Drawing & Distorting Shapes in
Adobe Illustrator
1. Drawing Shapes Using Adobe Illustrator Basic Shapes-Menu from the Tool-Bar
Note:
The Basic Shapes Menu has the following shapes
1. Rectangle Tool – [short-cut _ M]
2. Rectangle Rounded Tool
3. Ellipse Tool – [short-cut _ L]
4. Polygon Tool
5. Star Tool – [short-cut _ M]
How to draw using Basic Shapes
Steps:
1. Identify the Basic Shapes Menu from the “Tool-Menu”, on the left side of the
program
2. Click on the shape of your choice using the “left mouse button”
3. Draw you desired shape anywhere in the file window by slightly dragging your
mouse at a diagonal angle downwards towards your right side (remember to keep
holding/pressing down the left-mouse-button while doing this)
4. Release the left-mouse-button (holding/pressing down), after drawing your desired
shape
5. Use steps 2 to 4 for each of the shape choices you pick from the Basic Shapes Menu
e.g. Rectangles, Rounded Rectangles, Ellipse, Polygon and Star shapes
Remember:
You can draw “perfect squares”, by choosing the “rectangle tool” and pressing or holding down
the “shift key” in the same manner as demonstrated in the above steps.
You can also draw “perfect circles”, by choosing the “Ellipse tool” and pressing or holding
down the “shift key” in the same manner as demonstrated in the above steps.
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Modifying or Reshaping basic shapes using the “DISTORT & TRANSFORM”,
“CONVERT TO SHAPE” and “WARP” effects
Note:
After learning how to draw basic Shapes found in the Shapes-Menu from the Tool-Bar, you also
modify or reshape basic shapes or objects
To modify or reshape an object, you need to apply the “Distort & Transform” effects, located
in the effects menu. Distort & Transform lets you quickly reshape objects using the following
effects;
Free Distort
Let’s you change the shape of an object by dragging any of four corner points.
Pucker & Bloat
Pulls an object’s anchor points outward while curving the segments inward (Pucker) or
inward while curving the segments outward (Bloat). Both options pull the anchor points
relative to the object’s center point.
Roughen
Transforms the object’s path segments into a jagged array of peaks and valleys of various
sizes.
Transform
Reshapes an object by resizing, moving, rotating, reflecting, and copying it.
Tweak
Randomly curves and distorts path segments inward and outward.
Twist
Rotates an object more sharply in the center than at the edges. Entering a positive value
twists clockwise; entering a negative value twists counterclockwise.
Zig Zag
Transforms an object’s path segments into a jagged or wavy array of uniformly sized
peaks and valleys.
You also need the following to modify or reshape an object:
Convert To Shape
Lets you converts shapes or objects to a rectangle, rounded rectangle, or ellipse.
Warp
Distorts or deforms objects, including paths, text, meshes, blends, and bitmap images.
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The following selected Distort and Transform effects will be focused on during the
practical lessons on modifying & reshaping objects (You can also try out the other
options in the separate notes that shall be provided later)
1. PUCKER & BLOAT
We will begin with the PUCKER & BLOAT effect to modify or reshape an object
How to use the pucker & bloat effect to modify or reshape an object
PUCKER & BLOAT lets you Pull an object’s anchor points outward while curving the
segments inward (Pucker) or inward while curving the segments outward (Bloat). Both
options pull the anchor points relative to the object’s center point.
Steps:
1. First select the shape or object you want to reshape or modify by clicking it using the
“left mouse button” (Using the selection tool found in the top-left-corner of the tool
bar), Note: The tool bar is located on the left side of the program window. This is
where other tools are also found.
2. Go to the effects menu
3. Select “Distort & Transform” option
4. Then select the “Pucker & Bloat” option
5. In the pop-up menu, click the “preview” button to turn on the visibility of the object
you are going to work on.
6. Drag the slider to your left to curve the object segments inward (Pucker)
7. Next, also drag the slider to your right to curve the object segments outward (Bloat)
8. Click the “ok” button after achieving the required results.
Remember:
You can acquire as many shapes as you wish, by applying different results on different shapes or
objects using the pucker and bloat effects tool which gives you a wide variety of modified shapes
than the other effects found in the distort and transform option. Creative manipulation of other
effects can also yield very good results as well, which will require you to do a lot of
PRACTICING.
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2. ROUGHEN
1. This option transforms an object’s path segments into a jagged array of peaks and
valleys of various sizes. The effects can be achieved by setting the maximum length
for segment paths using an absolute or relative size. You can set the density of jagged
edges per inch (Detail) and choose between soft edges (Smooth) or sharp edges
(Corner).
How to use the Free Distort effect to modify or reshape an object
Steps:
2. First select the shape or object you want to reshape or modify
3. Go to the effects menu
4. Select “Distort & Transform” option
5. Then select the “Roughen” option
6. In the pop-up menu, click the “preview” button to turn on the visibility of the object
you are going to work on. (Note: This feature has two options – (a), the size & detail
option & (b), the Points option).
7. Adjust the size & detail options by first, clicking on the buttons adjacent to either
“relative” or “Absolute” options, then drag the sliders to achieve your desired
effect(s). (Note: You can also choose the smoothness or sharpness by clicking on
either the “smooth” or “corner” point options)
8. Click the “ok” button after achieving the desired results.
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3. FREE DISTORT
This effects tool lets you change the shape of an object by dragging any of four corner
points.
How to use the Free Distort effect to modify or reshape an object
Steps:
1. First select the shape or object you want to reshape or modify
2. Go to the effects menu
3. Select “Distort & Transform” option
4. Then select the “Free Distort” option
5. In the pop-up menu, click on any of the four corner points and drag to achieve your
desired result. (Note: This feature does not have a preview button option. Just focus
on the corner points you are adjusting)
6. Click the “ok” button after achieving the desired results.
Points to note:
After achieving desired results from using the Distort and transform tools, you can now convert
the shapes into vectors (will discuss vectors in another lesson). The converted shapes or vectors,
will be editable using the pen tool and direct selection tools if need arises and to make it easy for
you to make patterns and apply them as well on model outfits or any fashion design outfit.
To do this, use the following steps:
Steps:
1. First select the shape or object you want to reshape or modify
2. This time, Go to the “object” menu
3. Click on “Expand Appearance” (Note: your object / shape/vector, will now be
editable. You are free to make further adjustments at this point e.g. adding or deleting
anchor points, converting anchor points to curve or straight lines etc.)
