lllustrator Workshop 2

Pen tool - Keyboard shortcut P

If you want to finalise a shape by not going back to the start point, press Enter. 

To make curves - click and hold down

Click on the anchor point after making a curve to go back to using straight lines. 

Add points to a line - hover over the line with the pen tool, a plus will appear and click to add an anchor point. 

Hold alt to adjust the handles and therefore alter the next curve that will be drawn. 

I think it might take a while to get used to all the different keyboard functions because it is quite confusing at the moment.

Layers - right hand menu

Create and remove layers the same way as Photoshop. 

Rename layers by double clicking.

Objects colour coordinate depending on what layer you are on. 

Click on the triangle to see the individual contents of each layer, you can rename these as well. 

Lower opacity so we can see our new lines on top.

Click box to the left of the layer name to lock the layer.

Trace the outline using the pen tool. 

Select lines and select Join to make a shape (Cmd+J).

Fill with colour. 

Use Object -> Arrange to move shapes forward and backwards.

Tracing a drawing relevant to my project

Tracing my drawing using the pen tool and shapes

Stage at the end of the session

Image Trace

Window -> Image Trace

Works well with line drawings, doesn't work well with every image though.

Adjust the colour mode, threshold and other advanced features depending on what you want it to do. Turns an image into vectors and paths which can be edited on Illustrator and enlarged or reduced to any size without loss of quality.