Transcript:
How to create arrows using the line tool in Photoshop great arrows like that, just go to the line tool found in the tools panel line tool may be in a different position. Depending on your customization of your tools panel. The key panels are right in the center. There’s a little gear box there and just click on that, and you get all the very settings for the arrow head. That’s the key things you’ve got, width length, etc. And also you can change the weight. That’s the next entry next to it all the width, so that’s without the arrow head setting, so you just get a basic standard line, so just click on the start or at the end you could click also on both and then you’ll get a little arrow at the top and you can change the color of the arrow. You can just go over to the top left. You can also apply it as a shape, a path or a pixel, and you can change it to a gradient. So if you want a gradient, just change you like that just far the top left film setting you can also change it via the layer’s panel. You can also change it to a pattern. I’m going to use solid colors as well as gradients, but what you can also do, you can add it as a preset presets are really useful because you can go back to them at any point, so it’s literally creating the additional tools that you can use so you can create this arrow. You can save it. Just save new tool preset that’s in the top left. Give it a name. So whenever you use the line tool, you’ll be able to go to the tool presets and select one of your predefined arrows click. OK, now you can also what you could do. You could capture that and save it to maybe your custom shapes tools. That’s another option as well via the edit’s menu. I’m gonna show you the width and length as well as concavity, so I’m gonna set them to 100% 100% and 0% And I’m just gonna use the start. Not going to use end yet. I will use that later, so if you use 100% all that happens. Is you get like a more shaft or a pencil design? That’s using a gradient because it’s a hundred percent of the width or white, so the whip with is just exactly the same as the weight, and the height is also the same is or length is exactly the same. And again you can define that as a tall preset, just go to that tool presets again, and this goes to the right side and then save new tool pre-sale and again you can use it with. You can also include the color. If you wish you want to use it with that gradient, always, you can always click on that. Include color personally. I don’t I like to redefine the color. Each time! Now you can resize that you can do crate. It’s a shape layer, so it’s a standard shape layer, so you can just hold down the alt or option key, so you can duplicate those arrows, so you can create more unusual arrow designs, multiple shafts, You can combine them all maybe go to the layer menu and combine shakes. You can also turn them into a single smart object and ply effects them. Now again, go to that gear and I’m gonna change the weight. Make it a bit bigger. You can make it very thin. You can make it like 2 or 3 pixels, but then, of course, it’s a harder to see in the tutorial, make it 30 pixels, and then you get a very thin line. Now if I set that to 200% the width, what happens then usually got 30 there. The actual width of the Arrowhead will be 60 because it’s gonna be twice the size seen. Just it’s just twice the size there, So if I put 400% there, maybe four times that, so it’ll be end up 120 and likewise, the length is changed, also, depending on the actual weight you use. At least I’m going to use a hundred so hundred pixels, so the start arrow. Now 200 percent will be will have a width of 200 but that obviously the ruler and all that so they I can’t see, but it is 200 to be honest. I haven’t tested could be hundred 1901 but I don’t think it’s. I think it’s 200 I’m certain this, right, It looks twice the size and you can set that obviously to a thousand percent, so it will be ten times the size of the the weight, and you can change the width and length separately, so they don’t have to be equal. So you can see now. The length is it increased and again that’s proportional to the actual weight and again. I’m using the same gradient in all these, but you can change your color at any point. Unfortunately, not interactive, so you can’t go to the with the design selected. You can’t go to the weight and then change it. And then suddenly the weight changes for the design be really nice. If that was an interactive feature, sadly, it’s not as Photoshop seems to be going more and more towards the interactivity maybe, like with rectangle tool, maybe in future that will be available, but at the present it doesn’t, so I’m just changing the gradient, so I’m going to go with a different gradient now and I could go with a solid color. It’s no that great in there, and, of course, what you can also do, you can add a stroke to a gradient. Don’t have to continue just with just a LLC. I could use a black stroke, but I’m gonna use obviously something like grey