Master the Pen Tool in 30 Minutes | Photoshop In-Depth Tutorial

today we're gonna cover everything you need to know about the pen tool in Photoshop especially if you're a beginner this is the video for you right from what is the pen tool to making the most complex selections and many other applications in this video we'll make sure that you get up and running with the tool so without any further ado let's get started [Music] before we begin with anything I want you to remember the letter B I'm gonna flash it on the screen right now time and again so that you don't forget this is the most important letter if you want to learn the pen - I don't want you to click with the mouse or the tablet on the pen - ever please use this shortcut letter B enough of flashing let's get started so what is the pen tool though the pen tool allows you to draw two points point a and point B let me turn this on point a and point B and allows you to draw a line between those points and that's pretty much it and this line can be straight this line can also be a curve that's all there is now this is the fundamental of pen - now you can extend it to create complex shapes parts so on and so forth what is spots and shapes we'll get to that later but we need to remember one thing anything you do with a pen - is a Waechter okay it's not a raster it's a weck term now what's the difference between vector and raster here's the difference a waxer is based on mathematical formulas a raster is based on pixels right the picture that you take with a camera is a raster because it's made up of tiny pixels when you bought the camera they might have said you the camera is 24 megapixels or 50 megapixels which means the picture that you take with it consists of 50 million pixels what are pixels small squares with color information they combine together to give you the image wet down the other hand is any graphic which is based on mathematical formulas and not on pixels for example a simple mathematical formula like y equals x determines a straight diagonal line 45 degrees right no matter how much you zoom it here's the special thing about no matter how much you zoom in it will never pixelated why because it's not made up of pixels let me illustrate in Photoshop if you draw any shape let's choose a custom shape and choose any shape that you like and let's choose a color maybe red that's fine and we're gonna choose shape now if you draw it this is fine this is a fine red colored Spade or whatever that is now since this is vector you can make it as big as you want let's make it this big and it's still razor sharp have a look it's still very sharp if you make it smaller just like this controller come on T and let's make it smaller and hit enter okay now again let's make it bigger it's still sharp you can do this again and again and it always stays razor sharp but this doesn't happen with raster images because they are made up of pixels and once you make them smaller they burn themselves down into those pixels and once you make it bigger it kind of messes up remember this canvas it's made up of pixels so if you zoom in okay if you zoom in it's going to pixel it because this canvas is made up of pixels right remember but this object the shape is a vector now let's do the same thing let's delete it okay let's select it let's delete it now create a new layer select the same shape and this time select pixels now it will be created off pixels let's make it now if you make it bigger it might not pixelate in the first glance right I've made it bigger okay it's still sharp not bad once you make it smaller just like this hit enter and then again when you make it bigger have a look at this it has lost all the details it's totally crazy right now have a look it's crazy all you need to know is that anything you do with the pen tool is a vector simple right now how do you use the pen tool pretty simple use the letter B don't forget it B's the shortcut for the pen to press the letter P second thing select what you want to do you want to make a part or you want to make a shape what are those we'll get to that later first let's understand but now what is a pot a pot is a line a wet to line with no thickness okay if you make a pot like this and if you save the image it won't show up you can add thickness to it you can make convert it into a shape a selection or do a lot of things with it add stroke but a simple part just path is a vector line with no thickness all right so how to make a straight path it's very simple dot click once click twice click thrice four five six seven and once you reach the starting point it shows you circle which means the circuit is complete right just click here and the shape will be complete now you can do anything with you can make it a selection make selection or do anything with it so we'll get to that later okay now let's talk about path what if you want to make a curved path okay let's go back and one of the greatest things about using the pen tool while you're making a selection is that you can go back by point by point that's amazing right okay to make a curve it's simple let's open up the point a and point B so that it becomes easy for you on point a I have a point on point B instead of just clicking there we will click and drag it becomes a curve now once you click and drag look at this what is this this is a handle now a handle influences the curve let me do that again for you if you click and drag this is the handle now if you move the handle this way if you rotate the handle this will determine the degree of the curve now what is degree degree is simply the angle 