How to draw a smooth line in Photoshop. Draw abstract lines in Photoshop

18.04.2019

25.01.2017 28.01.2018

Hello to all Photoshop lovers!

It is not at all difficult to draw a straight line in Photoshop, it is enough to move the mouse cursor, but, alas, it does not always turn out to be even with this movement. In the lesson we will learn how to draw straight lines.

To make the line in Photoshop smooth, then hold down the key SHIFT and you will draw a straight line in photoshop. This allows you to draw straight horizontal and vertical lines. You can also draw diagonally, for this you need to click once with the left mouse button on the area where the line begins, the second time where it ends (while holding SHIFT). This will draw a straight line at the given coordinates.

There are several ways to draw straight lines in Photoshop by giving them color, thickness, and other styles. Usually the following tools are used: Brush, Pencil, Pen, Line, Rectangular area. Which tool is best suited for the task is up to you. Each method has its pros and cons.

Draw a straight line with the Brush Tool

The easiest way to draw a line with a tool Brush (Brush Tool). Create a document in Photoshop (ctrl + N) with arbitrary size, I have this 800x600 pixels:

Activate the tool Brush (Brush Tool). Tool call hotkey - B.


Top settings panel change tools if necessary the size and rigidity brushes:

Let's draw a line:

Some kind of it is not quite even, you will reasonably notice, right?

To draw a perfectly straight line, you need to hold down the key before drawing Shift, draw a line and release the key. Here is the straight line:

Keypress method Shift before starting to draw a line, it helps to draw a strictly horizontal or vertical line at an angle of 90 degrees, but if you need to draw a line, for example, diagonally, you must first click the mouse button at the beginning of the line, hold down the key Shift, draw a line, then release the mouse button and Shift.

Draw a straight line with the Pencil Tool

Tool Pencil Tool is in the same tool group as the tool Brush, tool call hotkey - B.


Drawing a line with a tool Pencil Tool similar to drawing brush- make a mouse click at the beginning of the line, hold down the key Shift and draw a line.

Draw a line with the Pen Tool

To draw a line with a tool Feather it will take a little more time than in previous cases.

Activate the tool Feather (Pen Tool), tool call hotkey - P.


Remember to make sure the tool Feather is in mode "circuit". You can view it in top panel tool settings:

Create a new layer, click on the icon for creating a layer in layer panels:

Draw a straight line - just put two dots. To draw a horizontal or vertical line, hold down the key again Shift:

To start drawing a new line, hold down the key ctrl and click on the canvas, if this is not done, the lines will be created continuously.

Draw arbitrary curved lines and hold down the key at the end ctrl with a mouse click on the canvas to complete the lines.

The lines are ready, but, unfortunately, they are only visible in Photoshop in the tab contours (Window-Paths (Window-Paths)), if you save the image, for example, in jpg* format, the lines will not be displayed.

In order to make them visible, we return to the tool Brush, in top panel tool settings the size, brush hardness and if necessary, select the brush itself. We need a round brush:

Choose a color:

Activate the tool Feather, right-click on the canvas and select the item Stroke Path:


The following window will open, in which you need to select as the source "Brush", and a tick "Imitate pressure" (Simulate Pressure) it is desirable to remove to get straight lines:

Result:

If you leave a check mark Simulate Pressure, the lines will become thinner towards the ends:

Draw a line with the Line tool

One of the most common ways to draw a straight line in Photoshop is with the Line. Located in the left panel:

The great thing is that you can easily adjust the color and thickness of the line:

Clamped SHIFT I draw straight lines. They are created by the shape-from-vector tool. You can easily draw a vertical, horizontal and 45 degree straight line.

Straight line with selection in Photoshop

It happens that you don’t want to bother with the settings of vector shapes and brushes. Therefore, you can simply select the desired area in Photoshop, for example, in the form of a line and fill it with color.

There is a Rectangular Selection tool in Photoshop:

For example, we need a long and thick line in Photoshop. Select the desired area:

Choosing a tool fill and set the color for the future line.

Fill the selected area with color and remove the selection CTRL+D. We have a straight line.

Here are some simple ways to draw a line in Photoshop. We hope you found this information useful! Successes in creativity and good mood!

With a tool pen tool

With a tool pen tool(Pen) so that the desired effect can be achieved in a short period of time.


harder

Recorded a small demo video

Interestingly, video goes one and a half minutes and weighs 2 kb BB FlashBack Pro

Feather

  1. Without releasing the mouse button when creating a new point, you can achieve smoothing of the line.
  2. It is better to put points in places where the line should have a bend.
  3. Holding down a key ctrl you can move the control points of the lines using the keyboard.
  4. Holding down a key alt you can adjust the degree of rounding of the line near the point and its distortion

    I was inspired to test Photoshop for its suitability in terms of line drawing. draw lines in photoshop harder than in its vector counterparts and some raster editors - this is the impression I got after getting acquainted with the tools in Paint Tool Sai, Illustrator, Inkscape and others, which have more convenient and flexible tools for creating beautiful linear shapes.

    https://website/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/lines.swf,600,490

    Recorded a small demo video about how to draw lines in Photoshop and achieve the correct shape as a result.

