I mentioned last week that I was working on redoing all of my tribal brush sets. To make them larger… much larger. They should end up all being around 2000 pixels tall or wide, and some of them started out at about 100 pixels (the ones in the “Tribal (Small)” set really WERE that small). Want to know how I’m doing it?
That’s exactly what this tutorial will explain. As well as how to use paths in general, and some tips on creating hair and lines that fade out or become smaller in diameter as they go along. There is SO much that you can do in Photoshop with paths. And they’re great for any kind of vector work (not as good as Illustrator, I’m sure.. but I don’t have that one yet).
No brush tips this week, because this tutorial is made up of a bunch of tips, as well as how to use paths in general. Enjoy!
Subscribe - RSS
Excellent tutorial Stephanie!! Thanks so much!!!!
PS - the next tutorial I would LOVE to learn about is “dingbats”. How do you convert them into custom “brushes and shapes”. I have a ton of them that I would really like to work with, but I’m not sure what the best technique is. Thanks again (((hugs)))
Hope you’re feeling better
I don’t have any idea about how to make shapes, unfortunately. But I may look that one up and share it one day. As for converting dingbats into brushes, what do you mean? Dingbats that you find on the internet in an image file, or what? If so, you could do that using this technique. Not sure I’m following what you mean entirely, perhaps?
I am feeling much better, thanks
thank you so much, this helped a lot!!!
Great to hear!
Great tutorial, thank you.
Thanks so much, Nancy
[...] Dawn: the amazingly talented and generous Stephanie shares her wisdom with her latest tutorial: Paths in Photoshop. If you’ve never visited her site and you’re a Photoshop brush and pattern junkie, [...]
Good stuff! Thanks for this. The pen tool has been an adversary of mine for years but a logo client has needs that require it and this tutorial made it so I could do just what was needed.
Awesome! So glad to be able to help
HELP me…
I’ve read your tutorials and i feel more professional than before..
ThanxX…
But, 1 thing i don’t understan..I feel very confious when i create a brush and define brush, then i try in a blank page, the color always lighter then the color i use on the foreground…
Ohhh…whats wrong?PliZz…help me
I’m not entirely sure. I THINK I know what you mean, because I guess brushes never seem to be 100% non-transparent if you only use them once, even though the brush was made using pure black. I’m not sure why Photoshop does that. To fix it, you can always just click twice when you apply the brush. If it’s TOO thick then, then you could change the transparency of the layer (if you put it on its own). I’ve never noticed this as a huge problem before, though… so the difference must be pretty small, at least on my computer. It may be some of your settings in Photoshop, I have no idea. Sorry I couldn’t help more!
Thanks for the wonderful tutorials!
I have a question about brushes: once I have used a brush and made an image (say I created a “fabric” patch, with stitches inside the outline of the patch where I used a stitch brush), how can I change that stitched edge later, if I would for example want to change the spacing between the stitches? Can I somehow select the layer with the stitches and change the look and feel of the stitches, or would I have to recreate the path with new brush settings?
Thanks in advance!!
Loes
If you’re making it from scratch, and you have the stitches on their own layer, then you could certainly move them! Just use the “lasso” tool to make a selection around the stitch that you want to move, and then the tool just to the right of it (the move tool) to move it around.
Now, if you’re talking about using this tutorial to create the brush from an image, what I would do is this. When you make a selection using the “color range” thing I talk about, go through the next few steps twice. Once for the stitches, and once for the shape of the patch. Then put each on their own layer. Then you could do the same thing I mentioned in the first paragraph to move them.
I’m not sure how else to explain that, so if I didn’t do a very good job, I apologize! Feel free to write back if you’re still having trouble.
Your tutorials are very helpful, easier to understand than many of the others I’ve found. I’m trying to follow this one on paths. My question is:
when drawing an illustration of a vehicle and I want to highlight a shadow how do I draw a line that I can airbrush just one side of and not the other.
Sorry if I’m not explaining this very well. Just started using Photoshop cs3 and want to do mainly illustration and not photo manipulation. would appreciate any help you could give, if you’re able to understand my question.
Thanks, Ron
I’m definitely not following the question, I’m sorry! But, if you want to REMOVE something from where you will be painting, you’ll need to do that in the step where you’re taking a selection of something based on a color. Once you’ve got your selection and BEFORE you turn it into a path, you’ll need to use the lasso tool while holding down the ALT key to subtract whatever you use the lasso tool on from the current selection.
I don’t have a computer with Photoshop with me right now, so I can’t explain it any better than that right now… sorry! I’m out of town taking care of my mother-in-law, who just had surgery.
If that wasn’t what you meant, please feel free to try to explain it another way and I’ll happily try again to answer your question the best that I can without a copy of PS with me!
