Now that you know what a path is, you should understand the three major types of paths:

As stated earlier, paths consist of a series of points and the line segments between these points. These points are commonly called anchor points because they anchor the path; paths always pass through or end at anchor points. Anchor points are automatically created as part of a path; no path can exist without anchor points to define it.

Anchor points consist of control handles and control handle lines. Control handles, which appear as small squares along the path, determine how sharply or gradually the curve bends at each anchor point. Control handle lines run on a tangent along the path and are attached to the path by the control handle. They determine the direction of the curved path. The next section discusses control handles and control handle lines in more detail. Anchor points, control handles, and control handle lines don't appear on the printed output of your artwork. In fact, they appear only in Illustrator and Photoshop, never on artwork imported into other applications.

There are two classes of anchor points:

Figure 4.2 shows the different types of anchor points in Illustrator.

If an anchor point has a control handle coming out of it, the next segment is curved. No control handle, no curve. Couldn't be simpler.

As stated before, control handles are connected to anchor points with control handle lines. Figure 4.3 shows what happens when an anchor point with no control handle and an anchor point with a control handle are connected to another anchor point. Figure 4.4 shows the anchor points, control handles, and the control handle lines on a path.

Figure 4.2. Illustrator has several types of anchor points.

Figure 4.3. An anchor point without a control handle and an anchor point with a control handle are connected to new anchor points, resulting in a straight line segment and a curved line segment.

Figure 4.4. Anchor points, control handles, and control handle lines along a path

The basic concept to remember about control handles is that they act as magnets by pulling the curve toward them. This presents an interesting problem because each curved line segment usually has two control handles. Just as you might suspect, the control handle exerts the greatest amount of force on the half of the curved segment nearest to it. If there's only one control handle, the segment curves more on the side of the segment with the control handle than on the side with no control handle.

The greater the distance between a control handle and its corresponding anchor point, the farther the curve (on that end of the curve segment) pulls away from an imaginary straight segment between the two points. If the control handles on either end of the segment are on different sides of the curved segment, the curved segment takes on a reversed S shape, as shown in Figure 4.5. If the control handles on the ends of the curved segment are on the same side, the curve takes on a U shape.

Regardless of whether the anchor point is a smooth point, a curved corner point, or a combination corner point, control handle lines coming out of an anchor point are always tangent to the curved segment where it touches the anchor point. Tangent refers to the touching of the control handle line to the curved segment as it crosses the anchor point, as shown in Figure 4.6.

Figure 4.5. Control handles pull the line segment away from the straight line that would normally exist between them. The bottom path is a reversed S shape because the control handles are pulling in opposite directions.

Figure 4.6. Control handle lines run tangent to the path where the path meets the anchor point.

If paths are the basic concept behind Illustrator, you may be wondering where the colors and patterns fit in. You apply all colors and patterns to Illustrator paths using fills and strokes. Basically, a fill is a color or pattern that appears within a path, and a stroke is a special style that you apply along a path.

You should remember from Chapter 2 that when you work in Illustrator in Outline mode (View

Figure 4.7. Closed paths with different fills: The top row shows how they appear in Outline mode, while the bottom row shows what they look like in Preview mode.

You can also fill open paths. The fill goes straight across the two endpoints of the path to enclose the object. Figure 4.8 displays different types of filled open paths. Filling an open path is usually not desirable, although in some circumstances, doing so may be necessary. Because the fill goes from the endpoints of the path, if you have an irregular-shaped path, the fill can look strange. If you're looking to create a cool pair of sunglasses, use a filled path for an unusual look.

Figure 4.8. Open paths with different fills: The top row shows how they appear in Outline mode, while the bottom row shows how they appear in Preview mode.

Besides filling paths, you can also stroke paths with a tint of any color or a pattern. These strokes can be any weight (thickness), and the width of the stroke is equally distributed over each side of the path. Open paths have ends on the strokes; these ends can be cropped, rounded, or extended past the end of the stroke by half the width of the stroke. Several different paths with strokes are shown in Figure 4.9.

