Basic Shapes in Photoshop 1

Although the screenshots for this

beginners' tutorial were done with
Photoshop v.7, there are not many
differences for users of PS 8 or earlier
versions.
My keyboard shortcuts are for PC. If you
are using a Mac, you need to convert
these. Essentially, Alt = Option and Ctrl =
Command.
I know that there are other ways to make
shapes, including the Shape tool. I cover
that tool in some depth in my Shape
tutorial, "Get into Shape." This tutorial will
teach you many valuable Photoshop skills
involving selections.

In this tutorial, you will make the rectangle and the

circle.
In Basic Shapes 2, you will make the Pearly
Button.

Beginners' TIPS:
You may find helpful clues if you hover
over the pictures. Also, if there is an item
in purple that you want to read more
about, click it.
You will find that the last two projects
depend upon knowledge you will have
gained from working through the first one,
so if you do start anywhere but the
beginning, and run into difficulty, you will
do well to start over at the beginning. :)
Here are some things you will learn as you
work though this tutorial:

How to make a new layer and

name it.

How to use multiple layers to create

an effect.

How to make rectangles and

ellipses.

Using Layer Styles to create a

bevel and a Drop Shadow.

Using Brush Options to make an

Airbrush.

How to make squares and circles.

How to use the Dodge tool.

Choosing foreground and

background colors.

How to save a file in PSD format.

How to save a file in JPG format.

Two ways to fill a selection with a

color.

About quality levels in JPG's.

Keyboard shortcuts:

How to fill a selection with two

different kinds of gradients.

What it means to stroke a selection

and how to do it.

o Alt-Backspace
o Ctrl-Backspace
o Ctrl-S
o Ctrl-D

A. Rectangle
1. File -> New. Make your canvas
300x300. 72 dpi is fine, and you should be
in RGB mode.
2. Find your Layers palette and click the
New Layer icon at the bottom right next to
the trash can. Double-click the name of
the layer in the layers palette and type in a
new name. I gave mine the clever
moniker, "Rectangle."

3. With the Rectangle layer selected in the

layers palette, choose the Rectangular
Marquee tool in the toolbar. Check the
Options bar and be sure that you have
Feather of 0 and Style is Normal.
Then drag a rectangle across your canvas
as I have done here. This is actually a
"Rectangular Selection."
4. Click the foreground color square, (here
mine is red) and then choose a color for
your rectangle. Click OK.
Now I said that this is a "rectangular
selection," and not a
"rectangle." Why? Well, a selection on an
empty layer is empty, because there are
no pixels within it. Let's fill the selection
with pixels and make a real rectangle.
5. As with most operations in Photoshop,
there are several ways to fill a selection.
Here is my favorite way: hold the Alt key
and click the backspace key. This fills any
selection with your foreground color.

Digression: If Alt-Backspace fills the

selection with the foreground color, guess
what Ctrl-Backspace does?
(Hint: Be sure that your background color
in your toolbox is something other than
white when you test this, or you won't see
what it does.)

6. Next let's make a border on the rectangle, an operation known as stroking the
selection. Click your foreground color square and choose a different color. I chose

black. Click OK.

7. In the menu, click Edit -> Stroke. (Notice "Fill" there. That is the other way to fill a
selection.) In the dialog box that appears, type in a number of pixels for the width of
your border. I used 4. Decide whether you want the stroke to go inside, outside or
centered on the selection. Click OK.
Ctrl-D to deselect. Done!

B. Circle
Next you are going to make a circular
selection, then fill it and stroke it.
1. File > New and make your canvas
300x300. 72 dpi is fine, and you should be
in RGB mode. Start on a new layer as you
did for the rectangle. (Think about how to
do it before you look back.)
2. Click and hold the rectangular marquee
tool till the other tools under it fly out.
(Each of the tools with the tiny arrow in the
lower right corner has other choices
underneath!) Choose the Elliptical
Marquee tool as i have done to the
right.
3. Now if you just drag this out, you will
get an ellipse. Try it. It is difficult if not
impossible to get one that is a PERFECT
circle though without a trick and here it is:
Hold the SHIFT key as you drag the
ellipse out. Perfect circle! (What will
happen if you hold Alt and shift as you
drag the ellipse out?)
4. Now fill and stroke your circle as I have
on the circle to the to the right.
Try to remember how you did it with the
rectangle before you look above, but then
do look above if you need to. (Don't worry
if you mess something up because you
can always start over at this point or you
can click back in the history to undo your
mistakes.) Ctrl-D to deselect.

Congratulations on completing the first

part of the Basic Shapes Tutorial! I hope
you enjoyed it and learned a thing or two

too!

Now you are ready to make

this Pearly Button!

