Working with the Toolbox

Photoshop’s toolbox contains a collection of tools useful for creating and manipulating images. You’ll learn about these tools in detail.

If the toolbox isn’t displayed, select Window ▶Tools from the menu bar. Figure below displays the tools you’ll use in this chapter. These tools include

• Rectangular Marquee tool
• The Move tool
• The Pencil tool
• The Horizontal Type tool
• The Custom Shape tool
• The Foreground Color tool

Tip Notice that some icons in the toolbox contain a right- facing arrowhead. Pressing on these arrowheads brings up added tools you can select.

Creating Text 

1. Select Window ▶Character from the menu bar. The Character palette displays. Notice the Character palette is grouped with the Paragraph palette into a palette set.  You can toggle from one palette to the other by selecting either the Character tab or the Paragraph tab.
2. With the Character tab selected, enter the following settings, as shown in figure below.
   
   
   
   • Font Family: Palatino Linotype
   • Font Style: Regular
   • Font Size: 10 pt
   • Leading: (Auto)
   • Tracking: 200
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Make sure the Horizontal Type tool is still selected. Click into your image window. In all capital letters, type the following: JONATHAN BING.
4. Let’s now enlarge the first letter of each word. Using your Horizontal Type tool, drag your cursor over the J in JONATHAN. The J should be highlighted. In the Character palette, change the font size to 12. Do the same for the B in BING. Your screen should look something like figure below.

Moving Image Elements

We’ll want to add a small logo graphic on the left side of this image. To do that, we’ll first need to move the text.

1. Select the Move tool, which is the arrowhead icon at the top- right corner of the toolbar.
2. With this tool selected, click on the Co. Name layer within the Layers palette. Then, click on the JONATHAN BING text within the image window. Click and drag on the text and move it to the right side of the image window. Leave some room to the left of the image window for a graphic you’ll be adding in a moment.
3. To move your image pixel by pixel, select the Move tool and click on the Co. Name layer in the Layers palette. Then, use the Forward or Back arrow buttons on your keyboard. To move images 10 pixels at a time, hold the Shift key while you press the Forward or Back arrow buttons.
   
   
   

   Tip

   If you’ve selected the Move tool, clicked onto the image window, and found you can’t move your text, it’s probably because the text layer isn’t selected. Go to the Layers tab and highlight the Co. Name layer. Select the Move tool and try moving the text again. The text should move now.

Creating Subtext for Your Logo

1. In your Layers palette, create a new layer by pressing the New Layer button. Call this new layer Subtext.
2. Select the Character tab from the Paragraph/Character palette set. Select the Palatino Linotype font. (This font should remain selected since you used it previously when creating the Jonathan Bing text.) However, this time decrease the font size to 8 pt.
3. Select the Horizontal Type tool. Type the following (all in capital letters) underneath the JONATHAN BING text: ATTORNEY AT LAW.
4. Use the Move tool to center this text underneath the JONATHAN BING text. Your screen should look like figure below.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Drawing Lines
Although there are a couple of ways of creating lines in Photoshop, let’s start with one of the easiest: drawing with the Pencil tool. Perform the following steps:

1. From the toolbox, select the Pencil tool. Notice the options bar, found underneath the menu bar. Each tool contains its own set of options. Many of the options are also available in various palettes. In Photoshop, you’ll find there are many different ways to perform the same types of actions.
2. In the options bar, select the Brush drop-down field. Choose a brush diameter of 1, as shown in Figure below. The Brush preset allows you to control the diameter of brush and pencil marks in Photoshop.

3. In the Layers palette, create a new layer by pressing the New Layer button. Call this new layer Top Line.
4. With the Pencil tool selected, click somewhere below the J in JONATHAN. Notice a pencil mark appears.
5. Hold down the Shift key. Click somewhere below the B in BING. You should see a line appear. Holding the Shift key allows you to make a straight, 90-degree line between two points.
6. If the line seems a little too long or short, you can resize it. Press Ctrl+T. This is the shortcut to Photoshop’s Free Transform, which allows you to resize shapes on the fly. You can also access this by selecting EditFree Transform from the menu bar.
7. Notice the line now contains two clear squares on each end and a clear square in the middle. These handles allow you to stretch or shrink the shape. Hold the Shift key and click and drag the ends of the line until the line is about the same length as the JONATHAN BING text.
8. Press Enter to accept the transformation of the line.
9. Press Esc to exit from transforming the line, as shown in figure below.

Adding a Graphical Element to your Logo

It’s a cliché, but it’s also true: A picture is worth a thousand words.

You can use words and lines with your logos, but they’ll look boring. The graphic you choose is important: It should suggest something about the company, whether it is an image that represents the business, or perhaps something more symbolic, like the company’s personality or style.

You’ll learn to create and manipulate custom shapes. For now, let’s use Photoshop’s Shape tool to draw a simple vector shape.

1. Go to the Layers palette and create a new layer. Call this new layer Pen.
2. Select the Custom Shape tool from the toolbox.
3. With the Custom Shape tool selected, go to the options bar and select the Shape drop-down field. You’ll notice a menu of shapes display. Also make sure that the Shape Layers icon is selected. The Shape Layers icon is located directly below the Image menu item.
4. Select the right-facing arrow within this shapes menu to display a submenu of additional options.
5. Select Objects from this drop-down list, as shown in figure below.

6. Press OK to any message that displays.

Now we can place one of these shape objects on our logo.

1. 
   
   
   
   Make sure you’re in the new Pen layer you’ve just created and have the Custom Shape tool selected. From the options bar, select the Shape drop-down menu. A shape menu displays.
2. 
   
   
   
   Select the Pen shape from this shape menu.
3. 
   
   
   
   Hold down the Shift key and drag your mouse somewhere within the left side of the image window. You should see a pen-shaped object display.
4. 
   
   
   
   Release the Shift key and your mouse. Press the Enter key to make this shape an image.
5. 
   
   
   
   Use Free Transform (Ctrl+T) to resize the pen shape if necessary. Your screen should look like figure below.
   

In this tutorial:

1. Getting Started with Photoshop
2. Style Requirement for Logos
3. Starting Photoshop
4. The Photoshop Work Area 
5. Creating a New Image  
6. Working with the Toolbox