Creating Graphics and Text in Adobe Animate
In this sample chapter from Adobe Animate Classroom in a Book 2024 Release by Russell Chun, you'll learn the essential skills for digital drawing and animation in Adobe Animate. The chapter covers how to draw and modify shapes, apply gradients, and manage transparencies, along with detailed guidance on using various paintbrushes for expressive drawing. It also teaches how to create and edit text, utilize web fonts, and effectively distribute objects on the stage. Furthermore, you will learn how to create and modify symbols, apply filters to symbol instances, and understand the crucial settings for strokes and fills. This lesson is designed to provide a comprehensive foundation for creating complex visual compositions in Adobe Animate.
Getting started
Start by viewing the finished project to see what you’ll be creating in this lesson.
Double-click 02End.gif to view the image.
The project is a simple illustration consisting of an octopus character and a humorous caption. In this lesson, you’ll draw the shapes, modify them, and learn to combine simple elements to create more complex visuals. You won’t create any animation just yet. After all, you must learn to walk before you can run! And learning to create and modify graphics is an important step before doing any animation with Adobe Animate.
In the Animate Home screen, select More Presets or click Create New.
The New Document dialog box opens.
Choose Advanced from the top row of categories. In the Platforms section, choose HTML5 Canvas. In the Details section, make the Stage size 1200 pixels by 800 pixels, and click Create.
Choose File > Save. Name the file 02_workingcopy.fla, and save it in the 02Start folder.
Saving your file right away is a good work habit (even if you’ve enabled the Auto-Recovery feature). It ensures that you won’t lose your work if the application or your computer crashes.