Learning Adobe Photoshop

Elements 7
By Greg Bowden

Chapter 4

The Drawing
Tools

Guided Computer Tutorials

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© Greg Bowden

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First published 2009

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 Chapter

4
The Drawing Tools
Photoshop provides drawing tools that can be used with photos or in the creation of
your own designs. These tools allow you to create web page buttons,, borders for photos,
company logos, artistic sketches, etc.

Starting a Blank Document

1 Load Photoshop Elements in EDIT MODE or close the current file.
2 Display the FILE menu, highlight NEW and select BLANK FILE.

3 Set the WIDTH to 800 pixels, the

HEIGHT to 600 pixels and the
BACKGROUND CONTENTS to WHITE.

4 Select OK to start the document.

Drawing Normal Shapes

Photoshop provides the normal drawing shapes such as rectangles, ellipses, polygons
and lines.

A Drawing Rectangles
1 The SHAPES TOOL is at the lower section of the TOOLS palette. It may contain a
rectangle, ellipse, line or custom shape depending on which tool was used last.

2 Click and hold the mouse button

on the SHAPES TOOL in the TOOLS
palette and select the RECTANGLE
TOOL from the pop-up list of tools.

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Learning Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

3 Check that the CREATE NEW SHAPE

LAYER button is selected in the
OPTIONS BAR, drag a rectangle on
the screen and it will be filled with
the colour displayed in the OPTIONS
BAR.

4 Click on the COLOUR box arrow in

the OPTIONS BAR.

5 Select a colour shade and the

rectangle will be filled with the new
colour.

6 Click on the COLOUR box arrow again to close the COLOUR palette.

B Rectangle Styles
There are numerous styles that can be applied to a shape.

1 Click on the arrow next to the STYLE

box in the OPTIONS BAR to display
the STYLE palette and select a style
for the rectangle.

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 The Drawing Tools 4

2 Click on the arrow icon at the top

right of the STYLE palette to display
the STYLE PALETTE MENU and select
COMPLEX.

3 Try some of the complex styles. If

you don’t like the effect simply select
a different effect.

4 Click on the STYLE PALETTE

MENU icon again and select
PHOTOGRAPHIC EFFECTS.

5 Apply some of the PHOTOGRAPHIC

EFFECTS to the rectangle.

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Learning Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

6 Try some other styles from the STYLE PALETTE MENU. Some are suitable for
rectangles others are less effective.

7 Click on the STYLE PALETTE MENU

icon again and select REMOVE
STYLES to clear the styles from the
rectangle.

C Using the Effects Palette

You can also apply styles to the rectangle from the EFFECTS palette.

1 Click on the LAYER STYLES icon at

the top of the EFFECTS palette and
set the TYPE box to BEVELS.

2 Double click on one of the BEVEL

styles to apply it to the rectangle

3 Set the TYPE box in the EFFECTS

palette to DROP SHADOWS and
double click on a DROP SHADOW
style to apply it to the rectangle.

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 The Drawing Tools 4
D Creating Buttons
Buttons have become a vital part of web sites. Photoshop Elements allows you to
quickly produce professional looking buttons.

1 Select the ROUNDED RECTANGLE

TOOL from the SHAPES TOOL in
the TOOLS PALETTE, draw a small
rectangle next to the first rectangle
and it will have rounded corners.

2 In the OPTIONS BAR set the RADIUS
box to 20 pixels and the STYLE to
REMOVE STYLE.

NOTE: i The RADIUS box controls the size of the rounded corners of
the rectangle.
ii Notice that there are now 3 layers in the LAYERS palette.
One for the background and layers for each shape.

3 When you make a style change only the shape in the selected layer is altered.

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