A single point is also considered a path; however, single points in Illustrator have no printable qualities. This isn't readily noticeable because you can assign a fill or stroke color to a single point, although you can't see it in Preview mode or when you print it. When the document is color-separated, it causes a separation of the color to print, even if nothing else on that page uses that same color, and the separation appears blank.

Tip

If you think that you may have individual anchor points floating around your illustration, you should select all of them at once by choosing Select

Figure 4.9. Various paths with different strokes applied to them

Fills and strokes in Illustrator can be colors (including an opaque white), which knocks out any color underneath. Fills and strokes can also be transparent. Transparency in Illustrator is commonly referred to as a fill, a stroke, or None.

When you want to draw rough edges or realistic illustrations that don't look computery — for example, a map drawing with beautiful bumpy edges — the Pencil tool is the one to use. The Pencil tool is housed in the Tools panel with the tools that edit it — the Smooth and Path Eraser tools — and draws a free-form stroked path wherever you click and drag the cursor. However, instead of creating a closed path that's a certain width, the result is a single path that approximately follows the route you take with the cursor. The Pencil tool has the unique capability to make the lines you draw look ... well ... good.

Actually, part of the Pencil tool's charm is also its biggest drawback. Unlike the Pen tool — which creates precise, super-smooth lines but is difficult to control — the Pencil tool is much easier to use, but it draws lines that are far from perfect. This is because the Pencil tool creates only smooth points and corner anchor points. When you select the Pencil tool's anchor point, two control handles appear. If you remember the earlier discussion on anchor points, you know this means that you can neither draw a smooth anchor point — although at first glance, you may think you can — nor a straight corner point with the Pencil tool. This makes the construction of precise objects nearly impossible.

Before you use the Pencil tool for the first time, you should change the paint style attributes to a fill of None and a stroke of 1-point Black. Having a fill other than None while drawing with the Pencil tool often results in bizarre-looking shapes. To choose these settings, begin in the color section near the bottom of the Illustrator Tools panel. Click the Fill square and then click the None (red slash) box to ensure the fill is None. Select the stroke (outlined rectangle) and then choose Black to ensure the stroke has a black stroke. Choose Window

Figure 4.10. In this illustration, the various objects were created using several tools.

To use the Pencil tool, follow these steps:

Drawing open paths and closed paths

You can draw both open and closed paths with the Pencil and Pen tools. Paths in Illustrator may cross themselves. When these paths cross, the fills may look a little unusual. Strokes look normal; they just overlap where paths cross.

To create an open path, draw a path with the Pencil or Pen tool, but ensure that the beginning and end of the path are two separate points at different locations. Open paths with fills may look a little bizarre because Illustrator automatically fills in between the endpoints on the path, even if the imaginary line between the endpoints crosses the path. Figure 4.12 shows both open and closed paths drawn with the Pencil tool.

To create a closed path, end your path at the same place that you started the path. While drawing, press Alt (Option). When the Pencil cursor is directly over the location where the line begins, a little circle appears to the lower right of the Pencil. This change means that the path is a closed path if you release the mouse button when that particular cursor is showing.

Figure 4.12. The paths in this drawing were created with the Pencil tool.

Connecting Pencil paths

You can quickly connect the Pencil paths you draw in Illustrator. While drawing with the Pencil tool, press Alt (Option), and when you release the mouse button, a line automatically connects the beginning anchor point to the ending anchor point, resulting in a closed path. You can try to draw back to the beginning line, but they probably won't connect. You can also draw the paths close to one another: Select the two endpoints and then press Ctrl+J (

This extremely cool editing tool makes changing any path a breeze. The Smooth tool works on any path regardless of what tool created it. You can apply the Smooth tool in one of two ways:

Figure 4.13 shows a path before and after using the Smooth tool. The top path has more anchor points than the smoothed bottom path.

Double-clicking the Smooth tool opens a dialog box where, just as with the Pencil tool, you can set Fidelity and Smoothness values.

