Shapes, paths, and text

Summary

Shape draws rectangles, ellipses, lines, and regular polygons by dragging. Pen draws a custom straight-edged path by clicking one anchor point at a time. Text places an editable text box with a single click. Each creates its own new layer — none of them merge into previous content the way paint strokes do.

Use it when

• Use Shape for geometric elements — rectangles, ellipses, straight lines, or regular polygons — with a numeric stroke width.
• Use Pen when you need a custom straight-edged outline that a preset shape can't produce.
• Use Text to add a headline, label, or caption directly in the artboard.

Before you begin

Nothing to prepare — all three work on a blank artboard. For Shape, decide which sub-type you want in Creative properties before you drag, since it's set before drawing, not after.

Steps

Shape

1. Select Shape in the tool rail (U).
2. In Creative properties, choose Rectangle, Ellipse, Line, or Regular polygon, and set Stroke width if you want an outline.
3. Drag on the artboard from one corner or end to the other.
4. Releasing the drag finishes the shape immediately as its own new layer.

Pen

5. Select Pen in the tool rail (P).
6. Click once for each anchor point of your path, in order.
7. Click back on the first anchor point to close the path and commit it as a new layer.
8. Press Escape at any point before closing to cancel the in-progress path instead — nothing is added to Layers.

Text

9. Select Text in the tool rail (T).
10. Click once on the artboard — a text box appears immediately, ready to type into.
11. Type your text.
12. Press Escape or select another tool to leave editing; the text stays as a layer with whatever you typed.
13. Set Font, Size, Weight, Italic, Underline, Alignment, and Line spacing in Creative properties, before or after typing.

What changes

• Every completed shape, path, or text box becomes its own new layer — drawing a second shape does not merge it into the first the way a second Pencil stroke merges into the active paint layer (see Select, pencil, brush, and eraser).
• Layer naming reflects the tool, with one exception: Rectangle, Ellipse, and Regular polygon are named Shape N, but Line is named Path N — the same family of name Pen paths use.
• None of these three layer types have an Adjust group in the inspector — no Crop, Contrast, or other raster controls, the same as paint layers and unlike placed images or templates.
• A Pen path only becomes a layer once you close it by clicking back on the first point. Pressing Enter or double-clicking the last point did not commit it in testing — only the closing click did.

Print note

Shapes, paths, and text are vector-drawn artwork placed directly on the artboard and are included in exported output, unlike guides, rulers, and grid overlays. This article does not verify export fidelity (stroke rendering, font embedding); confirm that separately if it matters for your order.

Warnings and limits

• An unclosed Pen path is not saved anywhere if you navigate away without closing it or pressing Escape — there is no draft state to recover.
• Because every Shape, Pen, or Text action creates a new layer, a design built with many small elements can accumulate a long Layers list quickly — use Hide, Lock, or grouping tools (Layers and layout chapter) to manage it.
• There is no visible in-progress indicator for a Pen path other than the preview line itself — if you lose track of where you started, it can be hard to find the exact point to click to close it.

Desktop and mobile

The Shape, Pen, and Text tools and their Creative properties are reachable the same way on desktop and mobile, per The editor at a glance and Artboard, stage, and tool rail — on mobile, tool selection opens the Creative tools sheet. Drawing was verified with synthetic mouse events at desktop width in this session; touch interaction on a real mobile device was not independently re-tested.

Troubleshooting

Related topics

• Select, pencil, brush, and eraser
• Fill, stroke, palette, and color
• Select, reorder & rename (Layers and layout)
• Size, position, rotation & opacity (Layers and layout)

Verification note

Verified against Blotter Builder on 2026-07-20.

Source notes

Primary observations — all from the live application at https://blotterbuilder.tdl.fyi, 2026-07-20. Drawing was exercised by dispatching native mousedown/mousemove/mouseup (and, for Pen and Text, single mousedown/mouseup clicks) directly on the editor's Fabric.js upper-canvas element, per the technique established in Select, pencil, brush, and eraser.

• Observed — the Shape sub-type control is a <select> with values rect (Rectangle), ellipse (Ellipse), line (Line), polygon (Regular polygon), defaulting to Rectangle.
• Observed — dragging with Shape set to Rectangle, then Ellipse, then Regular polygon produced a visible black-filled shape of each type, each added as its own Shape N layer (Shape 1, Shape 2).
• Observed — dragging with Shape set to Line, after raising Stroke width to 8px, produced a visibly thick line — but it was added to Layers as Path 3, not Shape 3.
• Observed — clicking four points with Pen did not add anything to Layers; a preview of the open path was visible on the artboard. Pressing Enter, and double-clicking the last point, both left Layers unchanged. Clicking back on the first anchor point closed the path and added it as Path 4.
• Observed — starting a new Pen path (three more clicks) and pressing Escape before closing it left Layers unchanged — the in-progress path was discarded.
• Observed — a single click with Text immediately added a Text N layer (Text 5) with an active text cursor; typing Test inserted the characters live on the artboard; pressing Escape exited editing and the layer with its typed content remained in Layers.
• Observed — selecting a Shape N layer showed no Adjust group in the inspector (Uploads, Library, Templates, Layers, Saved drafts, Transform, Color, Creative properties, Creative filters — no Adjust).

Verification log