Illustrator Trick #2: Tilde Fun

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illustrator tilde trick


Many beginners may not have heard of the “tilde” key trick. It’s the ~ key just beside the number 1 keypad. By holding the tilde key, you can drag to create new shapes following your mouse direction. You can only use it with other shape tools in your tool palette. Combine it with Alt/Option, Shift/Command and spacebar to create new effects. Have fun with the tilde key, below are some experiments I have done with it.

tilde experiment

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20 Responses to “Illustrator Trick #2: Tilde Fun”

  1. marizmendi Says:

    Excellent, Exactly what I’ve been looking for, thanks

  2. Jamie.G Says:

    never ever heard of that technique.. really nice effect and so simple! I’ve been expirimenting with this technique for half an hour now and there are so many possibilities :D thanks for sharing!

  3. dev Says:

    hi dear friends
    i don’t know how to make this style pls teach to me and where is the “tilde” options.
    tnks.

  4. iStockdiary Says:

    The “tilde” key is right under Esc Key. Select the Circle Tool, hold down the “tilde” key and drag on the canvas to start drawing shapes. You can also try it with other shape tools.

  5. arly Says:

    yay! fun to play with! thanks!

  6. mickey Says:

    hopefully i’ll get a reply?

    i was just wondering how i could add the gradient effect (as seen in your opening banner) to the lines? i’ve tried everything i can think of, but nothing seems to work!

  7. iStockdiary Says:

    Hi Mickey, Go Object>Epxand to expand the lines into shapes. Select all and apply gradient to it.

  8. Steff Says:

    love it!

  9. pub Says:

    well…i dont know this trick…f***m
    well if use a keyboard portuguese ur ~ key in this tut is “ç” key :d
    tks for the trick :d

  10. Per Says:

    For spanish keyboards is the “ñ” letter, thanks god i found it! Great trick!

  11. Anneke Says:

    For French keyboards it’s the “<” key. Very glad to have finally found it! Cool trick

  12. Love Malhotra Says:

    Hello dear friends
    I don’t know how to make this style pls teach to me and where is the “tilde” options.my email ID is love_malhotra2007@yahoo.co.in
    thanxs.

  13. dinesh Says:

    cooooooooooooooool :) that’s really awesome, great trick. M Loving it. :) thanks for sharing.

  14. Gui Says:

    Hey!

    Great tutorial!
    I would like to know what is the bet way to paint inside the draw. I made something like the stars and i don’t know how to paint the “other inside” draws that i’ve made by the experiment. It’s to much work to paint one piece by one

    *sorry for my english haha

    thanks

  15. Vectordiary Says:

    Go Object>Expand to expand the lines. Next select all lines and fill it with gradient. Pull and drag to set the direction of the gradient. You will achieve something like what I have done.

  16. Jan Says:

    Hi!
    Can’t get this to work…
    I have a Norwegian keyboard layout, and where the tilde / ~ symbol should be, I have ‘ and § instead. I have to press alt and ^ to get the ~ symbol. I can’t figure out how to do this trick..! :(

  17. Ranja Says:

    Very good trick! Let me ask something. Which key replaces the mac’s option key, in the pc keyboard?

  18. Vectordiary Says:

    The Alt key.

  19. Steven Says:

    Oh my god! Why did I not know this :) Awesome, thanks for sharing.. I’ll be using this alot from now on :)

  20. Steven Says:

    Btw. I have the new Mac keyboard with a danish layout. In case some of you can’t find the tilde key, you just need to press the key and go crazy :D

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