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Learn to create this multidimensional shape in Illustrator starting with a simple 20 point star.
You will learn how to make the points of the star round, how to fill it with a color and a pattern then how to create the outside and inside strokes.
The entire effect (minus the background and text) is one single resizable fully adjustable vector shape.
Labels: appearance panel, dimensional, fill, Illustrator, layered shape, multiple strokes, star, strokes, vector shape
Categories:Illustrator, video
Learn tips and tricks for using the Appearance Panel in Illustrator.
You will see how to add multiple fills, how to add extra shapes to a single shape, how to move and resize a shape.
You will also see how to make part of a shape transparent using a transparency mask effect created inside the Appearance panel.
This video is ideal for intermediate level Illustrator users and will expand your knowledge of Illustrator tools.
Labels: appearance panel, fill, Illustrator, illustrator technique, stroke, techniques, tips and tricks, tricks, vector shape, video
Categories:Illustrator, video
Learn how to create a multi layer dimensional flower in illustrator using just one shape.
You will see how to use the Appearance panel to duplicate the shape, fill it with partially transparent gradients and then blend it all together.
The shape also has an optional dotted stroke offset inside all the petals – all done using the Appearance panel.
This is an intermediate level Illustrator tutorial so you will need some basic Illustrator skills to be able to follow along.
Labels: abstract image, dimensional, distort and transform, fill, flower, Illustrator, layered, stroke, vector shapes, video
Categories:Illustrator, video
Illustrator can be a challenge to learn and once you get hold of the basics you may be so relieved that you have progressed this far that you forget to dig deeper for better and smarter ways to create designs.
One feature of Illustrator is the ability to add multiple strokes and fills to a single shape, to order them so they appear on top of each other correctly and even to blend them using Blend Modes.
This video shows how to turn a star into this vintage inspired free pattern filled shape in Illustrator. It’s simple to do when you know how – just a few minutes of video can open up a wealth of opportunities for being creative in Illustrator – Enjoy!
Labels: blend modes, fill, Illustrator, layer effects, multiple fills, multiple strokes, offset path, offset stroke, pattern fill, rounded edges, star, stroke
Categories:Illustrator
Learn how to create and use layers in Photoshop, in all versions. Includes how to unlock the background layer and how to add and fill new layers.
Transcript:
Hello, I’m Helen Bradley. Welcome to this video tutorial. In this tutorial we’re going to look at some tips, techniques and tricks for working with layers in Photoshop. When you’re working with an image in Photoshop CS4 and later you’ll probably be working in this tabbed interface. It’s not my personal preference but we’re going to look at working in it and then also why you might look at other ways of working in Photoshop.
The first thing we’ll look at is the Background Layer. Now any image that you open from your camera is always going to have just one layer and it’s always going to be the Background Layer and it’s always going to be locked. In addition if you add a layer, I’m just going to add a filled layer to this image, I can’t drag this layer below the Background Layer. I can’t move the Background Layer above it. The Background Layer is in a sense fixed and there’s nothing much we can do with this image until we unlock the Background Layer. There are few a few ways to do that and the easiest I think is just to grab this little icon here which is the Lock icon and just drag and drop it into the trash and then this converts the Background Layer to a regular layer. Let’s just undo that and see some other ways. We can right click and choose Layer from Background. That has the same effect except that this time we get a chance of naming our layer. We can just click Ok. Let’s undo that again. We can also go up here with the layer selected and choose Layer, New and choose Layer from Background and again click Ok. But honestly I think dragging and dropping this Lock icon is probably the easiest way to convert a Background Layer into a regular layer.
