Make Really Interesting Organic Shapes in Illustrator
One of my absolute favorite new tools in Illustrator is the new width tool. If you want to make a free-flowing shape, The width tool can really make the creation of organic and rounded shapes much easier. Before, if you wanted to shape the size of a stroke, you went to the stroke panel or the appearance panel and dialed the value in, and it affected the entire stroke at once. Now, depending on the number of points that you have in your shape, you can create a wide stroke on one side, while the other side stays thin.
All you have to do is draw out a path with your pen tool, or the shape tool inside of Illustrator. Then, select the width tool (which is right where the warp tool is normally) and click and drag the path that you want t change. Drag it in the direction that you want to give it the thickness that you want.
The other cool thing about this, is that you can also expand the appearance once you are done and add a stroke to your new shape. Then, you can adjust the width of that one, too! The possibilities are endless, and the addition of this tool really gives you the power to create fluid and smooth shapes much better than before. It just seems more natural, and you have a great level of control.
Just think about how easy it will be to make custom ornamentals and flourishes, smooth swirls and fun shapes. The additions to Illustrator CS5 this time around definitely makes it worth picking up.
You might also like:
- None Found
