Pen Tool Question

Greetings everyone, I'm new to CorelDraw and Corel products in general. I'm getting used to the program and learning something new everyday. However, there is one thing that is bugging me to death and I can't seem to find an answer. When I use the pen tool to create my line art I want the end of a line to be tapered so it looks more hand drawn. All my searches come up with nothing - do any of you know how do accomplish this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  • The pen tool just makes a path. A path has no variance in dimensions. It really has no dimensions as it is just a representation of direction and length.

    Try opening the artistic media docker and applying a brush stroke to the path. There are several that have a tapered shape. You can make your own shapes also. A 90 degree rotated triangle makes a good tapered effect, perhaps elongated somewhat.

    You can also draw directly with the brush tool.

    • THank you for the reply, its much appreciated. I'm having trouble though - I click on one of my line and can't for the life of me figure out how to apply the brush stroke to it. There all grayed out, so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.
      • On the Artistic Media Tool Docker there is an apply button.  Windows>Dockers>Effects>Artistic Media.

        • Thank you again so much! I didn't have that docker set up and that's why I couldn't find it. I was able to find one that would taper the beginning and end of a line which is what I needed for my comic/manga line art. No to figure out how to customize it so the middle isn't so thick if I make a point like with the ends of a hair strand - that or do the strand in two separate stokes.

          Thanks again! I was getting ready to pull my last remaining hairs out.
          • It is easy to make your own brush. Just draw something, select it and with the artistic tool active, click the save button. Change the selection to custom to find it.

            But, experiment with those default strokes. it is not always apparent from their shape how they will look applied to a path.

            I think you are saying you want it to taper at both ends. One of those side way "S" strokes under default strokes or custom media strokes may give you what you want.

            Also be mindful of the settings for stroke width and freehand smoothing on the artistic media tool tool bar.  If you are using something pressure sensitive, those settings can be adjusted too.

            Some of the calligraphy brushes might be helpful.

        • If you desire, you can also try setting the nib size, stretch and tilt angle to get the effect without using the Artistic Media tool. The settings can be found in outline dialog box.
          • Thanks again everyone. I think I have enough information to become a little more dangerous with the program lol. I appreciate your help and pointing me in the right direction. Ill post a pic of my results once I get the effect I'm looking for - thankfully I'm much closer now. :)