Sketch Fashion Flats in Illustrator (Without the Pen Tool)

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Whether you love it or hate it, the Pen Tool is necessary for everything we do in Illustrator. But the lesser know Pencil Tool - which draws much more organically like an actual pencil - offers some really great tricks and shortcuts.
In this video, I'll sketch an entire flat without ever touching the Pen Tool.
You will learn:
00:39 How the Pencil Tool works different than the Pen Tool, and how to understand when it will do what
04:07 Why you should change your zoom level when drawing fashion flats with the Pencil Tool
06:28 Change the stacking order of your garment
06:55 How to use the Reflect Tool to copy symmetrical parts (like a sleeve)
07:40 Use the Pencil Tool to reshape any vector path
08:19 How to add shadows / highlights to your fashion flat sketches
09:24 Add a thick border around the edge of your illustration
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[@SewHeidi]

😫Illustrator is HARD. I’ll show you how to make a FAST and SIMPLE. Stop screaming at your computer and finally get the software to just do what you want 😄. 🎁Download my free guide: bit.ly/UGtoIllustratorYT ►► You'll get 37 of my BEST free tutorials in one place!

[@madelinemansperger8619]

Thank you for explaining step by step. Your videos are the only ones that actually help me. Other videos skip over the "simple stuff" that I get confused and lost with.

[@SewHeidi]

You’re welcome! So glad it’s helpful ☺️

[@Sekarumn]

me too! Im so thankful to youu Heidi!

[@alli-anngrin1730]

Thanks for a great video! I had no idea about the appearance trick

[@devanglin]

Thanks for this helpful information

[@conietsai]

This video is amazingly helpful. I am a fashion designer and had full design training in the past but have always been struggling to draw flats on Illustrator. Thanks for creating this tutorial to help anyone in need. Can't thank you enough!!

[@iammarquiscoaston]

This was helpful things i didn't know.

[@SewHeidi]

Aww so glad to hear!

[@Studio.No14]

Amazing work, i was searching for this the whole time 🤩🤩🤩. Clear and well exolained. Thank u very much!

[@EncoderFashion]

Thanks for sharing with us Heidi. This video is very useful

[@SewHeidi]

Awesome, so glad you enjoyed it!

[@madelinegrudens]

Superb video and info!!!

[@CandaceJordan00]

I finally got a free trial for Ai so I am trying to get as much as I can in now so when I finally can afford it I'll know what to do!! Thank you so much for these tutorials!!!

[@janasiguenza1545]

I was getting crazy with this pencil tool. You helped me a lot! Thank you very much!!

[@SirKopoKid]

Wow, thank you for your video. I learned a lot from this!!

[@malusantamaria-benavente5541]

Really helpful! Thank you 😁

[@dhritideepa3637]

Thanks for making this video, this video is really helpful .but I wanted to ask that how can we make our own fashion designs or our own clothes without taking any image from another sites

[@syedazim3150]

You are very creative and talented ... thanks for sharing you extraordinary knowledge and experience to us (: one thing more into bracket i m already your fan now :)

[@etamika]

i use this to create ruffles in fabric. besides that, i love and prefer the pen tool

[@naomisipus4717]

great teacher, really good videos Heidi

[@jjfecik]

Awesome video! Thanks for sharing! Any idea if there is a way to continue a line with the pencil tool if I am working in CS5? 🙏

[@SewHeidi]

Should work just the same although I don’t have cs5 installed anymore to check ;)

[@impolitikful]

Why does the path vanish when I deselect it ? Thanks for the video!

[@jayel1498]

How do you see the anchor points as you draw with the pencil? I don’t see that when I draw my lines.

[@suzanpathan1603]

it does not show the content option with stroke for outlining in appearance pannel,the last option is opacity

[@michaelmuller8037]

hello Heidi! i hope you can help me with this, i have recently downloaded Illustrator CC however i am unable to find the Pencil Tool anywhere. Do you know where i can find it?

[@kusherahmed6683]

nice

[@ioannaval2182]

i have a big problem, i cant send to back the pieces i want! please help me, i use adobe illustrator cc (you are awesome)

[@Saraphine1111]

Hello I cannot follow the video because you keep saying "commander control'? Is this an apple thing? What is the command on a regular keyboard.

[@SewHeidi]

Command or control. Command is for Mac - cmd. Control is for windows - ctrl.

[@nnekaakanegbu3284]

Does it mean I can't draw from scratch with illustrator? I like to come up with my own ideas. Or will it be easy to make adjustments from the templates

[@SewHeidi]

You can draw from scratch and yes it’s easy to adjust templates - that’s what’s so great about vector.

[@nnekaakanegbu3284]

@@SewHeidi thank you

[@digitaldeziner]

Why don't you use Wacom Tablet to draw freely?