ART 220 03: The Pen Tool

Tuesday, September 1, 2026 · Workshop

First, editorial illustration: three kinds of it, how illustrators find the idea in an article and draw that, and where to find the best of it. Then the pen tool, demonstrated: anchor points, handles, and building a curve with as few points as possible. Exercise 1 in class.

Read before this class

- Action, The Bézier Game. optional practice, keep it open while you work.

Due

- Pen tool trace.

Materials

- [The slides](/lecture/art220-editorial.html). Editorial Illustration: the three types, the process, where to look, and the pen tool with Exercise 1. Arrow keys, or type a slide number and press Enter. - [The slides as a PDF](/lecture/art220-editorial.pdf). The same deck to keep, with every image from the award carousels. - [Exercise 1, the trace sheet](/handouts/e1-trace-sheet.svg). Three shapes with their anchor targets printed. File > Place it onto a locked template layer in a Letter portrait file, then trace each shape on its own named layer: wave, leaf, letter.

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Class 03 of 28, ART 220, Digital Illustration, Charleston Southern University, Fall 2026.