The problem with grasping Adobe’s pen tool is that you can’t really learn it by reading a description or watching a demonstration. To master the pen tool, you must actively draw with it. Eventually, after enough repetition, something clicks and the pen tool starts to make sense.
So, how does one teach a skill that relies so heavily on learned muscle memory?
The ingenious answer from Veerle Pieters, who publishes the wonderful Veerle’s Blog, is to create a series of Bézier dot-to-dot exercises that let even inexperienced designers and illustrators put the pen tool through it’s paces.
Download a copy of Veerle’s Illustrator exercise file here:
You can also place this file into InDesign and practice your pen tools skills there as well.
Source: This tip inspired by last month’s Mastering Adobe’s Pen Tool mini-workshop led by Jason Hoppe.
