# Step 3: Create the Shoulder Joint

That was a pretty simple retouch example. The next fix is a little bit more sophisticated.

In the shoulder, the gap between the shoulder and the upper arm is large. In this step, you will practice a technique that will help you animate future jointed characters.

To fix the hole between the torso and the upper arm, you will create a perfect circle that will act as the joint on which your upper arm will rotate. The circle will overlap the upper arm and torso so that no gaps will appear while the joint rotates. You can try this technique with other jointed characters you create.

To create the shoulder joint:

1. In the Timeline window, select the upper arm element and move the red frame slider to frame 1.

2. Zoom and pan the Camera View window so that you have a close-up view of Tania’s left shoulder.

3. From the Drawing Tools toolbar, select the Ellipse tool.

4. In the Properties window, click the Pen tab and change the Maximum Size value to 6.

5. Click the Color Palette tab, select a red color swatch from the Default palette.

You will draw the circle with red, and not the color of Tania’s shirt, so that you can easily see the edges of the circle, which will help you position it. After you position the circle, you will paint it with the color of Tania’s shirt and delete the red line art of the circle.

6. In the Camera View window, press [Shift] to draw a perfect circle and then use the Select tool to position the circle in the gap that is the shoulder.

7. Press [Esc] to release the selected circle.

8. From the Properties window, click the Color Palette tab, select the “shirt” swatch from the “tania” palette.

9. From the Drawing Tools toolbar, select the Paint tool and click inside the red circle to fill it with the “shirt” color.

10. With the Select tool, select the red line art around the circle and delete it.

11. Click Play and watch the shoulder as it bends. If there are any problems in your joint, undo what you did and try again. Click Stop to stop the playback before you try to redo your work.