Rulers

Rulers: set them up before drawing

What it does

Rulers affect only the strokes you are about to draw — never what is already on the canvas.

For architecture, interiors and comic backgrounds where lines must be tidy, spend ten seconds setting a ruler and every stroke gets easier.

Seven kinds

Straight, ellipse, parallel lines, concentric circles, focus lines, guide lines and smart snapping.

Adjustment

The ruler panel changes position, angle and spacing. Drag the control points on the ruler itself.

Smart snapping pulls strokes onto nearby key angles and positions — very handy when drawing perspective

Turn it off for loose strokes, clouds and anything meant to look wobbly — an active ruler straightens every stroke

Focus lines: comic speed effect

Choose "focus lines" in the ruler and place a centre point on the canvas

Draw outward from that centre with an inking brush; every stroke automatically aims at the same vanishing point

That is the focus-line effect used in comics for speed, impact and emphasis

Vary the spacing between lines. Perfectly even spacing looks like a gear; uneven spacing has tension

Turning rulers off

Turn it off in the ruler panel, or via menu View → Ruler → Off

Once off, brushes behave normally with no constraints

For one freehand stroke: switch it off, draw, then switch it back on

If your brush seems to "disobey", check whether a ruler is still active