    Interestingly, video goes one and a half minutes and weighs 2 kb– this is very amazing Video recorded on BB FlashBack Pro

    However, not everything is so bad. Having studied the specifics of working with the tool Feather, some tricks have been discovered that make it easier to draw lines and make design work more free.

    Pen Techniques for Creating Lines

    Many people know the first two rules, but 3 and 4 became a discovery for me.

    Having created a shape, you can correct the shape and position of the bends of the line and achieve the desired shape.

    You can change both the point itself and the position of the guide “whiskers”, which define the shape of the corner near the point.

    Working with the finished line

    All the lines you create are in the box Path(Ways). It is desirable for each line to create a separate “layer of lines” in the Path panel.

    Crtl+h- Hide/Show lines.

    Stroke Path… - line stroke function. You can select the tool that will be stroked. Usually this is a brush, and before using this function, it is advisable to set the brush to the desired thickness, and only after resorting to a stroke.

Lines, as well as other geometric elements, are an integral part of the work of the Photoshop wizard. With the help of lines, grids, contours, segments of various shapes are created, skeletons of complex objects are built.

Today's article will be completely devoted to how you can create lines in Photoshop.

As we know from the course of school geometry, lines are straight, broken and curved.

Straight

To create a straight line in Photoshop, there are several options using different tools. All the main construction methods are given in one of the existing lessons.

Therefore, we will not linger in this section, but immediately move on to the next one.

broken line

A broken line consists of several straight segments, and can be closed, making up a polygon. Based on this, there are a couple of ways to build it.

  1. Open polyline

  • Closed polyline
  • As we said earlier, such a line is a polygon. There are two ways to construct polygons - using the appropriate tool from the group "Figure", or by creating a freeform selection followed by a stroke.

    • Figure.

      When applying this method, we get a geometric figure with equal angles and sides.

      To get the line (contour) directly, you need to adjust the stroke, called "Stroke". In our case, it will be a solid stroke of a given size and color.

      After turning off the fill

      we get the required result.

      Such a figure can be deformed and rotated using the same "Free Transform".

    • Rectilinear lasso.

      With this tool, you can build polygons of any configuration. After setting several points, a selected area is created.

      This selection must be circled, for which there is a corresponding function that is called by pressing PKM across the canvas.

      In the settings, you can choose the color, size and position of the stroke.

    Curve

    Curves have the same parameters as polylines, that is, they can be closed or open. There are several ways to draw a curved line: tools "Feather" and "Lasso", using shapes or selections.

    1. Open
    2. This line can only be drawn "Feather"(with a stroke outline), or "freehand". In the first case, the lesson, the link to which is above, will help us, and in the second, only a firm hand.

    3. Closed
    • Lasso.

      This tool allows you to draw closed curves of any shape (segments). Lasso creates a selection, which, in order to obtain a line, must be outlined in a known way.

    • oval area.

      In this case, the result of our actions will be a circle of a regular or elliptical shape.

      To deform it, it is enough to call "Free Transform" (CTRL+T) and, after pressing PKM, select the appropriate additional function.

      On the grid that appears, we will see markers, by pulling which you can achieve the desired result.

      It is worth noting that in this case the effect extends to the line thickness as well.

    • Figure.

      Let's use the tool "Ellipse" and, applying the settings described above (as for a polygon), create a circle.

      After deformation, we get the following result:

      As you can see, the line thickness remains unchanged.

    This concludes the lesson on creating lines in Photoshop. You and I have learned how to create straight, broken and curved lines in different ways using various program tools.

    Do not neglect these skills, since they help to build geometric shapes, contours, various grids and wireframes in Photoshop.

    Of course, one of the simplest and most commonly used elements in drawing is the line. Adobe Photoshop is no exception. Especially if you plan to come to grips with the study of website design.

    One of the advantages of the Photoshop program is the interchangeability of actions. You can achieve the same result in many different ways. Now we will explore several options for command sequences with which we can make a line in Photoshop.

    Let's start by creating a new document. A 1000 x 1000 pixel document is fine for us. A detailed description of creating a new document in Photoshop can be found here.

    Let's start with the line tool. We will find it on the tank panel.

    Now let's set the characteristics of our future line.

    Let's set the line thickness. I decided that a thickness of 4 pixels would suit me. If you wish, you can choose her style. I'll stick with the simplest.


    Let's decide on a color. You will also find the icon for choosing the main color on the sidebar. On click, a window for choosing a color is called.


    Well, now everything! We draw. We make a click on the workspace and drag a line with the mouse.


    Now our line is a smart object. You can turn it into a regular layer in the layers window using the "rasterize layer" command.


    The line is ready. As you can see, drawing a straight line in Photoshop is very simple. We have analyzed an elementary method, which, despite its convenience, has a number of limitations. Let's break down the second one and draw a line with the pen tool.

