How to Draw

As soon as Toon Boom Harmony is running and a scene is created, you can start drawing right away using the default drawing layer in your new scene.

  1. Do one of the following:
    • In the Tools toolbar, select the Brush tool or press Alt + B.
    • In the Tools toolbar, select the Pencil tool or press Alt + /.
  2. In the Timeline or Xsheet view, click in the first cell of the drawing layer.

  1. To select a colour, click on the colour you wish to use in the Colour view. For more information on how to create and edit colours, see How to create or edit colour swatches.

  1. In the Drawing or Camera view, start drawing.

Adjusting Artwork

Harmony offers multiple ways to adjust drawings. You can undo your last stroke, erase parts of a drawing, move, transform or delete strokes, and tweak the points and curves of your strokes.

NOTE You cannot manipulate or tweak individual drawing strokes when drawing on a bitmap layer—see How to Add Layers.
  1. Do one of the following:

  • From the top menu, select Edit > Undo.
  • Press Ctrl + Z (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ + Z (macOS).

  1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Eraser tool or press Alt + E.
  1. In the Drawing or Camera view, draw a stroke over the parts of your drawing you want to erase.
  1. In the Tools toolbar, select the Select tool or press Alt + S.
  1. In the Camera or Drawing view, select strokes you want to edit by doing one of the following:
  • Click on a stroke to select it.
  • Hold Shift while clicking on a stroke to add it to your selection.
  • Draw a lasso around drawing strokes to select them simultaneously.

  1. Do one of the following to edit your selection:

    • To reposition the selected artwork, click on it and drag where you want to position it.

      NOTE You can also nudge your selection using the arrow keys, and fast-nudge your selection by holding Shift and pressing the arrow keys.

    • To rotate the selected artwork, click and grab just outside one of the handles at the corners of the control box and rotate it.

    • To scale the selected artwork, click and drag on one of the control points at the corners or the middle of the edges of the control box.

      TIP While scaling artwork, you can preserve its proportions by pressing and holding the Shift key.

    • To skew, drag sideways or up and down the sides or top and bottom segments, between the control points.

    • To delete, press Del (Windows/Linux) or Backspace (macOS).
  1. Do one of the following:
    • If you drew with the Brush tool, in the Tools toolbar, double-click on Contour Editor and select the Centerline Editor in the pop-up menu, or press Alt + W.
    • If you drew with the Pencil tool, in the Tools toolbar, select the Contour Editor tool or press Alt + Q.
  1. In the Drawing or Camera view, click the shape, contour or pencil line you want to edit near the area you wish to change.

    2. The shape or line's control points appear.

  1. Click on one of the points to select it.

    2. The point's Bezier handles appears, as well as Bezier handles for the surrounding points.

    TIP You can select several points by drawing a lasso around the points, or by holding Shift while clicking on points to add them to your selection. You can use the Contour Editor to scale and rotate a selection of multiple points by enabling the Show Contour Editor Control option in the Tool Properties view.
  1. Do one of the following:
    • To move a point or a selection of multiple points, click and drag it.

    • To change the curve on both sides of a point, drag one of its Bezier handles.

    • To change the curve on only one side of a point, press and hold the Alt key, then drag one of its Bezier handles.

    • To deform the contour, drag a part of the contour between two points.

    • To deform the curve between two points, hold the Shift key and drag the contour between two points.

    • To remove a point's Bezier handles and make the lines it is connected to straight, press and hold the Alt key and click on the point.

    • Straight lines have no Bezier handles at their points by default. To create Bezier handles for these points and make their lines curved, pres and hold the Alt key, then click and hold the point and drag the mouse cursor away from it. A new Bezier handle will follow your mouse cursor until you release the mouse button.

    • To add a control point, press Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or ⌘ (macOS) and click on the contour where you want the new point to be created.

    • To remove a control point, select the control point and press Del (Windows/Linux) or Backspace (macOS).