No Drawing Necessary: Custom Shapes in Photoshop
58mBeginner2020-10-02
Authors

Deke McClelland
Author, Educator, Image Editing and Graphic Design Expert
Course details
Designers and nondesigners alike have projects, presentations, and mockups that require graphics. Programs like Adobe Photoshop help you create graphics quickly—in time for your next meeting—with no drawing necessary. This course is all about custom shapes: representative icons, figures, and silhouettes grouped by the dozens in the Photoshop Shapes panel. But just because Photoshop provides hundreds upon hundreds of custom shapes doesn’t mean that you’re going to find the exact one you’re looking for. In this course, Deke McClelland teaches you how to create your own custom shapes using the Custom Shape tool, refine and reshape to shapes perfection in Adobe Illustrator, and even trace a photographic element using the automated Image Trace feature. Deke also explains how to shave away unwanted anchor points with the Simplify command, and add an elaborate custom shape—of your own making—to a piece of vector-based artwork. The best part is, you never need to draw a single line.
Topics include:
Creating custom shapes with a simple drag
Combining custom shapes onto a single Photoshop layer
Copying and pasting custom shapes
Smoothing out jagged outlines with the Simplify command
Creating your own custom shape with Image Trace
Integrating custom shapes into vector-based artwork
Topics include:
Creating custom shapes with a simple drag
Combining custom shapes onto a single Photoshop layer
Copying and pasting custom shapes
Smoothing out jagged outlines with the Simplify command
Creating your own custom shape with Image Trace
Integrating custom shapes into vector-based artwork
Skills covered
IllustratorImage EditingPhotoshopPhotographyAdobeOne-Off
Concepts
How Not to Draw - Introduction
- 01 - Art without drawing
1. Photoshop Vector Shapes
- 02 - Introducing the Shapes panel
- 03 - Using the Custom Shape tool
- 04 - Combining custom shapes
- 05 - Defining your own custom shape
- 06 - Loading several hundred custom shapes
2. Moving Shapes into Illustrator
- 07 - Copying and pasting a custom shape
- 08 - Troubleshooting a dimmed Paste command
- 09 - Pasting multiple custom shapes
3. Simplifying Custom Shapes
- 10 - Using the Simplify command
- 11 - Advanced simplification
- 12 - Reshaping a custom path outline
4. Create Your Own with Image Trace
- 13 - Preparing a photographic image
- 14 - Placing and tracing the image
- 15 - Expanding an image tracing
- 16 - Adding your custom shape to a piece of art
Class Dismissed
- 17 - Now away with you