Using the pen tool to draw curved lines whilst staying at anchor points?

Question

I always have this problem. I want to use the pen tool due to it's curves to draw beautiful vector curves. But I also sometimes want to draw a new path from a specific anchor point. When I try, it "blows" the curve out. Sorry I'm not very good at explaining.

Here is my example. I'm trying to recreate the shape you see in the image by drawing over it with the pen tool How do I do that?

1. I draw the first line and curve it as I draw:

2. I want to draw from that corner downards to make the curvy-square shape. But when I do, it creates a really wide curve

What's the proper way to do this?

Answer 1

Hold the Option/Alt key down and click-drag on that anchor point to create a non symmetrical corner point.

Simply click-dragging always creates a symmetrical smooth point. You have to add the Option/Alt key to tell Photoshop/Illustrator to "break" the symmetry.