Pen Tool

The pen tool is incredibly powerful and a very versatile tool in Photoshop. On top of allowing the user to make selections, we can also create complex shapes, add fills and paths to our projects. Learning the Pen tool in Photoshop will save you a lot of time and effort down the road.

Bonus! Adding Text to a Path!

Just like the title says - we can create a path for text to follow on our documents. This is really cool and allows for some very interesting creativity.

Step 1

• Grab the Pen tool
• Make sure the Paths option is selected in the tool modifier bar
• Drag out a curve on your canvas.

Step 2

• Select your Text Tool
• Change the colour of your text to whatever you wish - I chose Black here.
• Move your cursor over the path you drew and you will see your cursor change from...

THIS

...TO THIS

Step 3

• Click once your cursor changes
• You should be able to now type anything you wish and your text will follow this created path.
  • Note: Make sure your text alignment is set to LEFT, and not CENTRE or RIGHT or else this won't work!
  • Note: Once you finish typing you can move your text around using the Move/Selection Tool

Step 4

You can also do this with shapes!

• Grab your Ellipse tool
• Draw an Ellipse or a Circle
• Repeat Steps 2 and 3 to have your text follow the new path.

Step 5

To remove the path from your project:

• Click on 'Paths' palette next to the 'Layers' Palette
• Click off the path so it is no longer selected and the path will disappear.