Now you saw me earlier create a new layer. There are lots of ways again that you can create a new layer in Photoshop. You can do Layer, New, Layer or if you have a selection you can choose Layer, New, Layer via Copy so the selection will be copied to a new layer or Layer via Cut where your selection will be cut from the current layer and copied to a new layer. But another way of doing that is just clicking here on the New Layer icon that just creates a brand new layer. And you can drag it into position. You can also delete it by just dropping the layer onto the Delete icon. If I hold the Ctrl key as I click this New Layer icon the layer that I add is below the current layer. So just clicking on this icon adds a layer above. If we Ctrl Click on the icon we add a layer below. So you can target exactly where the layer goes. Let’s add one below this image, Ctrl and click on this icon.
Now I want to fill this layer with this green color which is the current foreground color. A quick and easy way to do that is to hold the Alt key and press Backspace on the PC. That’s Option and Delete on the Mac. That fills this layer with the currently selected foreground color. If I do Ctrl Backspace, Command Delete on the Mac, we fill this layer with the background color. Now we could do that just as easily using this Paint Bucket tool, target the layer and click on the layer that we want to add the color to. But it’s whatever suits you. I find those Alt and Option, Ctrl and Command, Backspace and Delete keys really easy to remember and very easy to do. I’m Just going to trash this layer.
Now I have another image open here and I want to start creating a collage from these two so I want to take this particular layer and drop it onto this image here. Now previous to Photoshop CS4 that used to be easy. Now it’s a pain in the neck but we live with it. I’ve created this as a new layer so it’s not the Background Layer any longer. I’m going to target the Move tool and I’m going to with this layer content selected I’m going to drag on it. And I’m going to drag it up here to the image that I want to paste it into and then I’m going to bring my cursor down. And because I want this centered I’ll hold the Shift key to center it over the middle. And now you can see I have two images, one on one layer, one on the other layer.
Now previous to Photoshop CS4 we didn’t have this tabbed interface. What we had was documents that were just floating and that made life just I think a lot easier. So I’m just going to trash this layer now and see. If you want to unfloat your windows by dragging them off the top bar here then you can simply target this layer and just drag and drop it into another image that easily. So I find that an easier way to work. If you do like the tabbed interface then let’s go back into this tabbed interface.
What we could do is choose Arrange two up Vertical and this would allow us to drag and drop. So in this case I’m going to take this Background Layer and drop it into here. So you can do it with the tabbed interface. It’s just your preference of ways of doing it.
Now we’re back with these two images. I’m going to close down one of them. Well actually I’m going to go back and arrange these images so I’m seeing just the images on a tab and I want this particular one which has two layers on it. I’m going to add a layer mask so I’ll just click the layer I want a Layer Mask on and click the Layer Mask. I’m just going to fill this mask with a Gradient because I want to show you a trick with layers. So let’s just blend these two layers together using a mask to do so. I’ve got my mask selected, a black and white gradient and I’m using a linear gradient. I’m just going to drag a simple linear gradient into the image. So we’ve now got these two images blended together, not particularly attractive, but that’s not really a big problem right now. I’m going to add an adjustment layer so let’s just add an Adjustment Layer. We’ll convert this to black and white just so that we have something to look at here. And I’m going to just make the blues a little bit lighter. Now we have this image.
Now if I wanted to sharpen it for example more appropriate to the web or something I would need to flatten it because you can’t sharpen multiple layers at once. So I would typically go and flatten this image. But if I hold Ctrl and Alt and Shift and press the letter E, that’s Command Option Shift E on the Mac, look what happens. I get a layer which is the merged image. It’s called stamp but what I also have is the original layers still underneath so I could use those later if I for example wanted to come back here and make this layer a little bit transparent so we got some of the color removed but not all of the color. So then I could go back and recreate my merged layer with Ctrl Alt Shift E, Command Option Shift E on the Mac. And then I could sharpen this layer. So this is a sort of have your layers and eat it too so you’ve got everything on one layer but you’ve also got the existing layers in case you ever need them.
Now up until now I’ve been dragging and dropping a layer onto the trashcan to remove it. Let’s just undo that. There’s also a way to delete a layer and that is just pressing the Delete key on the keyboard. You want to be in the layer itself. Right now I seem to be stuck in the opacity area here so let’s just click in the layer, press Delete and the layer has been deleted.
