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Drawing with only the Pen Tool is like a Puzzle.
- The goal is to draw a desired shape, possibly matching one of the reference shapes or one visualized.
- The constraints are not only the shape, but also the handles that move the Bezier curves and line segments around.
- Additionally ,we want to minimize the number of vertices that we use.
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Like Pixel Art, we can think in layers. Layers comprise shapes that are found in the figure, so we should decompose the image into its constituent components. Think in terms of silhouettes.
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We can separate the outline from the fill.
- Doing so allows us to structure the layers as bg > content > fg
- We can also add finer details on top of the coarser layers. This is preferable compared to making the coarser layers more complicated than they need to.
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Handling symmetric figures is both easy and difficult —
- On one hand we can simply draw one part of the symmetry and apply repeated reflections.
- On the other hand, placing the copies relative to each other to maintain symmetry requires the use of guides and careful fine tuning.
- Alternatively, use coordinates to do the positioning.
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Prefer to draw a coarse outline in one pass rather than starting with a blob and “sculpting it”.
- It is much easier to visualize the figure when you can see the outline itself.
- When doing this, remember the three kinds of transition points that exist on a Bezier curve.
- Corner points - are meant to join two segments together, but other than that the segments themselves are independent of each other.
- Smooth points - the tangent lines from this point have a common angle and form a straight line.
- Symmetric Points - the tangent lines from this point have a common angle, form a straight line, and have equal length.