Using pen tool to draw a particular shape...

Hi all,
I'm pretty new to Illustrator and just wanted some advice.
I'm using the pen tool to try and draw a specific shape () but finding it hard trying to 'smooth' out the points where I connect my lines.
The pen tool can't draw this all in one go, so when I try to do it in several stages, the lines don't connect up smoothly so it looks a bit... rubbish.
Anyone got any tips or how to do this simply? Sorry if this is a total idiotic question but, I'm trying...!
Cheers

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LACK OF FULL PEN TOOL FUNCTIONALITY WHEN CREATING A SHAPE LAYER

Hello, I'm going through Chris Meyer's video course on being an AE apprentice and have spent over an hour on the following issue.
Here is what I know.
I know I am trying to create a shape layer, not a mask, to create a frame to surround the video of the green field on the attached screenshot. Therefore, I pressed "F2" to make sure I am doing so.
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This video was pasted on to a placeholder shape that I had created using Command Option "/" on my Mac.
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Thanks for your help! Matt
Message was edited by: Matt Dubuque to add the fact that the video had been pasted on to a placeholder shape image by pressing Command Option "/" on my Mac.

Thanks for pitching in Todd and Rick, I appreciate it very much.
As previously stated, I do have use of the pen tool, but it only has limited functionality as demonstrated by the path I created on the green meadow. My Tools Panel remains activated .
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Steve,
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You may draw the spine of the bow with the Pen Tool and apply a custom made Artbrush to it; the Artbrush should be a fill no stroke shape reflecting the relative thickness along the relative length (the thickness (height) of the brushed path will be the thickness of the brushed stroke at 1pt Stroke Weight, and the length of the shape is arbitrary, so it can be set to 8, 10, 100, or whatever, because the brush strtches to the length of the path).
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SANJISH wrote:
> Hi,
> I have just started using Fireworks and am unable to
close a figure
> made up of curves using pen tool and line segments using
pen / line tools. How
> do I plot points on any given shape and close it so that
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> . Right now I am not able to give colour to the shapes I
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>
> Please help
>
> Regards
>
> Sanjish
>
A link to the file would be helpful.
Jim Babbage - .:Community MX:. & .:Adobe Community
Expert:.
http://www.communityMX.com/
CommunityMX - Free Resources:
http://www.communitymx.com/free.cfm
.:Adobe Community Expert for Fireworks:.
Adobe Community Expert
http://tinyurl.com/2a7dyp
See my work on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jim_babbage/

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code so that instead of printing it should display inktool by using which i
draw my own sign or image etc.
var inch =72, x0 =2* inch, y0=4*inch;
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In the tarnsparency Panel there are the blending modes which work on individual object groups or layers
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http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/create-a-glowing-neon-sign-using-the-appearance-palett e--vector-3791

Thank you - As it turns out, I was using the tutorial here as a guide http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/create-a-glowing-neon-sign-using-the-appearance-palett e--vector-3791
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Using pen tool to draw a particular shape...

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