So much vector art is sitting untapped right inside Adobe Illustrator. One good place to explore is the Glyphs panel. Just choose Type > Glyphs and start searching your library of fonts using the drop-down menu at the bottom of the panel.
I've seen more than a few tutorials on how to draw a heart with the pen tool in Illustrator, but the Glyphs panel can save you a few steps. The font ITC Zapf Dingbats, a common font that most people have, comes with an assortment of hearts.
To get the heart, just place your type cursor on the artboard and double click the thumbnail of the character you want in the Glyphs panel.With your heart type selected, choose Type > Create Outlines to convert the heart to scalable vector art.
Look for other fonts in your library with the words "dingbat" or "ornament" and look for fonts identified as "Pro" they usually have more complete character sets that may include ornaments.
The menu at the top of the glyphs panel will help you narrow the current font you're searching to just the ornaments.
Nice post Laura! Off to search the glyphs panel!
Posted by: Kathleen D | November 09, 2011 at 10:14 AM
Thanks Kathleen!
Posted by: coyleart | November 09, 2011 at 04:42 PM