Pen Tool
All of these examples will the use the Pen Tool 
. These examples also require that you have a strong grasp of how to use Fireworks.
1)
In this example, all click and release your mouse on different parts of the canvas to create a vector polygon. By bringing the the point back to where you started, the cursor changes to to let you know that it will create closed shape.
2)
This time click, drag and release on different parts of the canvas to create a curvy shape. Try dragging in different directions to see how your movements affect the type of curve. This is a fun exercise and can yield some really cool results. Again, if you bring the cursor back to your starting point you can create a closed shape.
3)
Now try doing the same thing as Example 02 but this time hold down the ALT key the entire time. By starting near the borders of your canvas, dragging in towards the center, then releasing and continuing around the canvas, you can create a burst-like shape.
Conversely, if you start near the middle-ish area of your canvas and drag outward around your canvas you can create a cloud/flower-like shape.
4)
Now on to the good stuff. By using the techniques in Examples 01-03 I’ve “traced” some well known logos to show you just how powerful the Pen Tool really is. This image is 3 different shapes all created with just the Pen Tool.
All I did was take a screen shot of the FW logo and then paste it into a new canvas. Then I selected the Pen Tool and clicked, dragged and sometimes held the ALT key at all of the corner points on the logo. After I had my closed shape for one of the objects, I selected the Subselection Tool and adjusted my points to get the curvature that I wanted. Holding the ALT key works just like it does with the Pen Tool and that’s how I got the corners so sharp.
It took about 20 minutes or so but the end result was pretty accurate. You can download my source file to see what the vector points look like. Also, since this object is vector, you can resize the file to whatever resolution that you want without image degradation.
5)
This image is one single shape created entirely with the Pen Tool.
To create the DW logo I used the Pen Tool to draw two shapes (the outer “d” and then the hole in the middle). I then selected both objects and used Modify | Combine Paths | Punch to cut the hole into the “d.” I used the same techniques as in the FW logo example above.
This logo took me about 10 minutes to create and it looks almost perfect. Again, you can download my source file to see what the vector points look like. Also, since this object is vector, you can resize the file to whatever resolution that you want without image degradation.
6)
This puppy was little harder to create. It’s about 10 objects all together and I used a ton of techniques and drawing methods. Obviously the Pen Tool helped out the most. This logo is entirely Vector, there are no bitmap objects in the entire logo!
It took me about 2-3 hours to create and is pretty dang close to the original. Again, you can download my source file to see what the vector points look like. Also, since this object is vector, you can resize the file to whatever resolution that you want without image degradation.
