Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
The Pencil Tool
Basically just another brush, the Pencil tool lives at the lower-right corner of the Tools pan-
el's Draw section. Click its icon (a pencil, of course) or press N to activate it.
The Pencil tool has many of the same settings as the Brush tool—like size, mode, and opa-
city—but it offers only hard-edged brushes. In other words, you can't draw fuzzy lines with
this tool, not even the kind of lines you can sketch with a soft pencil in real life; the Pencil
tool's lines are
always
well defined. This tool is handy when you want to work on a pixel-by-
pixel basis.
You use the Pencil tool the same way as any other brush. The big difference is the Auto
Erase checkbox in the Tool Options area. Turning it on makes the Pencil tool paint with the
background color over areas that contain the foreground color. But if you start dragging in an
area that doesn't include the foreground color, it paints with the foreground color instead.
This is really confusing until you try it. Take a look at
Figure 12-12
for some help under-
standing this setting, or better yet, create a blank file and try it yourself.
Figure 12-12. The Pencil tool's slightly confusing Auto Erase option was used to create two lines
here: a horizontal one of the foreground color (purple) and a vertical one of the background color
(light green). The horizontal line was drawn by starting with the cursor outside the purple circle
(so the Pencil erased the green, leaving a purple line across the circle). The vertical line was
drawn by starting inside the purple circle, causing Elements to expose the background color.
