Drawing > Painting with the Brush tool |  |

Painting with the Brush tool

The Brush tool draws brushlike strokes, as if you were painting. It lets you create special effects, including calligraphic effects. You can choose a brush size and shape using the Brush tool modifiers. On most pressure-sensitive tablets, you can vary the width of the brush stroke by varying pressure on the stylus.

Brush size for new strokes remains constant even when you change the magnification level for the Stage, so the same brush size appears larger when the Stage magnification is lower. For example, suppose you set the Stage magnification to 100% and paint with the Brush tool using the smallest brush size. Then, you change the magnification to 50% and paint again using the smallest brush size. The new stroke that you paint appears 50% thicker than the earlier stroke. (Changing the magnification of the Stage does not change the size of existing brush strokes.)

You can use an imported bitmap as a fill when painting with the Brush tool. See Breaking apart groups and objects.

A variable-width brush stroke drawn with a stylus

To paint with the Brush tool:

1 | Select the Brush tool.
2 | Select Window > Properties and select a fill color in the Property inspector. See Using the Stroke Color and Fill Color controls in the Property inspector.
3 | Click the Brush Mode modifier and choose a painting mode:
| Paint Normal paints over lines and fills on the same layer.
| Paint Fills paints fills and empty areas, leaving lines unaffected.
| Paint Behind paints in blank areas of the Stage on the same layer, leaving lines and fills unaffected.
| Paint Selection applies a new fill to the selection when you select a fill in the Fill modifier or the Fill box of the Property inspector. (This option is the same as simply selecting a filled area and applying a new fill.)
| Paint Inside paints the fill in which you start a brush stroke and never paints lines. This works much like a smart coloring book that never allows you to paint outside the lines. If you start painting in an empty area, the fill doesn't affect any existing filled areas.
| Original image, Paint Normal, Paint Behind, Paint Selection, Paint Fills, and Paint Inside
4 | Choose a brush size and brush shape from the Brush tool modifiers.
5 | If a pressure-sensitive tablet is attached to your computer, you can select the Pressure modifier to vary the width of your brush strokes by varying the pressure on your stylus.
6 | Drag on the Stage. Shift-drag to constrain brush strokes to horizontal and vertical directions.