or white, so you can actually see it. So all kinds of errors can be created using this approach again. Once you’ve done that what you can also do, you can go to. This is a shape light. You can go to a layer and layer style. You can have a bevel and add a shadow drop shadow stroke in a shadow color overlay gradient overlay. All those things can be added to the arrows. You can create all kinds of varieties of arrows and you can also use styles. You can go to the star’s panel and apply styles, they say, if you’ve got maybe metallic designs, you can apply a metallic star to it, so go back to the line tool, apply a design, and if you hold down the shift key, you know, it’s all than the basically always straight down, hold down the shift key to keep it as a straight line straight down, but if you don’t, it will move around what you can also do, you can go to the direct selection tool and you can change points. They’re just a vector designs, the shape layer and you can tweak those points so once. You did change that design. You can stretch or help where you can do. Select all those points and then define it’s a custom shape via the edit’s menu. But you can create all kinds of unique. Aero designs just by that approach. But you can, then, you course use in your projects as we’ll save it to library by the window and libraries, or you can also do. You can go to layer and smart objects, convert it to a smart object and then maybe apply adjustments, they go to the image, menu adjustments and black and white or may go to the filter menu apply blur again. You can duplicate those design so alt or option key and just drag, so you can fill it entire design with those rainbow colored arrows. Geir, again, what you can do, you can also change so you can change the settings at any point. You can change your settings 400 and 400 percent, and I’ve got start, but there’s also scan cavity at the bottom and that creates some interesting shapes as well, so you put it to minus 50 or 50000 of see anything in between so you can see now. The lines are pointing downwards instead of being along a flat horizontal, the change of gradient go a different color That was a 50% but you can also put it to zero percent. Forty percent minus twenty percent in this case. Minus fifty percent. And you can see the arrows now. The arrow is pointing upwards, so it’s just moved upwards. Sadly, you can’t put it 60 or 70 I’m not certain why makes no sense. Personally, 15 minus fifty six hundred percent, six hundred percent and minus fifty, but also. I say you’ve got the option for the end and I’ll show you that insect, but what you can also do. You can now see you can actually drag into the arrow head, so you don’t have to just go downwards and go upwards as well into the design. So you end up getting that sort of cutting into the arrow head and of course once. You’ve done that what you can do. You can actually create a separate shaft for it, and maybe another different design, maybe a wavy design to put in between obviously in that gap and again you can select all those turn them. Into a smart object apply effects. You can also transform the designs, so you don’t have to just use. It’s like that you can just modify them. In many, otherwise, they can go to line tool, then go to Ikea at the center 0% And I’m gonna use end this time, So so just using the stock. Now I could have used end, but you can use both so now what you can see? You’ve got this both ends of the arrow and again that’s using the gradient, but it could use a pattern. It could use a solid color. One you can also you can see can do exact the same as before. You can actually go up into the arrow head, so you can end up getting more sort of messy sort of shape there. If that’s the sort design you want to. Crane, but of course, you can vary the width. You can vary the length. You can also vary the concavity, so you can create all kinds of different designs, just using that approach using a different gradient again. Then I sell you hold shift key. Downs that go straight down or straight across or an angle. You can vary it just by not holding shift down. You can also use edit menu and transform path, maybe perspective distort warp, so you can warp the arrow, so you don’t have to keep it as a standard arrow design. So you’ve got the arrow design? Now again, you can capture those points. Edit menu and define custom shape. You could also use go to the 3d menu at any point and use new 3d extrusion. And so you end up with a 3d shape. My 3d always ends up fairly dark without messing around with the lights and everything so always sometimes very hard to actually see it. I always wished that it would generate a design. You can actually see for some reason. It’s always a very dark room when I create these 3d designs. Well, I say you just go to the 3d settings for the lights, and you can then tweak it and change and brighten it up a bit, but it’s great way of creating some interest in 3d which once you’ve got that through design, you can then export