Figure 4.13. The top illustration is pretty bumpy. The same illustration below has the Smooth tool applied to it. Notice the smoothness, especially in the eye area.

You find the Path Eraser tool with the Pencil tool in the Tools panel. Like the Smooth tool, the Path Eraser tool works on any path, no matter how you created it. The Path Eraser tool does what its name suggests: It erases a path at the point where you've dragged the Path Eraser tool over the path. You can use the Path Eraser tool to cut a path by first selecting the path and then dragging across a section with the Path Eraser tool. Illustrator removes the section you drag over. You can use the Path Eraser tool to cut a line, just as you would use the Scissors tool. If you just click one time on the path, Illustrator cuts the path exactly in that spot. Unlike Photoshop's clunky eraser-looking tool, this is much more refined and easier to use.

The Pen tool is the most powerful tool in Illustrator's arsenal because you're dealing more directly with Bézier curves than with any other tool. Drawing objects with any other tool is one thing, but using the Pen tool to create paths out of nothing is dumbfounding.

During the first several months of using Illustrator, you may find yourself avoiding the Pen tool like the plague. Then, you slowly work up to where you can draw straight lines comfortably and, finally, curved segments. Even after you draw curved segments for a while, you still may not understand how the tool works, and you may miss out on many of its capabilities because of that lack of knowledge. While practicing with the Pen tool, you begin to understand the four types of anchor points — smooth points, straight corner points, curved corner points, and combination corner points — and you discover that understanding how anchor points work is the key to using the Pen tool. The first click of the Pen tool produces one anchor point. The second click (usually in a different location) creates a second anchor point that's joined to the first anchor point by a line segment. Clicking without dragging produces a straight corner point.

Although the Pen tool is a little frustrating and confusing to use at first, it's the most important tool to learn. It saves you so much time and effort because you can draw the most accurately and smoothly with fewer edits. After you master this tool, you will use it for most of your drawing and tracing needs.

Unfortunately, the Pen tool doesn't do all the work; you do have to perform some of the labor involved in creating curves and straight lines. Drawing with the Pen tool isn't just placing anchor points.

Here are some issues to consider when you're drawing with the Pen tool:

Drawing straight lines with the Pen tool

The easiest way to start learning to use the Pen tool is by drawing straight lines. The lightning bolt in Figure 4.14 uses only straight lines. The great thing about straight lines drawn with the Pen tool is that you don't have to worry about or fuss over control handles.

The simplest straight line is a line drawn with only two anchor points. To draw straight lines, follow these steps:

1. Click the Pen tool. This tool is located on the third row of the first column in the Tools panel and looks like an old-fashioned ink pen tip.

2. Click and release where you want the first endpoint to appear. This becomes the beginning of your line.

3. Click and release where you want the second endpoint (the end of the line) to appear. A line appears between the two points. Too easy, isn't it?

   Tip

   Hold Shift to keep the line constrained to a 45° angle (0, 45, 90, etc.).

4. To draw another separate line, first click the Pen tool in the Tools panel or hold Ctrl (

   

5. Clicking and releasing again in one spot and then another draws a second line with two endpoints. Be careful not to drag when clicking the Pen tool to form straight lines. If you drag the mouse, you create a smooth point and the path curves.

Figure 4.14. Straight lines drawn with the Pen tool are all you need to create something like this lightning bolt.

Paths drawn with the Pen tool, like the Pencil tool, may cross themselves. The only strange result you may see involves the fills for objects whose paths cross. In open paths created with the Pen tool, fills may look unusual because of the imaginary line between the two endpoints and any paths that the imaginary line crosses.

Drawing curves with the Pen tool

Initially, you may find the whole process of drawing curves with the Pen tool rather disorienting. You actually have to think differently to grasp what the Pen tool is doing. To draw a curve, you need to drag with the Pen tool rather than click and release when you draw straight lines. This section gives two sets of instructions for creating two basic curve shapes: the bump and the S shape.

The most basic curve is the bump (a curved segment between just two points). Follow these steps to create the bump that's shown in Figure 4.15:

1. Click with the Pen tool and then drag up about ½ inch. You see an anchor point and a control handle line extending from it as you drag.