Creating Type On A Path In

Photoshop
In this Photoshop Basics tutorial, well learn how to add type along a path! Adobe
first gave Photoshop the ability to add text on a path back in version CS, so youll need
CS or later to follow along. Ill be using Photoshop CS5 for this tutorial but any version
from CS on up will work. To add type to a path, we first need a path, and Photoshop
gives us a few different ways to draw one. We can use the standard Shape Tools like
the Rectangle Tool or the Ellipse Tool, we can create a path from custom shapes, and
we can draw a freeform path using the Pen Tool. The method you use to draw your
path makes no difference as far as how we go about adding text to it because a path is
a path no matter how it was created and the steps for adding type to it are always the
same.
To keep things simple for this tutorial, well stick with Photoshops basic Shape Tools, but
once youve seen how to go about adding text to a path, if youre interested in learning
how the Pen Tool works, I cover it in great detail in our Making Selections With The
Pen Tool tutorial. You can also learn more about drawing paths from custom shapes in
our Custom Shapes As Text Frames tutorial, both of which are found in
our Photoshop Basicssection.
Download our tutorials as print-ready PDFs! Learning Photoshop has never been
easier!
Heres the image Ill be adding my path and text to, which is available from
the Fotolia image library, or you can use a different image if you prefer:

The original image.

Lets get started!

Step 1: Select The Ellipse Tool

As I mentioned a moment ago, the steps for adding text along a path are the same no
matter how you created the path, but for this tutorial, well keep things simple. Select
the Ellipse Tool from the Tools panel. By default, its hiding behind the Rectangle Tool,
so click on the Rectangle Tool and hold your mouse button down for a second or two
until a fly-out menu appears, then select the Ellipse Tool from the list:

Click and hold on the Rectangle Tool, then choose the Ellipse Tool from the menu.

Step 2: Select The Paths Option

With the Ellipse Tool selected, the Options Bar along the top of the screen changes to
show us various options for working with the tool. Near the far left of the Options Bar is
a series of three icons, each one representing a different type of shape we can draw in
Photoshop. We can draw vector-based shapes, paths, or pixel-based shapes. Click on the
middle of the three icons to choose the Paths option:

Choose the Paths option in the Options Bar.

Step 3: Draw Your Path

With the Ellipse Tool selected and Paths chosen in the Options Bar, click inside your
document and drag out an elliptical path. Holding your Shift key down as you drag will
force the path into a perfect circle. To draw the path out from its center rather than from
a corner, hold down your Alt key as you drag. If you need to reposition the path as
youre drawing it, hold down your spacebar, drag the path to a new location, then
release your spacebar and continue dragging.
In my case, Im going to draw a circular path around the golf ball. The path appears as a
thin outline:

Drag out a path inside your document.

Step 4: Select The Type Tool

With our path drawn, we can add our text. Select the Type Tool from the Tools panel:

Select the Type Tool.

Step 5: Choose Your Font

With the Type Tool selected, choose your font settings from the Options Bar. Im going to
use Futura Condensed Medium set to 13 pt. My text color is set to white:

Select your font, size and text color from the Options Bar.

Step 6: Move The Cursor Over The Path

Move the Type Tool directly over the path. The cursor icon will change to an I-beam
with a dotted wavy linethrough it. This tells us were about to add text directly to the
path itself:

The dotted wavy line tells us were adding text to the path.

Step 7: Click On The Path And Add Your Type

Click anywhere along the path and begin adding your text. The spot you click on is
where the text will begin, but dont worry if youve clicked on the wrong spot because
we can easily move the text around on the path once weve added it, as well see in a
moment. As you type, the text follows the direction of the path:

The text is following along the shape of the circle.

Continue adding your text along the path. When youre done, click on
the checkmark in the Options Bar to accept it and exit out of Photoshops text editing
mode:

Click the checkmark in the Options Bar when youre done adding text.

The text is now added to the path, although at the moment its on a bit of a weird angle:

The text is following the path but needs to be repositioned.

Step 8: Select The Path Selection Tool

To reposition your text along the path, choose the Path Selection Tool from the Tools
panel:

Select the Path Selection Tool.

Move the Path Selection Tools cursor anywhere over top of your text. Youll see the
cursor change from a black arrow into an I-beam with a small arrow on the side of it
pointing left or right. Simply click on your text and drag it back and forth along the path
with your mouse. Here, Im dragging my text clockwise around the circle:

Move the Path Selection Tool over your text, then click and drag it along the path.

Watch what happens, though, if I drag my text too far. Some of it gets cut off at the end:

Dragging the text too far resulted in the end being cut off.

The end was cut off because I moved the text beyond the visible text area on the path.
To fix the problem, look for a small circle on the path at the spot where the text is being
cut off. The circle marks the end of the visible area:

Look for a small circle where the text gets cut off.

Simply click on the circle with the Path Selection Tool and drag it further down the path
until all of your text is visible once again. Here, as I drag the circle clockwise along the
path, the text that was cut off reappears:

Dragging the circle clockwise along the path to reveal the text that was cut off.

Flipping The Text Over The Path

Be careful as youre dragging your text along the path that you dont accidentally
drag across the path. If you do, the text will flip to the other side and reverse direction:

Dragging across the path flips and reverses the text.

Depending on the effect youre going for, flipping and reversing the text like this may be
what you wanted to do, but if you didnt do it on purpose, simply drag back across the
path with the Path Selection Tool and your text will flip back over to the original side. It
will also revert back to its original direction.

