Adobe Illustrator CC Classroom in a Book (2019 Release), First Edition

A. Line Segment

B. Anchor Point

C. Direction Line

D. Direction Point

E. Direction Handle

(Direction Line and Direction Point)

—From Illustrator Help

Drawing a curve with the Pen tool

In this part of the lesson, you’ll use what you just learned about drawing curves to trace a curved

shape with the Pen tool.

1. 
   

   Press the spacebar to temporarily select the Hand tool ( ), and drag down until you see the
   curve at the top of the current artboard (on Artboard 3).

   
   


2. 
   

   With the Pen tool ( ) selected, press and drag from the point labeled 1, up to the red dot, and
   then release the mouse button.

   
   

This creates a direction line going in the same general direction as the path (up). Up to this

point, you’ve started your paths by simply clicking to create an anchor point, not dragging, like

you did in this step. To create a more “curved” path, dragging out direction lines on the very

first anchor point can be helpful.