60 degree 90 degree zero degree right okay now if you make the handle longer this will control the intensity of that degree suppose this is the degree that you want if you make the handle longer it will increase the intensity of it right degree this is we are changing the degree we are changing the intensity of that particular degree got it okay now if you look at the handle it has two parts this part and this part this part influences this curve now what does this part do this part will influence the upcoming curve now what do we mean by upcoming curve so if you make a point here see how this curve is influencing that right now you can anytime edit it by holding ctrl or command if you are using a Mac hold the controller command and you can edit it like hell right you can edit this handle you can edit this point you can do anything you like have a look you can make it shorter longer isn't that wonderful let's go back let's understand one more thing now instead of starting out with a point we could have started out with the handle straight away okay so let's go back and instead of starting out with the point if you at the moment in the beginning just click and drag this creates in handle creates a handle now the next time you make a point the curve will be influenced by that click and drag now what's happening a curve is now influenced by two handles right you can edit it anytime you like by holding the key control or command hold the key controller command it takes you to the direct selection tool and you can edit it real time and once you're satisfied you can continue okay or you could have continued by clicking and dragging right and you can finish it right there done so that's how you do it using two handles now why should we use two handles there are a lot of advantages on using two handles suppose you want to trace this circle what would you do create a point here very simple okay create under the point here click and drag this is fine this looks great and create another point here create and the point here click and drag and finish it just like this done now this might not look weird to you but let me just turn off the circle let let's have a look how this looks disgusting and if you don't have double handles have a look here it looks very sharp anywhere where you don't have a straight handle any point it will look sharp so if you want to make smooth curves you gotta use two handles but if you want the corner you know what to do right you'll get to that okay now instead of doing that if we would have started with the handle just like this and then and by the way you can hold the shift key to make sure that it's straight so when you hold the shift key it's all straight okay let's click and drag here that's fine click and drag here that's great click and drag and complete it now have a look we can always go ahead and edit it make it a little larger I guess we could have make it made it a little larger hold the control key there we go now if you turn it off it's much more smooth or have a look it's so much more smoother it doesn't have a hard edge so all these have two handles influencing one line to have a smoother curve okay you don't want it to be sharp in the points now that circle was easy because it didn't have any sharp edge how to make complex shapes like this okay just click a point here very simple let's start click a point bill let's click another point there and make it just like this it's looking great now if you click a point here this line is gonna be influenced by this handle now there's two things which you can do right you can move the handle or you can delete the handle okay so to move the handle here's what you need to do hold the Alt key okay hold the Alt key click on the handle and move it just like that now it's filling now we should have made this point what a point with handles but we didn't do it don't you need to worry you don't have to go back just let's finish it okay it's straight all you need to remember Alt key bends the handles Alt key removes the handles Alt key also brings the handle back if you want so hold the Alt key this opens up the convert point - when you take it over a point and then just click and drag like that it's too much just release the Alt key hold the Alt key again to just control one of the curves right done and you could have also done one more thing hold the Alt key make a short one and release the Alt key now hold the ctrl key and then control it just the way you like okay make it a little select this one okay click on that point and then take it back and you can adjust the way you'd like right I can influence that now remember that this point doesn't have any handles just this point and this point you could have made handles on both the points now here's another way to do it let's go back and let's delete this path and by the way bots are here under the paths tab we'll get to that later okay take the pen instead of that you could have just opened up with like this okay and created something like this right now you can hold the ctrl key and using the direct selection tool you can adjust it the way you like it and then you can just make a point here and finish it just to finish it if you hold the ctrl key and if you try to edit it this line this handle will not break if you want a sharp edge the handle needs to break if the handle is straight it will be curvy it won't be sharp so hold the Alt key break the angle and once you break the angle you can hold the ctrl key again using the direct selection tool or the command key phase in a Mac and then you can adjust it the way you like