Hiding The Path

When youre done positioning your text and youre happy with the results, hide the path
in the document by selecting any layer other than your Type layer in the Layers panel.
In my case, my document only has two layers, the Type layer and the Background layer
that holds my image, so Ill click on the Background layer to select it:

Select any layer other than the Type layer to hide the path in the document.

With my path now hidden and the text flipped back over to its original side, heres my
final result:

The final result.

Keep in mind that even though weve added the text to a path, Photoshop hasnt done
anything fancy with the text itself. Its still just text, which means you can go back at
any time and edit it, or completely change it if you need to. You can choose a different
font, change the font size or color, adjust the leading, kerning and tracking, the baseline
shift, and anything else you can do with text. Editing text in Photoshop goes a bit
beyond the scope of this particular tutorial, but just remember that unlike many text
effects that require us to convert the text to some other format, like shapes or pixels,
theres nothing you can do with text normally that you cant do with text on a path.
And there we have it! Thats how to create type on a path in Photoshop! Check out
our Photoshop Basics section for more great tutorials on working with text and type,
plus layers, selections and other essential skills! Or, see below for more tutorials you
may be interested in!

How to Color and Draw on Adobe

Photoshop 6
Edited by Kelo, Flickety, KnowItSome, Dave Crosby and 21 others

Seven Methods:Creating a New DocumentSketchingOutliningColoring Method 1Coloring Method

2ShadingFinished

Adobe PhotoShop is a more advanced art program than what normally comes with
your computer; to use it effectively, you need to have an idea of how it works. Knowing
multiple methods of coloring, sketching, filling, outlining and shading (all detailed in the
steps below) will ensure your artwork is something you're proud to show off.

Note: If you don't own Photoshop, other free programs such as Gimp are compatible
with this tutorial.

Method 1 of 7: Creating a New Document

1. 1

Open a document

Open up a new document of course, so you click "FILE", "NEW" and you set the
dimensions.
Ad

2. 2

Set the size

Set the width and height dimensions, here you see 500x500 pixels, but you choose
whatever you would like.

3. 3

Create a layer

Make a layer. Once you have your canvas size the way you want, you create a new layer. First,
you have to click "layer" "new" "layer." And name your layer. Name it "white"

4.

4
Fill in the new layer with the color white.

5.

Create a new layer. Now you will start to sketch out what you would like to draw. Click on the
colors and pick one.

Method 2 of 7: Sketching

1.

1
Pick a brush and apply the settings

2.

2
Draw. You don't have to worry about neatness, just draw away! Here's a sketch.

Method 3 of 7: Outlining

1. 1

Outline

Outline it. Now that you have your sketch you need to outline it to make it neater. Create a new
layer. Click the pen tool, and click "freeform pen tool"

2. 2

Description

Outline one of your lines. Since the pen tool smooths your line, you may need to erase and
redraw it. (not the whole thing only the line, don't worry)

3. 3

Stroke the line

You have a line. Now you need to stroke it. Right click and click "Stroke Path" and then

4. 4

Select paintbrush

Set to paintbrush or pencil

5.

5
You should have this now.

6. 6

Delete the old line

Delete the rough sketch. Delete the old line by doing this. Right click and select delete path.

7.

7
Repeat for all the rest of the drawing. Here we see this:

8.

8
Clean up. You don't want the yucky blue lines right? You do this:

9.

9
You have this.

10.

10
Look at the lines. Some are thick and misshapen what we need to do is taper.

11. 11

Use the eraser

Grab the eraser and taper the lines by erasing the edges of the line.

12.

12
Do it to the rest of the lines.

13.

13
Add color.Now it is time to add color.

Method 4 of 7: Coloring Method 1

1.

1
Go to the colors and pick one that you would like. Create a new layer Okay, now you color it!

2. 2

Show the line art

Move the "lineart" layer above the "color" layer.

3.

4.

4
Continue to add more color. (but make sure you're still on the 'color' layer)

5. 5

All lines removed

Use the magic wand. Now the lines are all out of the image right? That can be easily fixed.
Click the "magic wand tool"

6.

6
Click on the line art layer and use the wand and click the canvas. This should happen:

7.

7
Go down to the color layer and hit "delete on your keyboard, extra coloring is gone

8.

8
Click ctrl+D. Okay. So repeat until all your coloring is finished.

Method 5 of 7: Coloring Method 2

1.

1
Create a new layer, and block off any unclosed areas, such as the hands and
torso. (Temporary)

2.

2
Return to your color layer. Select an area you wish to color with the magic wand tool, and
color it in. The magic wand will not let you color outside of lines, so you need to select each area
you want to color.

3.

3
Delete the "capped" layer and you should end up with this. You may also want to return the
"lineart" layer to above the "color" layer, so the lines aren't distorted.

Method 6 of 7: Shading

1.

1
Shade and highlight Create a new layer Click the airbrush and set to 10% opacity at the
top, and pick a color darker then your original. Wherever you think there is shade go over
with your airbrush.

2.

2
Keep going with the body.

3. 3

Now pick a color lighter the your original color and where you think there's light,
highlight it! Add details like the eyes.

Method 7 of 7: Finished

1.

1
The final result