So there are some layer tips and tricks for you in Photoshop. I’m Helen Bradley. Thank you for joining me for this video tutorial. Look out for more of my tutorials here on this YouTube channel and visit projectwoman.com for more tutorials, tips, tricks and techniques for Lightroom, Photoshop, Photoshop Elements and lots more.
Labels: background, fill, Layers, Photoshop, stamp, tip, unlock
For example this image created in Art Rage tips the top of the canvas with plenty of spare room at the bottom.
The simplest solution is to email the image to myself on my desktop computer and then open the image in Photoshop.
To begin I cropped this image to a 1 x 1 ratio by clicking the Crop Tool, set the ratio to 1 x 1 and then drag on the image. Once I let go the Crop Tool I can then drag outwards on it to add some extra canvas at the top of the image.
Right now I’m looking for a smart crop plus some extra room at the top that I will fill with canvas shortly. So the blue area in this image is the bit I need to “manufacture” to get the result I want.
Once the image is cropped I’m ready to get rid of the blue and create some canvas from it.
One issue with this particular image is that the canvas itself has a texture in it so just filling it with white or a plain color won’t work.
So, with the Layers palette visible I’ll click on the Add Layer Mask icon to add a layer mask to the background.
Then I select black as my foreground color, a solid round brush with a hard edge and with the mask targeted I’ll paint out the entire painting, leaving only the textured canvas visible. It’s really important to get rid of all the original painting.
Because this is just a mask the image hasn’t actually been removed, it’s just been hidden for now. Grab the Magic Wand Tool, click on the image layer itself and make a selection of the area you want to remove.
To fill it with texture, choose Edit > Fill, set the Use list to Content Aware and click Ok.
The colored area will be removed and will be replaced with a texture matching the remainder of the image.
To finish, drag the Layer Mask onto the trashcan. When asked whether you want to apply the mask before removing click Delete and the mask will be removed leaving the image in place.
Choose Select > Deselect to remove the selection and then save the image.
Labels: canvas, content aware, fill, ipad, mask, more, Photoshop, room, space
Categories:photoshop
1 Unlock the Background
You will already know the Background of any photo is locked and you can’t do anything much with it until you unlock it. The quickest way to unlock a background layer is from inside the Layers palette. Drag the lock icon to its right and drop it in the Trash and the Background layer will be automatically converted to a regular layer.
2 One click add a Layer
To create a new layer above the current layer click the Add New Layer icon at the foot of the Layer palette.
To add a new layer directly below the current layer Ctrl or Command Click on that icon. Both options add a layer but without displaying the Layer dialog.
3 Merge Everything to One Layer but Keep the Layers too
To merge all the current layers in the document to a single layer and at the same time to keep all the layers intact below it, click the topmost layer of the document and press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E (Command + Option + Shift + E on the Mac). In case you are curious – it’s called Stamp Visible.
4 Select the Content on the Current Layer
To select everything on the current layer Ctrl + Click on the layer thumbnail in the Layers palette.
5 Copy a Layer to Another Document
To copy a layer from one document to another drag the layer from the Layers palette in one document and drop it into the other document. If you hold Shift as you drag the layer will be centered in the middle of the second document.
6 Quick Layer Moves
To quickly move a layer up the layer stack press Command + ] and to move it down, press Command + [.
7 Instant Delete a Layer
To instantly delete a layer, click the layer and press Delete.
Bonus Layer tip
To fill a layer or a selection with the foreground color press Alt + Backspace (Option + Delete on the Mac). Use Control + Backspace (Command + Delete on the Mac to fill the layer or selection with the Background color.
So, over to you now… what are your favorite Layer tips and tricks?
Labels: content, copy, create, delete, fill, layer, merge, move, Photoshop, select, tip, unlock
Categories:photoshop
Learn how to create complex designs in Photoshop from simple shapes. Learn how to quickly rotate shapes, how to find and fill them and some ideas for using them in your own work.
