Drawing star shapes in Adobe Illustrator

Creating star shapes in Adobe Illustrator is quick with the native Star Tool, but customizing them beyond the basics can sometimes be tricky. Whether you want to adjust the inner diameter, refine the outer points, or create more advanced editable shapes, Illustrator and Astute Graphics offer several ways to gain more control. Here’s how to draw and edit star shapes with precision.

Draw a regular star in Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator includes a native Star Tool, found stacked under the Rectangle Tool in the toolbar. This lets you draw a regular star shape and use on-screen annotations to increase or decrease the number of points, round the corners, and adjust the inner diameter.

Astute Graphics also offers the Dynamic Shapes panel (part of the VectorScribe plugin) which allows you to create stars and other editable shapes with full numerical control over diameter, corner rounding, rotation, and point count.

How to change the internal diameter of a star

If you’ve lost access to the live controls for your star, either from the native Star Tool or Dynamic Shapes, the quickest way to adjust the inner diameter is by using Illustrator’s Lasso Tool and Scale Tool.

Steps:

• Select the Lasso Tool from the toolbar (stacked under the Direct Selection Tool)

• Draw around the inner anchor points of the star to select them

• Switch to the Scale Tool (stacked under the Rotate Tool)

• Drag inward or outward to reposition the selected anchor points

• This will pucker or expand the center of the star shape

How to adjust the outside points of your star

If you want more precise control over the outside points of your star, PathScribe from Astute Graphics offers a more advanced way to manipulate anchor points and handles directly.

Steps:

• Open the PathScribe panel by going to Window > Astute Graphics > PathScribe

• Open the PathScribe flyout menu and choose Ghost Handles to Real Handles

• Return to the flyout menu and select Point Selection > Set Point Selection…

• In the dialog box, use the Select and Skip values until only the outer points of the star are selected

• Without deselecting these points, return to the flyout menu and choose Handle Selection > Select Handles of Selected Points

• Use the PathScribe Tool to drag one handle and adjust them all simultaneously

• Press the C key while dragging to toggle counter-rotation mode

• Continue adjusting until the star shape matches the style you want

Adobe Illustrator’s native Star Tool is ideal for quickly creating basic stars, but combining Illustrator’s built-in tools with Astute Graphics plugins like Dynamic Shapes and PathScribe gives you much more creative control. Whether you need simple diameter adjustments or advanced handle editing, these tools make it easier to create custom star shapes with professional precision.