- Getting Started
- Setting Up the Document
- Using Basic Shape Tools
- Drawing the Pencil Shape
- Drawing the Piece of Stationery
- Drawing with the Rectangular Grid Tool
- Decorating the Stationery Border
- Tips for Drawing Polygons, Spirals, and Stars
- Painting the Logo
- Copying and Scaling Shapes
- Review Questions
- Review Answers
Copying and Scaling Shapes
A final step in creating logos is to scale the artwork to a 1-inch square and make sure that the resized logo still presents a clear image. You’ll use the bounding box feature in Illustrator to make a scaled copy of the logo.
- Double-click the Zoom tool () in the toolbox to zoom out to 100%.
- Choose View > Show Grid to redisplay the grid.
- Choose View > Show Bounding Box to display the bounding boxes of selected objects.
- Choose Edit > Preferences > General (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences > General (Mac OS), and select the Scale Strokes
& Effects option. Leave the other settings as they are, and click OK.
The Scale Strokes & Effects preference scales stroke weights and effects automatically, whether you scale objects by dragging or by using the Scale dialog box. You can also choose this command from the Transform palette menu.
- Choose Select > All to select all the objects in the logo, and then click the Selection tool () in the toolbox to select their bounding box.
- Hold down Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and drag the pointer from the center of the objects to the outside of the bounding box to make a copy of the logo.
- Position the copy of the logo below the original, and line up the left corner point on the logo with a grid line to make it easier to measure as you scale the copy.
- Using the Selection tool, select the bottom right corner point of the bounding box, hold down Shift, and drag the corner up
and to the left to scale down the logo. Release the mouse button when the logo is about an inch wide.
Holding down Shift as you drag the corner of the bounding box scales the objects proportionally.
You can use various zoom options to zoom in on the smaller logo and check its clarity. Illustrator’s Navigator palette is useful for moving around in the artwork at a higher magnification.
- Choose Window > Navigator to open the Navigator palette, and then click the Zoom In button () at the bottom of the palette several times to zoom to 600%. As you click, the artwork in the window disappears and the red
box in the Navigator palette becomes smaller.
The red square shows you where objects are located in relation to the artwork in the window. You can drag the red square to move the focus, or you can click where you want the red square to go.
- In the Navigator palette, position the pointer so the hand is pointing to the smaller logo and click to move the red square
over it.
For more information on using the Navigator palette, see Lesson 1, “Getting to Know the Work Area.”
- Choose View > Hide Grid to hide the grid and clear the background.
- Double-click the Hand tool () in the toolbox to fit the artwork in the window.
- Choose File > Save to save your artwork. Choose File > Close to close the file.
You’ve now completed the basic shapes lesson and created the logo artwork.
For information on different ways you can add color to the logo, see Lesson 5, “Painting.”