CorelDraw%20Tutorial%203

Page 1 of 12 CorelDRAW tutorial

Working with layout

Welcome to CorelDRAW®, a comprehensive vector-based drawing program for the graphics professional.This tutorial introduces the layout and organization tools in CorelDRAW. These tools are essential for any kind of project, whether it is an advertisement, newsletter, logo, poster, or any kind of artwork. Guided by your sense of layout and design, you can use dynamic guides, preset alignments, and absolute values to organize text and images for optimum results.

During the course of this tutorial, you will create an advertisement for The Coffee Shop. You will create some of the design elements and text, but you will also learn how to import images and text.

Click here to view what your final project should look like.

What you will learnIn this tutorial, you will learn how to

• create backgrounds

• use dynamic guides and snapping options

• create frames

• import images

• apply preset drop shadows

• work with artistic text

• import and format paragraph text

• apply alignment options

Creating the backgroundYou’ll start creating the background. After you create the background, you’ll apply the rest of the advertisement’s graphics and text.

In this project, you’ll use the default units of measure in CorelDRAW: inches. However, you can use many others, including points, pixels, and centimeters.

To create the background

1 Double-click the Rectangle tool .

A rectangle the size of the drawing page is created.

2 On the property bar, ensure that dynamic guides are enabled by choosing View menu Dynamic guides.

3 With the Rectangle tool selected, move the pointer over the bottom edge of the first rectangle.

Tutorial: Working with layout


4 When the midpoint snap point becomes highlighted, drag the pointer toward the

top left corner of the rectangle.

As you drag the pointer along the edge of the rectangle, you’ll notice that elligible snap points become highlighted.

5 When the node snap point becomes highlighted, release the mouse button.

A second rectangle, half the size of the first, is created. This is how the image should look.

To add a color fill

1 With the second, smaller rectangle selected, open the Fill tool flyout

, and click Fill Color Dialog .

2 On the Models tab of the Uniform Fill dialog box, choose RGB from the Model list box.

3 In the Components section, enter the following values:

• R = 57• G = 27• B = 17



4 Click OK.

This is how the image should look.

Adding an imageThe advertisement’s message is that the Coffee Shop’s product starts with high quality beans. An image of a coffee cup resting on a bed of coffee beans visually makes the point.

Here, you’ll import an image and align the image.

To import the image

1 Click File menu Import.

2 Choose the folder Program files\Corel\Corel Graphics 12\Languages\EN\Tutorials\Sample files.

3 Choose the filename coffee_photo.jpg.

4 Click Import.

5 Press Enter to center the image on the drawing page.



To rotate the image

1 Click Arrange menu Transformations Rotate.

2 Enter 37.5 in the Angle menu on the Transformations docker.

3 Click Apply.


Adding artistic textYou’re ready to add copy to the advertisement. You’ll start by adding two headings in artistic text to the advertisement. Because the headings are brief, you’ll type the text directly in the drawing window. Then you’ll format and align the text.

To add the first heading

1 Click the Text tool .

2 Click in the blank area above the coffee image, and type What do you take in your coffee?.

3 Triple-click the text to highlight the entire line.

4 On the property bar, do the following:



• Choose GoudyOlSt BT from the Font list list box .

• Type 26 in the Font size list box .

• Click the Bold button .

5 On the default CMYK color palette, click the White color swatch.

6 Insert the cursor before the word in, and press Enter.

7 Select the letter W.


• Choose TypoUpright BT from the Font list list box.

• Type 68 in the Font size list box.

9 Press Enter.

To align the first heading

1 Using the Pick tool , drag the pointer along the first line of the text.

2 When the text baseline snap point becomes highlighted, drag the text toward the

leftmost corner of the coffee image.

Notice that as the edge snap point on the corner of the coffee image becomes highlighted, a dynamic guide displays. You can use it to align the text with the image.

3 Drag the pointer upward along the dynamic guide until it displays 90 degrees and 2.5 inches.

4 Release the mouse button to set the text position.




To add the second heading

1 Click the Text tool.

2 Click outside the background, and type the following text:

THE FINEST BEANS. (Thank you)

3 Insert the cursor before (Thank you), and press Enter.

4 Click at the beginning of the text, and drag over it to select it.


• Choose GoudyOlSt BT from the Font list list box.