Hey. Thanks for this great tip. I was never able to find that small button that enables you to draw brushes automatically along paths. It’s going to make my designs a bit better now
Yep, I’m using paths more and more! Very handy stuff. Glad to help out!
in one word.. WOW
in some more…
Pen tool is my newest favorite tool in photoshop.. thank so much for this :O
Forgot something…..
Great website! very usefull stuff on here. Im quite femiliar with photoshop, but i’ve seen stuff on this website which really makes me feel stupid xD
And thanks for those brushes too. really nice.
Keep up the good work!
// Arend
Thanks so much! I’m glad to hear that this came in handy for you. I totally agree, I am now in love with the pen tool, at least when it comes to my graphic design and brushes.
I use Photoshop Elements 5.0 and it does not have a Pen tool. What other tool could I use?
I use Photoshop Elements 5.0, and it doesn’t have a Pen tool. What other tool could I use?
I use Photoshop EleIments 5.0, and it doesn’t have a Pen tool. What other tool could I substitute for it?
Hmm. I’m not sure that Photoshop Elements can do the equivalent of this, then. I can’t think of what else they’d call it. Sorry
Hi Stephanie, you have great brushes. I have one question though.
How do create so smooth ornament curves, do you have some special technique or use specific tools to create smooth, proportional (bigger in the beggining, thinner at the end) curves?
If you read this tutorial and my tutorial on brush techniques, it will explain it all. What I do is make the path, and then use the “fade” technique (described in the brush tutorial) to make the brush mark get smaller and fade out as it goes. Hopefully those two will help!
Thanks so much
HELP! this is nice tut.., but it dose not work at my end
….dont know why.., i use photoshop-7.0 , tho i have the pen tool, even the “free-pen” tool..n i even adjusted to path mode ….it dose not create any path on my canvas, it shows normal pen tool lines, n no curves or etc…, what ‘ld be wrong ???? this tut dose not support PS-7 ??? or something wrong with my settings ?? or whats the other method to archive the same result ??? can anyone help me out ??
Vijay
I’m not sure exactly which part isn’t working for you, but paths ARE supported in Photoshop 7.0. I just opened my copy to be absolutely sure, and it worked.
Could you tell me exactly which step is where you’re getting stuck? I’d be glad to try to help!
Step 1 & 2. as i select “free pen” tool n click on “path” button…., n start to create a path on my canvas ….., path dose not appere on my canvas, instead it starts painting (drawing lines ), why this happens n how can i fix it ?? as i said im using PS7, what ‘ld be the prob??
As long as you have the right tools selected (make sure it’s the freeform pen tool), then you should see a thin, black line being “painted” onto the screen as you use it. You will NOT actually see the points on it like in my image until you take the “Direct Selection Tool” and click somewhere on that path.
Maybe that’s all that’s happening? It sounds like you’re doing it right. I just opened up my PS 7 and tried it, and it works just the same as how it should.
Try continuing on with the tutorial to see if it lets you manipulate it like a path and whatnot. If it still doesn’t… I’m not sure what to tell you. You must have a setting in Photoshop on or off that is not the default setting, perhaps. But try manipulating it first… maybe it’s just as simple as what I’d mentioned about not seeing the points at first.
Good luck!
i think its different all together on my PS7, cuz what i fond out after many trials and errors ..that when i create path using free pen tool, after words i have hold the free pen point (the tip of the free pen tool ) exactly over any point on the path n then right click on the mouse n i get many option over there one of which is “add anchor points” n when i do that i get many anchor points on the path shape, some them are “dark” n some are “transparent” (which i dont know how to work with) ..n the i tried creating free formed smooth line…but it was so messy..that i just ‘ld not make the shape which i wanted, tho i made it…, ( i just dont know how play with those anchor points, can u help??) …later on ..i just clicked on the “stroke the sub path” n it worked , but how do i play with those anchors , which i find it very difficult n ‘ld not get the free form shape..any help.., any tut on that particular topic, it ‘ld be great help..cuz i have realized that ..once i get to know how create the desired free formed shapes…its gone be lot of fun…
I’m not sure what to tell you, because when I open up my copy of Photoshop 7 and try to play with paths, it works EXACTLY as it does in my tutorial here. There must be a setting somewhere that isn’t quite right. I don’t think I changed any of my default Photoshop settings, so it should work this way for you, too.
Adding anchor points is actually in my tutorial… and that’s one way to continue shaping when you run out of points. You shouldn’t be right clicking at all. Click on the point once (left click) to “select” it, and you should see those two lines coming out of it. Click (left) and drag the tips of THOSE two lines and move them around to manipulate the path.
If that’s not working for you, I’m not sure what the problem could be, sorry! It’s very hard to troubleshoot these kinds of things without being able to actually watch to see what you’re doing right or wrong.
Best of luck on it, though!