Adobe Illustrator CS5 One-on-One

Drawing Fluid Bézier Curves

So far we’ve seen how to draw corner points with the pen tool, and

even soften those corner points using spline curves via Illustra-

tor’s round corners effect. But the true power of the pen tool, and

of curves, can be realized only by using Bézier curves and the two

new types of points it introduces: the smooth point and the cusp

point. (For a full explanation of the different types of points, see

the sidebar “The Three Kinds of Anchor Points” on page 98.)

Bézier curves are calculated differently than spline curves. Rather

than connecting to the center of each segment and curving to avoid

the corner points as spline curves do, Bézier curves run through

each point, and the control handles determine how the path bends,

as illustrated in Figure 3-24. (The path is shown in light blue, the

points in dark blue, and the control handles in green.) With a Bézier

curve, the path always bends toward the control handle, almost

gravitationally. Also unlike spline curves, Bézier curves affect the

path itself, rather than simply how the path is rendered.

In this exercise, we’ll trace the head of the fearsome underwater

panther, the fabled mishipizheu, taking full advantage of the Bézier

curves that the pen tool makes available.

Figure 3-24 .

Figure 3-25 .

path

control handle

point

1.

Open the artwork. If you have your fi le from

the preceding exercise, open it now.