2. Release the mouse button. When you do so, you see the anchor point and a line extending to where you dragged, with a control handle at its end.

3. Position the cursor about 1 inch to the right of the place you first clicked.

4. Click with the mouse and then drag down about 1/2 inch. As you drag, you see a curve forming that resembles a bump.

5. Release the mouse. The curve fills with the current fill color. You also see the control handle you just dragged.

Before you try to draw another curve, remember that the Pen tool is still in a mode that continues the current path; it doesn't start a new one. To start a new path, choose Select

Figure 4.15. You can create a basic bump curve like this in five simple steps.

To create an S shape, one more set of steps is needed. With these steps, you can create the S shape, as shown in Figure 4.16:

1. Click and drag with the Pen tool about ½ inch to the left. An anchor point and a control handle line appear as you drag.

2. Release the mouse button. You should see the anchor point and the control handle that you just drew, with a control handle line between them.

3. Position the cursor about 1 inch below where you first clicked.

4. Click and drag to the right ½ inch.

5. Release the mouse button.

6. Position the cursor about 1 inch below the last point you clicked.

7. Click and drag to the left about ½ inch. Now you have an S shape.

Note

For more on changing strokes and fills, see Chapter 6.

All the anchor points created in these two exercises are smooth points. You drag the control handles in the direction of the next curve that you want to draw. The lengths of the control handle lines on either side of the anchor point are equal. However, you don't have to make the lengths of the control handle lines on either side of the smooth point the same. Instead, you can make a smooth point have both long and short control handle lines coming out of it. The length of the control handle line affects the curve, as shown on the S curve in Figure 4.17.

Figure 4.16. It's also very easy to create a basic S curve like this one.

Figure 4.17. The length and direction of the control handle lines control the shape of the curve.

Follow these steps to create a smooth point with two control handle lines of different lengths:

1. Create a smooth point along a path. See the last set of steps to learn how to do so.

2. Select the newly created smooth point with the Direct Selection tool. For more on using the selection tools, see Chapter 6.

3. Click and drag the control handle again.

4. Adjust the angle for both control handle lines and the length for the new control handle line that you're dragging. Note that as you drag out this control handle line, the other control handle line wobbles to the angle that you're dragging. This happens because on any smooth point, the control handle lines must be at the same angle, and as you drag out the new control handle line, you're simultaneously changing the angle for both control handle lines.

In addition to the Pencil and Pen tools, Illustrator includes several unique tools that you can use to create specialized types of lines. From straight lines with the Line Segment tool to spiral lines using the Spiral tool, these line tools fall into the convenience category. Housed with the Line Segment tool, these tools include the Arc, Spiral, Rectangular Grid, and Polar Grid tools.

Using the Line Segment tool

Now that you've learned how to create straight lines the hard way with the Pen tool, here's an easy way — use the Line Segment tool. After you learn to use the Line Segment tool, you'll think that using the Pencil or Pen tool to draw straight lines is just plain ridiculous. Any amount of caffeine in your system results in a jittery line with either tool. But using this tool is a breeze. Simply click and drag the line where you want it to go, as indicated in Figure 4.18. Holding Shift while drawing a line constrains the line to 45° increments. If you press Alt (Option) while drawing a line, your starting point begins in the middle of the line.

Double-clicking the Line Segment tool or clicking one time on the Artboard displays the Line Segment Tool Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.19. In this dialog box, you can set the length and angle and whether to fill the line with the defaulted fill color. You can use the Pen tool to draw straight lines, but when you have a tool specifically made for lines, use it.

Tip

The Pen tool versus the Line Segment tool: The Pen tool can also draw straight lines and constrained lines, so why use the Line Segment tool at all? Well, one small slip of the Pen tool and you have a curved line. In addition, you can get the precise length and angle using the Line Segment tool because you actually see the line rubberbanding from the original point.

