Guide To Creating Illustrations in PowerPoint
Guide To Creating Illustrations in PowerPoint
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Visuals are a key element of any e-learning course. They help attract the learner’s
attention and reinforce key messages. If you don’t have a graphic designer on your team—
or access to an asset library like Content Library—you may be struggling to find or create
the visuals you need for your course. If that’s where you are, don’t worry! In this tutorial
you’ll learn how to create your own illustrations in PowerPoint using freeform shapes.
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On the Insert tab of PowerPoint, you have access to a whole host of default shapes to help
you create your own illustrations:
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In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use this super-powerful feature to create your own
illustrations—even if you have zero artistic ability.
So how do you set a new default shape style? It’s easy! Just insert any shape, format it
however you’d like, right-click on the shape, and select Set as Default Shape:
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Now, when you draw your freeform shape, it’ll automatically take on the format you’ve
defined.
Tracing a photo is also a great solution for times when you’re not sure whether you have
the right to use a given photo in your course.
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Now that you have your photo, you can insert it into PowerPoint by clicking on the
Pictures button on the Insert tab. Then, also on the Insert tab, click on the Shapes button,
and select the freeform shape tool.
1. Press and hold your mouse: Use this technique to draw an illustration freehand. This
option is best for people who are comfortable drawing and have a pretty steady hand on
their mouse (or access to a graphic tablet).
2. Press and release your mouse: Use this technique to draw an illustration one point at a
time. This option is best for those of you who (like me!) are not comfortable drawing
freehand. It allows you to create a shape by connecting a series of points.
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But you don’t have to choose one or the other; you can actually combine these two
methods while drawing the same shape. It’s up to you to decide what works best!
To create a closed shape, continue drawing until you are back to your starting point. To
create an open-ended shape (or a line), double-click at any point to exit the freeform
shape tool.
Edit Points
Once you’ve finished drawing your shape, you can fine-tune it by editing each individual
point. To do that, just right-click on the shape and select Edit Points:
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When you’re in Edit Points mode, you can see all the places you clicked to create your
shape and adjust them as needed.
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To move a point, just click on it and drag it to the place you want it to be.
If you want, you can take it a step further by right-clicking on a point and choosing one of
the following options:
Add point: If you messed up when you were drawing your shape, you can add in extra
points afterwards and position them as needed instead of starting over from scratch.
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Open Path (if it’s closed): If instead of a closed shape, you want to create an open-
ended path, choose this option to unlink the first and last points you drew.
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Close Path (if it’s open): If you meant to create a closed shape, but accidentally
created an open path, choose this option to link the first and last points you drew.
Smooth Point: To make a point more rounded, choose Smooth Point or Straight
Point. When you choose Smooth Point, the handles on the point will stick out
straight, instead of forming a corner. When you drag on one side of the handle, the
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Straight Point: This option also makes your point rounded, but this time you’ll notice
that the handles work independently, meaning that if you drag on one side of the
handle, the other side of the handle doesn’t move. This allows you to create an
asymmetrical curve.
Corner Point: By default, all the points on your shape are corner points. If you
change your point to a smooth or a straight point and aren’t satisfied with how it
looks, choose this option to revert to the default setting.
By adjusting your points, you can smooth out your drawing considerably, as you can see in
the before and after photos below:
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Before
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After
Format Shape
Once your shape looks exactly the way you want, you can hide the image you used to
trace your shape and change the color as needed.
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If need be, you can draw another freeform shape or use a combination of default shapes
to complete your illustration. For this example, you could create a cell phone out of a
combination of shapes. Start by inserting a rectangle with rounded edges to make up the
base of your phone:
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Now, as you can see, the part of the thumb is now hidden by the phone. To make it look
like the thumb is on top of the phone, add a second rectangle with rounded edges that
starts below the thumb and goes until the bottom of the phone, like this:
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Now, right-click on the first rectangle you created and select Send to Back.
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Now repeat this process with two gray rectangles with square edges to create your screen:
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Finally, insert a circle for the camera, a rounded-edge square for the speaker, and a
rounded-edge square for the home button of the phone. Here’s what your finished
illustration should look like:
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And there you have it! Thanks to PowerPoint, you can create your own custom
illustrations without being a professional illustrator. Thirsty for more PowerPoint
illustration tips? Check out these tutorials:
Questions? Comments? Drop me a line in the comments section below! And don’t forget
to follow us on Twitter and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more e-learning
tips and tricks.
53 COMMENTS
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Sara Fromme
https://cl.ly/ows2/Image%202018-01-19%20at%205.00.01%20PM.png
Joe Harvey
This is a really useful tutorial, looking forward to trying my hand at some illustrations!
great work!
Ivonne Fisher
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Hey everyone! If you try this technique, please share your examples (and downloads!) in
the Create Your Own Mockups Challenge:
https://community.articulate.com/articles/device-mockup-templates-elearning/
Katelin Jordan
This is great!
Marilyn Goodrich
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Ali Saren
Thank you for this post! There are so many times where I have wished I could create my
own graphics and just simply didn't know how. Thanks Allison!
Adam Judge
Christine Padberg
Louise Smith
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Hey Allison excellent tip! Just to add what is also possible to do... to use this method to
cut-out an actual section of the photo. This is what you do:
1. Follow all your above steps up until the selecting the colour for the shape ll.
2. Right-click on the original photo and select copy.
3. Select your shape and right-click, select format picture (options will open on right
hand side)
4. From the Fill icon, select Picture or texture ll.
5. Click the 'Clipboard' button, this will paste the original photo into your shape!
6. Lastly use the O set adjustments to align the original photo to match your selection.
(you can also make the shape outline = none.
Hope this is useful :)
Len Lovett
April Caldwell
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Oleksandr Slipets
Cate Leon
Now I have read it Allison and I really like this! Not only can I see me havint drawers in
the bureau, I can also see how I can make myself as a person in my courses :) Great!
Thank you so much! Now, all I miss is a few hours per day. Can you help me with that to?
;-)
Sumant Murugesh
Great tutorial Allison! Useful for people like me who can't even draw stick gures
properly :-)
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Anthony Smelt
This is what I'm talking about! Gone are the days of reviewing other people material and
thinking "where did they get that image from?!"
Thanks Allison, this is great... maybe I can be the source of others peoples bewilderment
in the future hehe
Robert Cooper
This is amazing! I always wanted to know how to create 'Infographic type looking
people'. I will play with this
Ruth Simmons
Rory Lavender
Excellent tutorial! Shared with our development team. Sara, you did a great job!
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As I told my colleagues, MIND BLOWN! I am just beside myself with the two things I
learned - how to draw without looking like a kid did it and how to bring forward a partial
piece of an image. Wowza!!
Trey McNabb
Great job Allison, and thanks for pointing me back here from the treasure map
template! https://community.articulate.com/download/powerpoint-treasure-map-
template
eva tarin
Oh my goodness! I thought it was the only one I drew with PowerPoint! Fantastic article,
I loved it, really
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