In this week’s free technique, Deke demonstrates how to create a Command key symbol (⌘) inside Adobe Illustrator. The ⌘ symbol, also known as a Bowen knot, a cloverleaf, or Saint John’s Arms, has come to rest on that handy key on the Mac keyboard. If you find yourself often typing up technical instructions, as Deke has been known to do, you may want a symbol that survives the vagaries of font characters by being an actual graphic. Along the way, you’ll get some basic instruction for how to select, copy, and join paths in Illustrator.

It’s a fairly straightforward process, and even an Illustrator-wary student like me could put the technique to work. One observation—when you drag to duplicate in Illustrator, you must start the drag first, then add the modifier keys: Shift (to constrain the angle) and Alt (Windows)/Opt (Mac) to duplicate the object. Once you create your symbol, Deke shows you how to give it the 3D treatment as I’ve done below.

If you enjoy creating this symbol and you’re a member of the lynda.com Online Training Library®, Deke has some exclusive videos for drawing other shapes: a house, a gear, and a play button. And of course, members always have access to the whole library of Deke’s Techniques.

We’ll see you back here next week with another technique from Deke that’s free to all.

Interested in more?
• The entire collection of Deke’s Techniques 
• Courses on Illustrator in the Online Training Library®
• Courses by Deke McClelland in the Online Training Library®

Yes, you heard it right. This week, Deke’s Techniques gives a little love to that occasionally daunting yet imminently lovable drawing tool, Adobe Illustrator. Although many of you know author Deke McClelland as a Photoshop maestro, in today’s technique, Deke returns to one of his early digital loves and shows you how to draw a classic heart shape in Illustrator. If you’re Illustrator-phobic, as I have been known to be, let me assure you even I was able to draw this shape by following Deke’s clear instructions.

The steps are fairly simple, and employ only a few easy-to-use tools: the Arc tool, the Reflect tool, and the trusty black and white arrow tools (officially known as Selection tools). By adjusting curves drawn by the Arc tool, we safely avoid the far more complicated Pen tool. And, in the end, what could be more a more appropriate command for joining two halves of a heart than using the Join > Paths command in Illustrator CS5. Ah, vector love. So unpretentious, uncomplicated, and mathematically defined.

Of course, sometimes you want your declaration of love to be florid, eye-catching, and just this side of over-the-top. Or maybe just the other side of over-the-top. For subscribers to the lynda.com Online Training Library®, this week’s new exclusive video in the Deke’s Techniques course features that same heart shape taken to a glossy extreme in Photoshop:

And of course, lynda.com members can view the entire collection of Deke’s Techniques here. You’re bound to find something there to love that will make your creative day just a little easier, sweeter, or more exciting.

We’ll be back next week with another free technique from Deke, in which Deke goes 3D. See you (in your 3D glasses) next week!

Related links:
Deke’s Techniques
courses on Photoshop in the Online Training Library®
courses by Deke McClelland in the Online Training Library®