Leverage Adobe Photoshop's powerful tools to create and manipulate shapes with this comprehensive guide. Dive into the layers panel, explore the move tool, and learn how to rename files, change color fill options, and create several shapes such as rectangles, squares, ellipses, and circles.
Key Insights
- The layers panel in Adobe Photoshop is a crucial aspect of the software where all objects, images, shapes, texts, and masks reside and stack on top of each other. Manipulating this panel allows for layering and editing of different elements.
- The rectangle tool is versatile, allowing the creation of both rectangles and squares. Holding shift while drawing constrains the dimensions to create a perfect square. Fill options can be changed to exhibit different colors for different shapes.
- Adobe Photoshop also allows for creation of ellipses and circles, with the flexibility to change dimensions and move the shapes to desired locations on the canvas. Additionally, specific colors can be chosen using hex codes for precision.
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In this video, we will be covering a few basic shape tools, as well as discussing the Layers panel and the Move tool. Let's begin by creating a new file. We can do this by going to our menu bar and selecting File > New.
With the New Document window open, we can go to the Photo Templates and select our default Photoshop size. On the right-hand side of the window, we can double-click the title to change the name. Let's rename this file “shapes.”
Then we can leave all the other default settings the same, clicking “Create” to create our file. The first thing we'll want to do with our file open is save it. We can do this by going to our menu bar and clicking File > Save As.
We’ll click Save As when we want to create a new file. However, once the file has been saved, we’ll simply click Save or use CTRL+S on the keyboard. In this case, we'll use Save As to create a new file.
We’ll want to save this file in our DAC 221 folder, and it already has the name “shapes.psd, ” indicating that it is a Photoshop file. Let's click “Save.” The first thing I want to do is bring our attention to the Layers panel found on the bottom right of the screen.
This Layers panel is where all the objects, images, shapes, text, and masks live and are stacked. Currently, we can see that the only layer here is our background layer. So let’s get started adding more layers with shapes.
We can do this by going to our Tools bar and selecting the Rectangle tool. With the Rectangle tool selected, let's go to our canvas, and on the top left-hand side of the canvas, we can begin by using the left mouse button and clicking and dragging until we have the outline of a rectangle. As you can see, when we change the dimensions of the rectangle, they're displayed to the right.
When you're happy with your rectangle, simply release the mouse button. And there we have it—we have a rectangle on our canvas, and the rectangle shows up as one of our layers in the Layers panel.
If your rectangle isn’t the same color as mine, that’s okay. We can change the color of the rectangle by changing the fill. The Fill option is in our Options bar.
We can click on the color indicator of the Fill in the Options bar. Let's choose a gray for this rectangle by simply choosing one of the colors below. To close this color window, we can press ENTER or click on the color indicator.
Next, let’s change the name of this rectangle in our Layers panel. We can do this by double-clicking on the title “Rectangle 1” and typing “Gray Rectangle.” Press ENTER when you’re done.
Great—we now have two layers in our Layers panel. Let's add another. First, we'll want to deselect the Gray Rectangle by clicking in the Layers panel where there isn't a layer.
Next, let's navigate to our Tools gallery by clicking and holding the Rectangle tool. We want to add a blue square, but there isn’t a Square tool; therefore, we’ll have to use the Rectangle tool. Next, let's change the Fill of our square before we begin drawing it.
We can do this by going back to our Fill indicator in the Options bar and selecting a blue color. I’m going to choose this blue, but you can choose another. We’ll press ENTER to close this window.
Let's begin drawing a square on the top right of our canvas. We can do this by clicking and dragging. One way to create the square is to match up the width and the height, but it's difficult and not very practical.
An easier way is to hold Shift on your keyboard while drawing the square. This will constrain it to a square. Release when you’ve finished.
Here you can see that we have a blue square on our canvas, as well as another layer in our Layers panel. Let’s change the name of this layer to “Blue Square” by double-clicking the title and typing “Blue Square.” Press ENTER when you've finished.
Next, let's add additional shapes. First, we'll deselect the Blue Square by clicking in the Layers panel. And let’s add an ellipse.
We can do this by going back to our Tools gallery by clicking and holding on the Rectangle tool and releasing over the Ellipse tool. This time, instead of clicking and dragging an ellipse, I'm going to click on the bottom left of the canvas. This allows us to create an ellipse by giving it dimensions.
Let’s give our ellipse a width of 200 px (pixels) by 120 px (pixels). You’ll notice that you don’t have to type “px”—it’ll autofill that for you. Click OK and you’ll see that we have an ellipse.
Unfortunately, this ellipse is a little smaller than expected, so let’s change the dimensions in our Options bar. We can see that it's currently set to 200 × 120. Let’s change it by double-clicking on the width and changing it to 600.
Next, we can double-click on the 120 height and change that to 400. Press ENTER when you’re done. Great—here we have an ellipse, but as you can see, it’s below the canvas.
We can change that by moving it. We’ll go to our Move tool in the Tools bar and simply move it. Click on the ellipse and drag it to your desired location.
Next, let’s change the Fill color of this ellipse. We’ll give it a red color. In the past, we’ve done this in the Options bar, but as you can see, we don’t have that option right now.
That’s because we currently have the Move tool selected, and thus we see the Move tool options in the Options bar. Let’s go back to our Ellipse tool in the Tools bar and select that. Now you can see we have the option to change our Fill.
Let’s change the Fill to red. For me, this isn’t really the red I’m going for. I want a more specific red, so let’s click on the Color Picker found in the top right of the color window.
Here we have many more options by dragging the indicators around to our desired red. Let’s choose this red. You can choose another red, then click OK.
Next, let’s change the title of our ellipse. We can do this again by double-clicking on the layer in the Layers panel labeled “Ellipse 1.” Let’s change it to “Red Ellipse.”
Press ENTER when you're done. Finally, let’s add one more shape. We’ll add a circle.
We can do this first by clicking outside of the layer in the Layers panel. Then again, we'll select the Ellipse tool. Moving to the bottom right of the canvas, let’s click and drag with the Ellipse tool.
The circle works similarly to the square in that by holding Shift, we can constrain it to equal width and height, giving us a circle. Release when you’re happy with your circle. Let’s again change the Fill of this circle.
We can do this in our Options bar by clicking the Fill indicator. Let’s use the Color Picker to be more specific about our color. As you can see, we have a highlighted series of numbers and letters at the bottom.
This is called a hex code, and it gives you the specific value of a color. For this circle, let’s enter a specific burnt orange color. Let’s enter C94C30**.
When we’ve done that, we can click OK. Now our Fill has changed to that specific hex code color. Let’s change the title of that layer in our Layers panel to “Orange Circle” by double-clicking on the title.
Press ENTER when you’ve finished. Finally, let’s save our work so far. We can do this by going to the menu bar and selecting File > Save.
We’ll click OK to maximize compatibility. In the next video, we will look at strokes and layer organization. See you there.