Select the Flare tool.

Press the mouse button down to place the center handle of the flare, then drag to set the size of the center, the size of the halo, and to rotate the angle of the rays.

Before releasing the mouse, press Shift to constrain the rays to a set angle. Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to add or subtract rays. Press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to hold the center of the flare constant.

Release the mouse when the center, halo, and rays are as desired.

Press and drag again to add rings to the flare and place the end handle.

Before releasing the mouse, Press Up Arrow or Down Arrow to add or subtract rings. Press the tilde (~) key to randomly place the rings.

Release the mouse when the end handle is in the desired location.

Each element (center, halo, rings, and rays) in the flare is filled with color at different opacity settings.

Select the Flare tool, and click where you want to place the center handle of the flare.

In the Flare Tool Options dialog box, do any of the following options, and click OK:

• Specify the overall diameter, opacity, and brightness of the flare’s center.

• Specify the Growth of the halo as a percentage of the overall size, and specify the fuzziness of the halo (0 is crisp and 100 is fuzzy).

• If you want the flare to contain rays, select Rays and specify the number of rays, the longest ray (as a percentage of the average ray), and the fuzziness of the rays (0 is crisp and 100 is fuzzy).

• If you want the flare to contain rings, select Rings and specify the distance of the path between the halo’s center point (center handle) and the center point of the furthest ring (end handle), the number of rings, the largest ring (as a percentage of the average ring), and the direction or angle of the rings.