• Type 22 in the Font size list box.

• Click the Bold button.

• Click the Horizontal alignment button, and click Center.6 Open the Fill tool flyout, and click Fill Color Dialog.



• R = 57• G = 27



• B = 179 Click OK.

To align the second heading

1 Using the Pick tool, locate the text baseline snap point on the second line of text.

2 Drag the pointer toward the bottom corner of the coffee image until both the edge snap point and a dynamic guide display.

3 Position the text 1.375 inches to the right of the coffee image.

The measurement displays as you drag the pointer along the dynamic guide.


To add a drop shadow effect to the coffee cup image

Drop shadows simulate light falling on an object from one of five particular perspectives: flat, right, left, bottom, and top. You can add drop shadows to most objects or groups of objects, including artistic text, paragraph text, and bitmaps.



1 Open the Interactive tools flyout , and click the Interactive drop

shadow tool .

2 Click the coffee cup image.

3 Drag from the center of the image until the drop shadow is the size you want.


Adding paragraph textEarlier, you added artistic text, a text format suitable for short lines such as heading, or for applying effects to text. Paragraph text is a text format suitable for larger bodies of text, as it allows you to specify formatting attributes such as bullets, tabs and more. Paragraph text can be either imported from a text file or copied into a text frame directly.

Here, you’ll import copy from the text file provided, and place it into a rectangular light-golden frame. Then, you’ll align the framed text in the layout.



To create a frame for the paragraph text

1 Click the Rectangle tool, and drag outside the background to draw a rectangle.

2 In the Object(s) size boxes on the property bar, type the following dimensions:

• Width: 8• Height: 1.2

3 Press Enter.

To position the frame

1 Using the Pick tool, move the pointer over the lower right corner of the new frame.

2 When the node snap point becomes highlighted, drag the pointer toward the lower right corner of the main image.

3 When the dynamic guide appears, drag the pointer along it until it displays 135 degrees and 0.375 inches.

The graphic below shows a dynamic guide displaying values while the pointer is being positioned.

4 Release the pointer to set the frame.

To add a color fill to the frame

1 Open the Fill tool flyout, and click Fill Color Dialog.



• R = 130• G = 100• B = 83

4 Click OK.



5 Open the Outline flyout , and click no outline .

To import the paragraph text

1 Click the Text tool.

2 Drag outside the background to draw a text frame approximately 6” wide and 0.85” high.

You can use the Status Bar at the bottom of your screen to view Width and Height measurements as you draw objects.



5 Click the filename ad_copy.txt.

6 Click OK.

7 In the Importing and Pasting Text dialog box, choose Maintain Fonts and Formatting.

8 Click OK.

9 Insert the cursor before only and press Enter.You can also open the text file in a text editor, and copy and paste the text into the text frame.

To format the paragraph text

1 Click at the beginning of the paragraph text, and drag over it to select it.

2 Click Text menu Format text.

3 In the Format text dialog box, click the Character tab.

4 Set the font to GoudyOlSt 12 pt.

5 Click the Paragraph tab.

6 From the Alignment list box, choose Left.

7 Click the Columns tab.

8 Enable the Automatically adjust frame width option.

9 Click OK.

10 With the paragraph text still selected, click the White color swatch on the default CMYK color palette.

11 Using the Pick tool, position the text to align with the left side of the golden text frame.

If necessary, adjust the text frame height by dragging the bottom dotted line up. This is how the image should look.



Importing and positioning the logoYou’ll finish the project by importing The Coffee Shop logo and positioning it at the bottom of the advertisement page.

To import the logo



3 Double-click the filename coffee_logo.cdr.

4 Drag to position the logo on the drawing page.

5 Save your project.




From here…There are more layout and organization tools available in CorelDRAW. You can use grids, slanted guidelines, customization of snapping options, object nudging, drawing scales, and customized ruler parameters.

You can continue to experiment with other images and different settings to create other unique projects, or you can complete another CorelDRAW tutorial.

You can access the CorelDRAW Help by clicking Help menu Help topics.

Copyright 2002 – 2003 Corel Corporation. All rights reserved. All trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective companies.

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