    It should be noted that in this case it is worth changing the brush or pencil settings to the appropriate ones in advance, because your line will repeat these outlines. Therefore, let's set up the pencil tool together. Select it from the sidebar. And click on the workspace.


    Set the following pencil settings. How to choose the color mentioned above.


    Look for the pen tool in the sidebar.


    We make two clicks on the workspace. It should be noted that if you want to make the line even and strictly horizontal or vertical, hold down the shift key while clicking.


    Click on the line with the left key. In the drop-down list, select the command "outline the path."


    Outline the outline and click again with the left mouse button. Select the "delete contour" command.



    So, the line is ready! In just five minutes, we learned two ways to draw a straight line in Photoshop.

    3 votes

    Good day, dear readers of my blog. It would seem, what is it worth to draw a straight line in Photoshop? Clamped Shift and here you are, please. However, this can be done in three ways. The result of each will be different.

    In this article, you will learn three ways to draw a straight line in Photoshop. What filter to apply to create a wave. How to do it with another interesting tool. I'll show you how to achieve a dotted line and draw at a certain angle.

    Lots of information awaits you. Shall we start?

    Line Tool

    First, I will show you how to use a tool that is designed to create straight lines. In this place you can have a rectangle, oval, ellipse or polygon. Just hold down the left mouse button on the button for a few seconds to open a menu with additional tools.

    First about the important. One of the most important parameters is thickness. Thanks to the line, you can even draw rectangles. You just need to make it fatter.

    Next comes Fill and Stroke. Click on the plate with the color to the left of the inscriptions and select the shade. If you want to make a stroke, enter its width. Now, my screenshot shows the option without it. The no color icon looks exactly like this. Gray line crossed out in red.

    You can see the settings and the result in this screenshot. It's not very visible, but the thickness here is 30 pixels. In a large picture, 30 pixels may look like a modest stripe. Everything needs to be adjusted to your own dimensions.

    This is what the line will look like if you choose red for the stroke.

    The next button will allow you to make a dashed stroke.

    If you reduce the thickness and remove the fill, you will get just a dotted line.

    Here you can also align the stroke to the inside, outside, or center of your path.

    And round the corners. True, it will not be so noticeable.

    If you press Shift while you're drawing a line, Photoshop will automatically create a straight line. Horizontal or vertical. Depending on where you're taking her.

    If you need a line at a certain angle, then the easiest way is to see what the information window shows and correct it manually, directing it in a certain direction.

    Well, now I'll show you another one.

    Brush tool

    I drew these rectangles using lines drawn with a brush.

    Choose the type and size that suits the brush line.

    Put a dot at the expected beginning of the line, hold down Shift and left-click where the strip should end.

    There are two lines in front of you. The yellow one was drawn with the Line tool, the purple one with a brush.

    How to make a wave

    No matter what tool you use, the easiest way to make a wavy line is with a filter. Go to this category, find "Distortion" and select "Wave".

    Based on the preview image, you will quickly understand what's what and how to set it up. The amplitude should be about the same. If it doesn't work, you can just click on "Randomize" until the right one appears.

    There is always quick access to the last applied filter. I apply it to the layer with the yellow stripe drawn with the tool.

    Here is the result I got. As you can see, it is different.

    Pen Tool

    To be honest, I still can't use a pen professionally. I know that they can draw anything: smoothly, quickly, fun and cool, but it takes me a lot of time and the result is not always at the level I expected. Nevertheless, I can even draw straight lines with a pen. Curves are worse, but I'll try. I choose "Pen".

    I put a dot, then another. Until I release the mouse button, I adjust the smoothness.

    I do the same with each new point.

    After all the manipulations are completed, I press the right mouse button and select "Stroke the contour" in the menu that appears.

    You can select several tools: pencil, brush, stamp, pattern, and so on. Now let this one be a brush.

    Right-click again and select Delete Outline.

    Here is the result I got.

    Well, do not forget that you can always use the skills of creating collages. Read the article about how to take a line from any picture and paste it into your image.

    If you want to learn how to professionally use the pen and other tools that are in Photoshop. I can offer you a course Photoshop for beginners in video format ».

    The lessons created by professionals will teach you everything you need to know about this program. You will save a lot of time looking for answers to a particular question. Ideas about how to complete the task will spontaneously pop up in your head.


    By the way, do you know how to make sure that you always have interesting needs related to Photoshop? This can take your relationship with this program to the next level. All you need is to be passionate about web design. People in this profession never sit idle. There are always clients, projects and new tasks.

    There is a job for everyone, and you can do what you really like and bring good money. Read the article about, or. Stop inventing tasks for yourself, let someone else pay money for your time.

    Don't know where to start? Take the course " Basics of commercial web design ". Try some free lessons, it will help you understand yourself and see if you are ready to explore new horizons.


    An online course with the support of the author is a reliable investment in your future profession.

    OK it's all over Now. The rest is up to you. Decide when you are ready and start conquering new heights. If you liked this article, subscribe to the newsletter and every day one step closer to your cherished goal.

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    I wish you good luck. See you again.



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