okay even here the handle is not broken you need to break the handle how to break the hand handle hold the Alt key and then take the handle you can do whatever you want with it right and it's pretty much done have a look this is a fine piece of path now let's take the game to the very next level let's trace this heart now usually when we are making a heart what we do is that we make one side of it and we flip that side to make it totally symmetrical but in this case just for educational purposes and just to learn we're gonna select the hole we're gonna trace the whole heart okay so I'm going to show you two or three ways to do click once here you're starting out here click and drag now this handle has influenced this curve this handle will influence what the upcoming curve okay click and drag right it has influenced um right just click and drag like that click OK watch I didn't click and drag because I didn't want it to be smooth okay click and drag you can always edit that later click and drag it's fine click and drag and just let's finish it that's fine now let me show you one more thing this is fine this was very easy now here's one more thing I need you to understand by V my making this point you could also have created a handle for it and then broken the handle just like this just create a handle and you could have broken that using which key the Alt key alt key transforms the pen tool to the convert point to there what does the convert point tool do it converts what does it convert it converts corners to curves and curves to corners okay now this is a curve you need to convert that into a corner now in case you made a point here now you need to convert this hold the Alt key break it like that it's going great like that but you don't want this right let's delete it ok with the pen tool selected make sure auto add and delete is selected just hover over it the pen tool will show a - just click it it will head go of it the less at the point the better always remember if you want to take one thing away from this video just take this the lesser the points the better ok the more efficient you are now we can edit it just like this with broken handles it's so much more better now let me show you another way so instead of making a point here you could have used broken handle here too let's start again so click and drag like that and break the handle hold the Alt key and break it just like this now this handle will influence this side and make a curve here this handle will influence this side and make a curve here watch right it has already influenced it's too much influenced I know you just click and drag it a little bit and you can just make it shorter by holding the control key right control key opens up the direct selection to now you can make it the way you want and once you finish it I'm gonna do it quickly for you see this is influenced by what this one this handle can I show you my personal favorite trick when it comes to pin two I think this will be useful for you here's what you do just click once and make points where you think there will be curve just do that very quickly and maybe you'll do it once here here here here done now you can hold the Alt key now remember what does the Alt key do it transforms the pen too into the convert point to when you hover over an anchor point so this is these are the points or in other words anchor points when you hold the Alt key and hover over these points this converts the pen to into the convert point too now what does the convert point to do it converts it converts what it converts corners to curves and curves to corners in technical words it does three things number one it introduces handles it deletes handles and it breaks handles right that's all that it does hold the Alt key click and drag fine done hold the Alt key click and drag done and maybe you want to break the handle here if you want a little sharpness then release the Alt key and hold the Alt key again this will break the handle but we don't want to break the handle here this is fine the way it is now hold the Alt key click and drag just like not in the opposite direction here now we want to break the handle how to break the handle release the Alt key hold it again and then simple right and you want to drag it hold the control key and that's fine now once it's broken you can use the control key I know this that's lot to take in but at the end I'll tell you ways to practice it okay hold the Alt key and introduce a handle there you go okay introduce a handle this is so much faster for me and then you can hold the control key and adjust that so much faster now let me introduce you to the pen tool family if you're using the pen tool these are the tools which you will be using along with it so there is this free form pen - what does this mean is that if you draw anything that will convert it to a path you will never use it honestly you will never use it this is add Anchor Point - okay this is important choose add Anchor Point - if you want to add a point here and there you want to do something with it just add a point you can do anything with it just change or do whatever you want it adds points as simple as that now there's another one delete Anchor Point - just delete it done it deletes points and another one convert point - we have already used this by using a shortcut can work point - what it does it converts what converts what a curve to a corner and a corner to a curve in technical words it introduces handles it removes handles and it breaks handles that's what it does so let me add a point here let me show what it does okay so if