Unit 4 | The Pen Tool & Paths

Introduction

Unit 4 introduces the Pen tool and the family of tools around it. Analyzing reference art, practicing anchor points, planning a composition on paper, and refining paths. All building toward an original low-poly stained-glass piece built entirely from vector paths.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

Analyze existing artwork for inspiration and technique
Draw and edit paths confidently with the Pen tool
Sketch an original concept before building it digitally
Refine paths using Join, Simplify, Shape Builder, and Pathfinder

Calendar of Events for This Unit

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
11/2	11/3	11/4	11/5	11/6
Grading Day	Election Day	F \| 4.1	F \| 4.1	F \| 4.2
11/6: Report Card grades due, close 4:00pm (MP1)
11/9	11/10	11/11	11/12	11/13
F \| 4.2	F \| 4.3	Veterans Day	F \| 4.3	F \| 4.4
11/10: Report Card grade verification window closes (MP1); 11/12: Report Cards delivered via Parent Portal (MP1)
11/16	11/17	11/18	11/19	11/20
F \| 4.4	S \| 4	S \| 4	S \| 4	S \| 4
11/30	12/1	12/2	12/3	12/4
S \| 4	S \| 4	F \| 5.1	F \| 5.1	F \| 5.2
11/30: Grade Correction Deadline (MP1)

Lessons

4.1 – Art Analysis & Inspiration Board. Analyzing stained glass & low poly reference art
4.2 – Pen Tool Bootcamp. Corner points, smooth points, and the Direct Selection tool
4.3 – Concept Sketches. Planning composition, color palette, and meaning on paper
4.4 – Refining Paths. Join, Simplify, Shape Builder, and Pathfinder
S4 – Low-Poly Stained-Glass. Summative project, with a structured peer review pass

Unit Vocabulary

Anchor Point: A fixed point on a vector path, placed by clicking, or click-dragging, with the Pen tool, that marks where a path changes direction or curvature.
Segment: The straight or curved line connecting two anchor points along a path.
Corner Point: An anchor point where a path changes direction abruptly, with no curve handles (or two independent handles) on either side.
Smooth Point: An anchor point where a path curves continuously through the point, with linked, symmetrical direction handles on either side.
Direction Handle (Direction Line): The lever extending from a smooth anchor point that controls a curve’s angle and depth on either side of the point. Dragging it is how you “curve an angle.”
Pen Tool: Draws precise straight and curved paths by placing anchor points one at a time. Click for a corner point, click-drag for a smooth point.
Curvature Tool: Draws smooth curves and straight lines intuitively. Click to place points and Illustrator previews the curve, letting you adjust already-placed points by dragging without switching tools.
Pencil Tool: A freehand drawing tool for sketchy, natural-feeling paths, drawn by dragging the cursor like a pencil on paper.
Paintbrush Tool: Draws a path with a chosen brush style (calligraphic, scatter, art, bristle, or pattern) applied along it.
Blob Brush Tool: Draws a filled, brush-shaped vector shape rather than a stroked path. Overlapping strokes of the same color merge automatically into one shape.
Line Segment Tool: Draws a single straight line segment by clicking and dragging, or by clicking once to open a dialog for a precise length and angle.
Selection Tool: The solid black arrow (shortcut V). Selects and moves an entire object, group, or several objects at once by their bounding box.
Direct Selection Tool: The hollow white arrow (shortcut A). Selects and edits individual anchor points, segments, or direction handles within a path, without moving the whole object.
Lasso Tool: Selects anchor points or whole paths by freehand-dragging an irregular loop around them.
Group Selection Tool: Nested with the Direct Selection tool. One click selects a single object inside a group, a second click on the same object selects its whole group, and each additional click selects the next group up.
Isolation Mode: Entered by double-clicking a group or object. Temporarily dims and locks everything else on the artboard so you can edit inside the group without accidentally affecting the rest of the artwork.
Simplify: A command that reduces the number of anchor points on a selected path while preserving its overall shape. Useful for cleaning up a traced or freehand-drawn path that has far more points than it needs.
Smooth Tool: Reduces jaggedness in a path by redrawing it with fewer, smoother curves as you drag it directly over the existing path.
Join: Connects two open path endpoints into a single point (as a corner or a smooth point), or closes an open path into one continuous loop.
Clean Up: A menu command that removes stray points, unpainted objects, and empty text paths left behind in a document. Good housekeeping before finishing a file.
Outline Stroke: Converts a path’s stroke into its own closed, fillable vector shape, so a line’s thickness becomes a real shape rather than a stroke setting.
Offset Path: Creates a new path a specified distance inside or outside an existing path. The basis of common “sticker outline” or nested-line effects.
Eraser Tool: Removes parts of a path or shape by dragging across it, automatically re-closing whatever path remains.
Scissors Tool: Cuts a path at a clicked point, splitting it into two separate endpoints.
Knife Tool: Freehand-cuts through one or more objects along the path you drag, dividing filled shapes into separate pieces.
Shape Builder Tool: Merges, subtracts, or extracts overlapping shapes. Click a region to keep it, drag across several regions to merge them, or click-and-hold Option/Alt to subtract.
Live Paint: A mode that treats a group of intersecting paths as if painted with real ink. Click any enclosed region to fill it with color, or click any segment to give it its own stroke, all without needing separate closed shapes.
Compound Path: Two or more paths combined into a single, unified path. Commonly used to punch a see-through hole in a shape (like the counter of a letter “O”).
Pathfinder: A panel of one-click boolean operations, Unite, Minus Front, Intersect, Exclude, and more, that combine multiple overlapping shapes into new, single shapes.