Check out all our tutorials on our YouTube channel.
Complete transcript of this video:
Hello, I’m Helen Bradley. Welcome to this video tutorial. In this tutorial I’m going to show you how to create complex designs from simple shapes in Photoshop. And this will work in practically any version of Photoshop. Before we start on this tutorial I’m going to show you exactly what you’re going to end up with so that you can get an idea as to what we’re aiming for. This is the kind of complex shape that we’re going to create in Photoshop, and we’re going to do it using Photoshop shapes. And what I’ve done is I’ve created a shape on this middle layer and then another shape on the top layer. And what I’ve done is actually blended the two together using a blend mode. But if you liked it you could actually just settle for this shape. You can take any part of this tutorial and use the pieces of it in your own art. So let’s just tuck this image away and let’s get started. And the first thing that we’re going to do is to create a brand new file. And I want to make this file a fixed size because I’m going to need to use some of these dimensions in a minute. And I’m going to make it 4,000 by 4,000 pixels because that’s going to make the math really easy. I’m going to set it to RGB color and I’ll have a white background. So that’ll be just fine. I’ll click Ok. The first thing I’m going to do is add a new layer to make sure that everything is kept separate of this background layer. And then I’m going to choose View and then New Guide and I’m going to add two guides. I’m going to add them at 50 percent horizontal and then another one at 50 percent vertical. And I’m going to choose View and make sure the Snap is turned on and that we’re snapping to guides. Now let’s go and find a shape. Now the shape tools in Photoshop CS6 that I’m using are a little different to in the earlier versions but they work pretty much the same as long as you just follow along here. Now the first thing I’m going to do is select a shape. Now this is the shape that I used earlier. So let’s just click on that to use it. I’m to set my foreground color. I’m going to make sure that I’m working in pixels. Now in earlier versions of Photoshop there’s icons here not a dropdown list. But what you want is Filled Pixels. And then I’m going to make sure my shape is selected, and I’m going to select my layer and draw my shape. And I’m going to set it away from the center line. But before I finish drawing it I’m just going to hold the spacebar and position it. Now I’m going to want it more accurately positioned but we can do that in a second, just let go and it’s filled. I’m going to click the move tool and I’m going to zoom in here because I want to make sure that this is in the exact right position. So yes it has snapped into the correct position. So I’m going to leave it there. Now I’m going to choose Layer, New Layer Via Copy. Now this is critical that you use these steps that we made a second layer and then we’re going to press Ctrl or Command T to get into Transform mode. Now we want to rotate this shape but we want to rotate it around the center point. So I’m going to grab this sort of marker here in the middle and drag it over the center point of my image. And I can check up here and this should say 2,000 pixels by 2,000 pixels. And if it’s not dead right I can come in here and change it. We want it to rotate around the exact midpoint. Then we need to change its angle. And I’m going to rotate this one 30 degrees. So each one of them is going to be rotated 30 degrees from the previous one. And I’ll click the checkmark. To save myself having to do that repeatedly I’m just going to press Ctrl Alt Shift T, which is Command Option Shift T on the Mac. And as you can see every time I press that key I get a rotated shape. I’ll do that until I rotate around the full 360 degrees. I’m then going to click on the first of these layers I’m going to Shift Click on the last of them so they’re all selected and then choose Layer, Merge Layers. And I could just press Ctrl or Command E. And that’s put that shape on a layer all by itself. And really that’s all we’re going to do to create this small complex shape. Let’s go and add a brand new layer, and now let’s go and find a different shape. Here’s the Custom Shape tool. Let’s go and find a different shape to use. Now earlier I used this shape. So let’s just select it. It’s sort of like a little rickrack design. I’m going to change my foreground color so it’ll be a little easier to see and I’m going to drag it on the image. Now I’m not concerned that it drags in proportion here. I think it’s more interesting perhaps if