• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • About
  • Portfolio
  • Blog
    • Blogging
    • Business Tips
    • Design
    • Photoshop Tutorials
    • Illustrator Tutorials
    • Freebies
  • Shop
    • Creative Market
    • Spoonflower
    • Design Cuts
    • Patternbank
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • The Library
  • Contact
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Elan Creative Co.

whimsical graphic design

Introduction to the Photoshop Pen Tool

March 5, 2015

How to use the Photoshop Pen Tool / featured image

The Pen Tool is one of my favorite Photoshop tools and one that every designer should know how to use. This is a very powerful and accurate tool, but you will need a bit of practice to learn it.

It’s a tool that Illustrator users are very familiar with, and one that intimidates Photoshop users. Or you might not know why you should use it since most courses don’t focus on it.

When I was in school, I learned to extract objects using the Lasso and Magic Wand tools. My first lesson as a product photo editor was that professional editors don’t use them. So I started learning the Pen Tool.  It was hard at first, but my work became easier when I stopped panicking and became comfortable with it.

This is the first tutorial in a new series that will teach you how to extract complicated objects from images and draw with your mouse. Yes, you can make illustrations even in Photoshop because this tool lets you work with vectors. They are not as complex as the ones in Illustrator, though I like the results better.

This is an easy to follow guide for beginners.  It will help you become familiar with the tools and show you how to draw basic shapes and lines.

Photoshop Pen Tool 101

Practice by making curved lines and simple shapes like circles and stars. Once you become more used to it, open an image of a simple item in Photoshop and try to trace it.

Since the best way to learn is by exercise, next week’s tutorial will show you how to make a simple laurel wreath using the Shape and Pen Tools.

Do you use this tool?

Tweet
Share
Pin1K
Share

Photoshop Tutorials

You might also enjoy:

How to remove the white background from watercolors in Photoshop
Remove the white background from watercolors in Photoshop
How to create a clipping mask in Photoshop
How to create a clipping mask in Photoshop
How to make social media icons / featured image
How to make social media icons
How to make seamless patterns using Photoshop actions
Make seamless patterns using Photoshop actions

About Cristina Silvia

Hey there! I’m Cristina, and I’m a self-taught graphic designer and illustrator. With an everlasting love of all creative endeavors, I found joy in sharing with others what I’ve learned over the years and helping bloggers and entrepreneurs bring their dreams to life through beautiful designs.

The Newsletter

Subscribe to our mailing list to get the latest posts in your inbox + news and special offers.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. John.d.j says

    August 29, 2017 at 8:49 pm

    ???

Trackbacks

  1. How to make a simple laurel wreath in Photoshop - ElanBlogStudio says:
    March 12, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    […] to work with the Pen Tool and layers in Photoshop. If you are not familiar with the Pen tool, read this tutorial […]

Footer

Discover

  • Portfolio
  • Blog
  • Resources
  • The Library
  • Contact

Learn More

  • Policies
  • Terms
  • Licenses
  • F.A.Q.

Looking for something?

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2022 · Elan Creative Co