Figure 4.18. A line segment being drawn with the Line Segment tool

Figure 4.19. The Line Segment Tool Options dialog box lets you draw exactly the line you want without dragging the mouse.

Working with the Arc tool

Arcs are now easily drawn using the Arc tool. The old-fashioned way used to be to draw an oval and remove the sections you didn't need via the Direct Selection tool or the Scissors tool. Figure 4.20 shows an arc drawn with the Arc tool.

The Arc tool is housed with the Line Segment tool. You can have an arc that sweeps inward or outward, depending on your settings. Double-clicking the Arc tool accesses the Arc Segment Tool Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.21.

Figure 4.20. An arc being drawn with the Arc tool

Figure 4.21. The Arc Segment Tool Options dialog box includes several options for the properties of an arc.

These are the Arc Segment Tool Options:

• Length X-Axis: Type the value for the length of the slope along the x-axis.

• Length Y-Axis: Type the value for the length of the slope along the y-axis.

• Type: Choose whether you want the arc to have an open or closed path.

• Base Along: This is where you choose the direction of the slope, either along the x-axis or the y-axis.

• Slope: Dragging the slider to the left results in a concave slope. Dragging the slider to the right results in a convex slope.

• Fill Arc: Clicking this check box fills the inside of the arc with the default color.

Tip

When dragging out an arc, pressing F or X toggles the arc between convex and concave. Press the spacebar while you draw to move the whole arc. These keyboard shortcuts are true with all shapes that you draw in Illustrator.

Creating spirals with the Spiral tool

The Spiral tool (located with the Line Segment tool) makes spirals — all sorts of spirals. What can you use a spiral for? Well, you can use the Spiral tool to create a simulated record. Of course, the path is exceedingly long and refuses to print on most imagesetters. Other than that, you can use them to simulate nature patterns, such as snails, shells, a whirlpool, or a cinnamon roll. Figure 4.22 shows several spirals manufactured with the Spiral tool.

Tip

Spirals beg to be stroked, not filled. Putting just a fill on a spiral makes it look lumpy and not quite round.

If you click in your document with the Spiral tool, the Spiral dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.23, opens, and you can type specific values for a spiral. This is handy for those times your client or boss wants that 82.5% decay spiral. Decay measures how tight the spiral is, while Segments controls the length of the spiral.

Figure 4.22. These spirals were created with the Spiral tool.

Making grid lines using the Rectangular Grid tool

You can easily create a grid using the Grid tool, which is housed with the Line Segment tool. For example, you could use a grid to create a perspective drawing. Use the Skew tool to give an angled view. You can create a unique Rubik's cube. You can also create grid paper or use the Grid tool to create a data chart. Figure 4.24 shows a drawn grid.

Figure 4.23. The Spiral dialog box allows you to modify how your spirals will look.

Figure 4.24. This grid was created using the Grid tool.

Pressing these keys while creating rectangular grids makes life easier:

• Up or down arrow: Increases or decreases the number of horizontal lines

• Left or right arrow: Increases or decreases the number of vertical lines

• Shift: Creates a perfect square grid

• Alt (Option): Creates a grid from a central point

Double-clicking the Grid tool accesses the Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.25. Under the Grid Options, you can choose to skew the grid. That is, you can make the lines closer to the top or bottom and left or right. You can change the following options:

• Default Size: Type the width and height in points.

• Horizontal Dividers: Type how many dividers and how much they will skew.

• Vertical Dividers: Type the number of dividers and how much they will skew.

• Use Outside Rectangle As Frame: This option causes a rectangle to frame the grid.

• Fill Grid: Clicking this check box fills the grid with the default fill color.

Figure 4.25. The Rectangular Grid Tool Options dialog box lets you specify dividers.

Understanding the Polar Grid tool

The Polar Grid tool is found with the Line Segment tool. A polar grid is also referred to as a radar grid. You would recognize it as similar to a dartboard or a bull's-eye, as shown in Figure 4.26.

The Polar Grid Tool Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.27, lets you set the same options as those found in the Rectangular Grid dialog box, except that the dividers are concentric and radial instead of horizontal and vertical:

• Default Size: Type the width and height in points.