it doesn’t. I’m going to position it roughly where it goes, then zoom in with the Z or Zoom tool. I’m going to choose the Move Tool and make sure that it is directly on that line, so it’s snapped to that line. Now I’m going to make a new layer, Layer, New Layer Via Copy. With this new layer I’m going to make sure I have Move Tool selected. I’m going to move its center point so that its rotation point is right over the middle of my image. I’m going to check up here and if it’s not at 2,000 by 2,000, and X and Y at 2,000 and 2,000 I’m going to make it 2,000 and 2,000. And now I’m going to rotate it. And this one I’m going to rotate just 10 degrees and click the checkmark. And then I’m going to Ctrl Alt Shift T a number of times, in fact 35 times, for this to rotate around and finish its rotation. Then I’m going to grab this layer, click on it, scroll down to the last of these layers, Shift Click on it and then merge them with Layer, Merge Layers or press Ctrl or Command E. So let’s just zoom out here and this is our new shape. And this is the shape with the original one underneath. And now I can impact how these shapes relate with each other by for example setting an Overlay Blend Mode. You can see that we’re getting a different effect. And we can use all sorts of blend modes for these layers to control how they interact with each other to get different effects in our pattern. Now I like that one so I’m going to settle for that. And let’s just add one final layer to this. I’m going to click on the layer. I’m going to add another color. It’s going to be a dark purple. And this time I’m just going to add a circle, a filled circle. And I’m going to add it out here. Actually let’s make it an oval. Now a filled oval, I’ve just dragged the oval out. I need to fill it. The foreground color is the dark purple that I want. So I’m going to Alt Backspace, Option Delete on the Mac. Now I could if I wanted to add some additional circles. So if I wanted to align these or not align them as I wish I can do that. So let’s just add a few different shapes in here. And we’re going to use these to decorate our piece. So having created those shapes I’m now going to select the Move Tool and Ctrl Click on this layer so that I’m going to affect the entire layer. I’m just going to move this down so it’s centered. Now we’re going to do exactly the same thing as we did before, Layer, New Layer Via Copy. We’re going to use the free transform Ctrl or Command T. We’re going to move this transformation point into the center of the circle because we want everything centered nicely. We’re going to change this to 2,000 by 2,000 pixels in case it is not already set up to be that. And then we’re going to choose an angle. I’m just choosing an angle there is a factor of 360 degrees. So I’m going to choose 36 this time and click the checkmark. And now Ctrl Alt Shift T, Command Option Shift T on the Mac, to create my rotations. The same as before, select the first layer, Shift Click on the last of these layers, Ctrl or Command E to merge them. And now let’s see what we have. I’m going to zoom out. You can see that these dots have given us a little bit more visual interest in our design. And we can just run through these blend modes to see what sort of effect we can get with the blend mode. So I’m just running through down the blend mode list to see if any of these are giving me an effect that I like on my design. Well I kind of like the green that I’m getting with this exclusion. So there you have the way of creating a complex pattern in Photoshop. And all we’re doing is creating shapes and rotating them around a known center point. When I’m through I’m going to choose View, Clear Guides and that will get rid of the guides so that we can see our finished pattern. And we could use that as a repeating pattern in Photoshop. We could make it into a shape. We could do all sorts of things with it. We could even make it into a brush if we wanted to. I’m Helen Bradley. Thank you for joining me for this Photoshop tutorial. You can find more of my tutorials on the this YouTube channel. And visit projectwoman.com for tips, tricks and articles on Photoshop, Illustrator and Lightroom.
Labels: Adobe Photoshop, fill, Helen Bradley, how to, Photoshop, rotate shapes, simple shapes, video tutorial
(photo by: Jürgen Eixelsberger)
Need to fill in a selection or a layer with your current foreground color. Press Alt + Delete on a PC (Option + Delete on a Mac) to instantly fill in your selection or layer with your foreground color.
Labels: fill, foreground color, Photoshop, tip how to, tip of the week, trevor adobe, trevor payne
Categories:photoshop, trevor tip