we add a point here if we remove this point so convert point - if we click on that that will remove the handles from the point I now if you want to introduce the handles back again the same convert point tool click and drag done if you want to break the handle the same convert point tool is selected just break the handle as simple as that right and another one which you will be using which we were already using is the direct selection - right direct selection tool is used for editing these now do you have to choose all of them while using the pen tool known all you have to do use the shortcuts so just select the pen to be again do not click on it we to use the pen tool and then what are the shortcuts ctrl or command for the direct selection to see you can edit it alt or option for the convert point - okay simple same and that's all you need to remember and also hold the shift key if you want anything straight straight 90 degrees 45 degrees shift is your man or woman okay just to add you don't have to use these add Anchor Point and delete Anchor Point tools all you have to do just make sure auto add delete is checked and when you hover over the path with this make sure the path is selected by holding the ctrl or command if you using Mac and clicking on it and then when you have the pen tool selected and many have this checked and if you want to add a point just when you hover over the path have a look wherever there is no point and it's just the plain path it just transforms it to add anchor point to all right so you can add anchor point if you like and you can hold the ctrl or command to just control it if you want to delete it look here it's Auto add delete you can use the same tool right so you can hover over the point and just click once it takes it away okay you can also take this away if you want so that's how it works just make sure this is checked and you don't have to access these tools just use the pen tool and all the shortcuts now you must be thinking whatever we do with the pen tool doesn't show up unless why would it show up after all it's a path right so if you do anything with the pen tool just like this select the pen to be okay if it select the freeform - you know what to do shift P to just shift between the pen tool and the freeform - it will always use just the pen tool make sure it's set to the pen - now click on click once and if you make any path it doesn't show up here instead it shows up in path right have a look work path you can make a new path see want to go back to the old one well it's not lost sometimes you think where did that path go it just doesn't delete it's still there in the paths tab okay check the parts this is for the part step now here's what's interesting let's leave both of these delete both of these now if you create a closed path any Philip okay let's make a closed path just like this and okay very funky path here you want to break this Alt key or the option key break it and just like spivey eyes you want to fill it very simple let's fill it go to the layers panel and click on this gray white icon and choose solid color choose whatever color you want maybe yellow or green okay let's your screen click OK now it's filled now this is a shape this is a shape now what is the difference between shape and a path simple a shape is a pot with a film since fill cannot be there in the paths tab the fill is in the layers tab and the corresponding path is in the pots tab have a look colorful shape path okay even if you delete the work pot doesn't matter the shape is still there whatever shape we created earlier so I created this moon shape if you select this if you go to the paths tab it has moon shape path the corresponding path for this shape right you can change it anytime you like come back to the layers we created the shape color fill we can change the color just double click on it you can change the color to anything you like okay fill is in the layers panel the path the corresponding path is in the paths tab okay you can change it anytime you like you know what to do press ctrl and then you can make changes to this right very very simple I can just add or subtract do whatever you want with it so just remember this is simple what is a shape a shape is a pot with fill where Phil is in the layers tab and pot is in the paths tab you can do it in another way too you can just delete it and once you select the pen tool you can choose shape see the pen tool deals just with paths and shape these are vectors it doesn't deal with pixels and that's why it's grayed out shape lets you shape and if you draw the same it will already come with the fill okay just lets it's already complete shape it's a weird shape but you get the idea let's try it again select the pen to be don't forget that okay and let's finish it or we didn't just draw it yeah there we go that looks better and now see the fill is in the layers panel the pot is right here you can just double click on it and change the color to whatever you like now what is the application of the pen do believe me there are so many applications which are beyond the scope of this video right from making selections both shapes strokes adobe illustrator has the pen tool any drawing software has a pen to write any good drawing software okay now if you quickly want to know what are the applications simple just create a path let's create a new layer first and create any part like that right click on it see what you can do make a selection new guides from shape fill pot stroke path bunch of things you can do with it okay a lot more things you can create vector masks okay now