it. Maybe to other applications to poser and other 3d applications. Now you can also use the same arrow as a path, just go to that top left and set its path and as a pass you can then use maybe edit menu and fill and passing scripts like place along. You can also strip fire strokes, etc to that path so quite useful You can also, of course, export that part to maybe illustrator, but this time. I’m going to use instead. I’m going to use shape design there and you can play at multiple times. I’m just gonna just crate two or three pass. Okay, just to pass in this case, but I could create three, four five ten shapes. Once you’ve got those select both of those and then go to the delay menu and use the combine shapes, so you know, at shapes, that’s it, so they now combined. We can do. Then you can define, that’s. A custom shape apply effects to it layer effects. You can also apply transformations scale rotate, distort, so gain even more unique. Aero designs can be very quickly created just by using that line tool now in this time. I’m going to use pixels so pixels. The option for gradient sadly, is gone and you can only use solid colors. I mean, you could create it obviously crazy selection from that and then fill it with a a gradient, so you can create all kinds of arrows that are just on that current layer, so you just apply it to the current layer or maybe create a new layer and then apply it to that layer and then you can combine it using maybe blending modes or pasty, so you can change the width. You can change the length. I’m not going to use it in this time. I’m just going to create very basic arrow. Just go straight down and again. Let’s say if you don’t hold the shift key down where you can do. You can change the angle. Apply it at any angle, and you can change your color. And also you can use different blending modes, so you can go to that top left, so you can play as difference or darken to change the color. You just play over the top. Create all kinds of very abstract arrow designs, and, of course, again you can go back, Always back to that start or end and change the concavity width as well as length as well as going to the weight, so you don’t have to keep them as thin lines. I can make him a very big arrow. I’m gonna go back to the shape option. That’s in the top left 400 percent for the width length 400 percent and 50 percent from cavity. I’ll go with end, so you got that design there once. You’ve got that design. It’s a liar! So what you can do, you can remove the background design, so you just go over to the layers panel. You can find that via the window menu and you can just go down to the bottom and delete it so once you’ve deleted it, then what you can do. You can select using the rectangular marquee tool or just select the entire area and then go to edit and define brush preset so you can save it as a brush, which is quite nicely compliant with a brush stroke in your images. You can also go to define pattern first defined as a brush. So you go one of brush tools, maybe arts history, you see? If they’re in the brush panel apply numerous times, we can also define it as a pattern because it’s got the transparency. It’s really nice with things like the edit’s, menu and fill and the pattern scripts. So you can just go and you comply that on the layout, so you can just go to lay menu and create a new layer. Apply the fill to that, so edit and fill. Go down the select the preset. You just crisis just to the bottom. Select that and go to the script makes up the contents of these patterns. You wouldn’t sing. Maybe go for it. Random fields, spiral or symmetry click. OK, takes a few, and then you get this. Fortune preview never matches the end result. So you can change all the density scale factor, so you can make them? Obviously the arrows beer. It also colorize randomization. All those sort of things, and you can ply it multiple times to create a very abstract arrow background. See, our tool or line tool is very flexible, very odd that there is no arrow tool in a sense in Photoshop, but it’s tucked away in a line tool and all can be accessed via that gear. Utley in top-center. And again. Once you got that once you define those for the line tool, you got your presets so it makes it very just go and select it in the Presets panel and then just drag. Let’s go that one as well to select that and just apply it again. Hold down the shift key. If you want or not, drag across the design, you got all your arrows crated overlay in that image. And, of course you can create hundreds of presets don’t have to just have to. I’ve got just two ever. You could create ten or twenty. You can see with the different settings in that gear. Options that arrow options. I should say you can create all kinds of designs anyway. I hope you found this tutorial of interest. Please subscribe to the graphic. Asia Channel always that in lots to tours about Photoshop Illustrator and many others, Please add a comment or two always appreciated and also a dislike or like thank you much.