Draw straight and freehand arrows

PenLayer has two arrow tools. The arrow (3) draws a straight arrow from where you press to where you let go. The freehand arrow (4) follows any curve you draw and puts a head on the end.

Straight arrows

1. Pick the arrow on the toolbar, or press 3.
2. Press where the arrow should start and drag to where it should point.
3. Let go.

The arrow uses the current colour, weight and line style. The head always stays solid, even on a dashed or dotted arrow.

Freehand arrows

1. Pick the freehand arrow, or press 4.
2. Draw the path you want, curves and all.
3. Let go. The head goes on the end, pointing the way you were moving.

The shaft of a freehand arrow is ink, like the pen, so line styles don’t apply to it.

Choose the arrow head

Open Preferences… from the menu bar pen, then go to Drawing and pick a style under Arrow head:

• Barb
• Chevron
• Triangle
• Kite
• Open
• Random: every new arrow gets a different head, chosen when you draw it. Once drawn, an arrow keeps its head.

The default is Barb. The same head style applies to both arrow tools.

Choosing an arrow head in Preferences doesn’t start drawing.

Hand drawn or smooth heads

Arrow heads follow the Style setting in Preferences, like other shapes. Hand drawn heads have a slight wobble and are never quite identical. See Rectangles, ellipses and lines.