*** TWEAKING OUR SHAPES ***

1. Before we do any tweaking, let's group some of our objects the way we did the freckles.  Here are the items I grouped and the name I gave each group: Group: Objects in group: Tail tail tail end Face both inner ears both ears nose both cheeks face Face details both eyes both eyebrows freckles 2. Now we need to rearrange our objects and groups.  Left click and drag your objects/groups to arrange them as follows: 3. Now we need to node edit some of our objects to get them to fit. 4. Click on your Object Selector tool. 5. Click on your heart and adjust it's position.  I moved mine down slightly so that it wasn't covering any of the face. 6. Zoom in on your image to make it easier to see your nodes while editing (I zoomed in to 3:1). 7. Click on your left arm and click on Node Edit in your Tool Options box. 8. Edit your arm so that it just overlaps your mane and heart: 8. Left click on your canvas and choose Quit Node Editing. 9. Repeat step 7 for your right arm: 10. At this point I found that my mane was in the wrong position, so I moved it just below the tongue and above the right arm.  I also moved my mane details group so that it was just above the mane. 11. Click on your mane and edit your nodes so that it doesn't overlap your heart very much: 12. Continue editing your various shapes wherever you think necessary.  Remember, your image will differ from mine so you may need adjustments I don't need and vice versa.  The important thing is that you have no gaps for your canvas to show through. 13. Change your foreground color to null and your background color to white. 14. Click on your text tool then click on a blank area of your canvas (otherwise your text will want to follow the shape of your vector object).  Type the message of your choice.  I used the font Kristen, size 12, Leading set to -5 and Bold checked for my message.  After you have your message, move the message so it is inside your heart.  You may have to edit your message to get all the words to show up properly: 15. Are you happy with your lion?  Good, let's export it as a shape for future use. 16. Click on your Object Selector tool and draw a box surrounding your shape: Image reduced by 50% 17. In your layer palette right click on any of your INDIVIDUAL objects or groups (any item that is in bold print) and choose Group from the fly-out menu: 18. Rename this group "my_lion", or any name you'd like for your shape. When you open your preset shapes library, this is the name your shape will be listed under. 19. Click on File/Export/Shape. You will get a warning box - click OK. In the next box type in a name for your file.  (To the best of my knowledge, this name is the name of the file only.  It has nothing to do with the name of your shape in the Shapes Library window.)  You now have a lion ("my_lion") in your preset shapes library. This will allow you to draw a lion of any size without losing the clarity (except for the text)...pretty neat, huh? Also, since your shape will retain it's vector images, you can edit any of them to change the color, size, or shape and you can edit the text to enter a completely different message!!! Make sure you have Retain Style checked in your tool options box when drawing your shape.

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