let's talk about creating selections if you want to make precise selections okay if you have hard edges not hairs if there's a hair in your photo of course i would recommend you to use selected masks but if you have hard edges you can use the pen tool okay for very precise selections so like this and just like this just trace along the lines it's very simple and you can use that trick just point point point point point okay and then you can make it smooth later just point point point finish it you can make it smooth later you can just hold the Alt key or the option key click and drag opposite direction this is the right direction okay click-and-drag Alt key click and drag and by the way once I'm zoomed in I'm holding the spacebar key to move the canvas okay Alt key click and drag now here we need to break it how to break it release it and then again grab this handle the Alt key is held the option key in Mac then make it just like this this handle is influencing this curve this handle is influencing this curve as simple as that just introduce it make it a little smaller and you get the idea how to do it I'm not gonna do it completely and once you want to convert this into a selection just right click on it and make selection feather 0 click OK feathers the softness of the selection and now you can choose this one this layer and then you can create a mask of it just like this so simple isn't it now one of the most common questions that we get a lot that suppose you're using the pen tool and using the direct selection tool click somewhere else how to continue this right if you use the pen tool again it creates a new path right how to continue this ok suppose you held the controller command to click somewhere else how would you continue this it's very simple press B again if it selects any other two if it's already selecting pen tool that's fine now once you hover over it the last line it will show you a symbol right connect symbol just click on that and from there you can continue from the same part or whatever path you want to continue with if there are a lot of parts just click on the end and go to the paths panel or select that path and you can continue very easily I know this was a lot of information for you to take in but at the end of the day it all boils down to one thing but I think three things practice practice and practice and one of the very fun ways to practice is by playing a game which game the Bezier game if you want to up your game in the pen to play this game so that's this game crafted by mark McKay he's a genius guy really really great help just go to BC art method a see links in the description just get started and it will hone your skills it's a level by level game so it's showing you what to do just click here click here this was simple done okay this will go from shape to shape if you'll show you what keys to press and it will show you shift if you hold the shift straight line will happen and 45 degrees 45 degrees 90 degrees zero degree 180 degrees straight lines okay it will show you what to do and you can up your game by using this this was simple just click and drag like that hold the shift key to make it straight simple simple simple just simple done now this is where I learned to make the heart right taught you so click and drag and you know what to do hold the Alt key to break it down and then make it like that hold the Alt key now to break it down and finish it now it's showing me an error okay you figure this out okay play this game you will learn a lot okay just a quick recap what is a pen too though a pen tool allows you to draw a line between two points point a and point B that line can be a curve that line can be linear or straight okay pen tool allows you to draw two things parts and shape what is a part it's a vector line with no thickness you can add thickness to it later strokes and all but it's a vector line with no shapes anything you do with the pen do is vector not raster it's not pixel based it's mathematically built okay and then there is shape now what is shape though shape is a path with the film where the fill is in the layers panel and the path is in the paths tab simple so what are the shortcuts that you need to remember be flashing again and again this is the most important shortcut for going to the pen tool then there is alt or option used for what it converts the pen to if you hover over an anchor point to convert point to what does the convert point tool do it introduces a handle it deletes a handle it bends the handle now then there is control command that is used to edit the path okay just click on a point you can edit the handle you can edit the point do whatever you so that's pretty much it for the pen tool hope this video was helpful and if this was make sure to give us a like and also don't forget to subscribe and not just subscribe to ring the bell so that you my friend don't miss a thing I would like to thank all these nice people for making this episode possible and help you eat pixel-perfect free for everybody forever thank you so much for watching I'll see you guys my next until then stay tuned and make sure that you keep creating [Music]

Channel: PiXimperfect

Views: 3,064,763

Keywords: pen tool photoshop, pen tool selection, pen tool tutorial, anchor point, photoshop path tool, photoshop shapes, photoshop drawing tools, pen anchor, using pen tool, pen tool vector, vector vs raster, pen tol drawing, pen tool shapes, piximperfect, photoshop tutorial for beginners, design

Id: 5kAQUNFZJXY

Length: 31min 33sec (1893 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 05 2017