• Concentric Dividers: Type how many dividers and how much they will skew (distributed) away from the center.

• Radial Dividers: Type the number of dividers and how much they will skew from top to bottom.

• Create Compound Path From Ellipses: Choosing this option causes ellipses to create a compound path, which is treated as a single path by Illustrator and results in a bull's-eye effect for the grid.

• Fill Grid: Clicking this check box fills the polar grid with the default fill color.

Pressing these keys while creating polar grids makes life easier:

• Up or down arrow: Increases or decreases the number of concentric circles

• Left or right arrow: Increases or decreases the number of radial lines

• Shift: Creates a perfectly round polar grid

• Alt (Option): Creates a polar grid from a central point

Figure 4.26. A polar grid looks like a dartboard or a bull's-eye.

Figure 4.27. Use the Polar Grid Tool Options dialog box to adjust the settings for your polar grid object.

The Paintbrush tool draws a stroked path — that is, a path that's also a brushstroke. This makes life so much easier when it comes to editing. The Paintbrush tool is similar to paintbrush-type tools in painting programs. The Paintbrush has a certain width, and you can paint with this Paintbrush at this width anywhere in your document. The big difference between the paintbrushes in paint programs and Illustrator's Paintbrush tool is that when you finish drawing with Illustrator's Paintbrush tool, you create a stroked path.

To use the Paintbrush tool, click the tool, choose the brush from the Brush panel, and then start drawing. A free-form path appears wherever you drag. That's all there is to it — mostly. Figure 4.28 shows a drawing that was created with the Paintbrush tool set to a variable width with a pressure-sensitive stylus.

Drawing with the Paintbrush tool is a bit more complicated than I just explained. The most important consideration is the width of the paintbrush stroke. The paintbrush stroke can be as narrow as 0 points and as wide as 1296 points (that's 18 inches to you and me).

Although 0 is the smallest width, a paintbrush stroke drawn with a width of 0 points actually has a width bigger than 0 points. To change the paintbrush stroke width (the default is 9 points), open the Stroke panel (not the Tools panel) and then type a number in the Weight text field. Remember that you're actually changing the default brush.

Figure 4.28. This drawing of a horse was created with the Paintbrush tool by using a pressure-sensitive tablet and a stylus.

A mouse is not an intuitive drawing tool, and not being able to draw in the first place makes it even more difficult to draw with the Paintbrush tool. So, if artists have trouble with the mouse, what's the point of having the Paintbrush tool at all? Well, instead of a mouse, you can use several types of alternative drawing devices. The best of these is a pressure-sensitive tablet (for more information about pressure-sensitive drawing tablets, visit the Wacom Web site at www.wacom.com). Trackballs with locking buttons are also good for drawing with the Paintbrush tool; this allows more control over the direction and speed of the Paintbrush.

To help you draw more precisely, you have the option of changing the cursor shape from the cute little brush into crosshairs. Press Caps Lock (to engage it), and the cursor changes into crosshairs with a dot in the center. Press Caps Lock again (to release it), and the cursor returns to the brush shape. The dot at the center of the crosshairs is the center of any paintbrush stroke drawn with the Paintbrush tool. Normally, when the cursor is in the shape of a paintbrush, the tip is the center of the paintbrush stroke. Some people find it easier to draw when the Paintbrush cursor is replaced with the precise crosshairs.

If you want to create a totally new brush, choose New Brush from the Brushes panel's popup menu to display the New Brush dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.29. You can then choose the type of new brush you want to create. You can choose from Calligraphic, Scatter, Art, and Pattern brushes. The Brushes panel includes samples of each of these brush types. Calligraphic brushes make strokes similar to a calligraphic pen. Scatter brushes scatter an object along the brushed path. The Art brush takes an object and stretches it along the brush path length. The Pattern brush uses repeated tiles along the brush path.

Figure 4.29. The New Brush dialog box lets you create one of four different brush types.

