Getting started

Did you ever write a term paper in which you wanted to describe something in pictures, not in words? Well, PowerPoint's drawing features are designed to produce professional images and artwork. And, just as important, you do not have to be an artist to use them.

In this tutorial, you will draw the following pictures:

Note that drawing these pictures and handing them in are part of your homework!

So, how can you produce the drawing with the least effort and the best results, especially if you are not particularly gifted with pencil, pen, ruler, and markers? This is where PowerPoint's drawing tools come in handy.

Find and open PowerPoint.
You want to draw a picture. To do this you need to draw on a blank slide. To get a blank slide to draw on :

Choose New from the File menu.
Something similar to the following should appear:

Click on Blank Presentation, then click the OK button.
Something similar to the following should appear:

Scroll down until you see a blank slide in the lower right corner as in the picture above. Click on it and then click the OK button.

Something similar to the following should appear:

This blank slide is your drawing window.
Before you start to draw, let's make sure all the toolbars that you need are in view.

Choose Toolbars... from the View menu at the top of the screen.
The following submenu should appear:

If there is not a

already in the box next to Drawing tools, then click in the box. A

should appear. If there are any other

, click on the

to get rid of it.

You should now have the following toolbars on the bottom of your screen:

In addition, you have a blank slide on which you can draw. Note that all your tool bars are visible. It is now time to familiarize yourself with the functions of the drawing toolbar buttons.

Next: The Drawing Tools

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