A Calligraphic brush was made to simulate an actual calligraphic pen tip. You set the angle and size and then draw to your heart's content. You can also create a perfectly round brush in the Calligraphic Brush Options dialog box by not typing an angle and by keeping the roundness at 100%.

The Calligraphic Brush Options, as shown in Figure 4.30, are as follows:

Figure 4.30. The Calligraphic Brush Options dialog box allows you to customize a brush.

The Scatter brush copies and scatters a predefined object along a path. Illustrator has a number of brush libraries containing artwork that you can use for a Scatter brush or you can choose a piece of artwork that you created to use as a Scatter brush. Choose Window

These are your choices in the Scatter Brush Options dialog box, as seen in Figure 4.32:

Figure 4.31. The Scatter brush allows you to draw some very interesting paths.

Figure 4.32. The Scatter Brush Options dialog box

The Art brush, like the Scatter brush, uses an object along a path. The difference is that the Art brush stretches the object to the length of the path rather than repeating and scattering the object. Illustrator centers the object evenly over the path and then stretches it. Figure 4.33 shows several Art brush examples.

These are your choices in the Art Brush Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.34:

Figure 4.33. The Art brush creates artistic-looking paths.

Figure 4.34. The Art Brush Options dialog box allows you to create your own Art brush.

The Pattern brush repeats a tiled object along a path. The Pattern brush can have tiles to display the sides, inner corner, outer corner, beginning, and end. If you think of a Pattern brush as you would a regular pattern tile but keep in mind the corners, you'll have no problem creating your own interesting Pattern brushes. Figure 4.35 shows an example of one of the Pattern brushes.

These are your choices in the Pattern Brush Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.36:

The list in the Pattern Brush Options dialog box allows you to choose from four existing patterns instead of the selected artwork: None, Original, Polka Dot Pattern, and Waves Pattern. Any pattern in your document is listed here.

Figure 4.35. The Pattern brush draws a stroke by using a repeating pattern.

Figure 4.36. The Pattern Brush Options dialog box allows you to create some very interesting brushes.

You can customize a brush in several ways. If you like a brush but not all aspects of it, you can duplicate that brush (by choosing Duplicate Brush from the Brushes panel menu) and edit its options to make it as you like. To edit a brush, double-click the brush, choose Brush Options from the popup menu, or click the Brush Options button at the bottom of the Brushes panel. You can also create a brush by choosing New Brush from the popup menu or clicking the New Brush button at the bottom of the Brushes panel. This displays a dialog box asking you to choose the type of brush you want to create.

To create your own brush design, first create the object that you want to use. Next, select all the parts of the object that you want as a brush and then choose New Brush from the Brushes panel's popup menu. Then, choose the type of brush you want to create. The Brush Options dialog box opens, and you see your new design there. Now all you have to do is set the rest of the options, and you're ready to use your new brush.

The Tips button in the Art, Scatter, and Pattern Brush dialog boxes displays a dialog box explaining the different colorization options. Figure 4.37 shows the Colorization Tips dialog box, which has four areas of colorization: None, Tints, Tints and Shades, and Hue Shift.

To see how the Colorization options work, first create four copies of a brush. For the first copy, use the default of None. For the next three copies, change the stroke color (you won't see anything happen yet). Double-click the second copy and then choose Tint. Apply the stroke when asked to do so in the dialog box. The color should change at this point. Double-click the third copy and then choose Tints and Shades. Double-click the last copy and then choose Hue Shift. All the copies should look different.

Figure 4.37. The Colorization Tips dialog box provides visual examples of the various colorization options.

The Brush Library that displays when you choose the Brush panel is the default library. You have additional libraries from which to choose. Adobe has really come up with some cool brushes for your creative pleasures. The other libraries are found under the Window menu, as shown in Figure 4.38.

To use a brush from another Brush library, choose the brush you want from the scrolling list. Figure 4.39 shows just one of the many libraries that are included with Illustrator.

Figure 4.38. The Brush Library submenu under the Window menu contains many different libraries.

Figure 4.39. The Brush libraries include a variety of interesting brushes you can use.