Photoshop Tutorials: Photoshop Custom Shapes

Step 11: Define The Shape As A Custom Shape

To define our shape as a Custom Shape, first make sure your shape layer is selected in the Layers palette. Also, you'll need to make sure that the shape layer's preview thumbnail is selected. You can tell that it's selected because it will have a white highlight border around it, and you'll also be able to see your path outlines around your shape in the document. If the preview thumbnail does not have a highlight border around it and you can't see your path outlines, simply click on the thumbnail to select it:

Note: If you ever need to hide the path outlines around your shape, simply click on the shape layer's preview thumbnail again to deselect it.

With the shape layer and its preview thumbnail selected, go up to the Edit menu at the top of the screen and select Define Custom Shape:

Photoshop will pop up the Shape Name dialog box, asking you to enter a name for your shape. I'm going to call my shape "Gingerbread Man":

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the dialog box, and your Custom Shape is now ready for action! You can close out of your Photoshop document at this point since we're done creating and saving our shape. Now we're going to see where to find it and how to use it!

Step 12: Open A New Photoshop Document

Open a new blank Photoshop document by going up to your File menu at the top of the screen and choosing New.... This brings up the New Document dialog box. For the purpose of this tutorial, you can choose any size you want for your document. I'm going to choose 640x480 pixels from the Preset menu:

Step 13: Select The Custom Shape Tool

With your new blank Photoshop document open, select the Custom Shape Tool from the Tools palette. By default, it's hiding behind the Rectangle Tool, so click on the Rectangle Tool, then hold your mouse button down for a second or two until the fly-out menu appears, and then select the Custom Shape Tool from the list:

Step 14: Select Your Custom Shape

With the Custom Shape Tool selected, right-click (Win) / Control-click (Mac) anywhere inside your Photoshop document. You'll see the Shape selection box appear, allowing you to select any of the currently available Custom Shapes. The shape you just created will appear as the very last shape in the selection box. Simply click on it's little thumbnail to select it:

Step 15: Drag Out Your Shape

With your Custom Shape selected, simply click inside the document and drag out the shape! To constrain the proportions of the shape as you drag so you don't accidentally distort the look of it, hold down your Shift key as you drag. You can also hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key if you want to drag the shape out from its center. If you need to reposition your shape as you're dragging, simply hold down your spacebar, drag the shape into its new location, then release your spacebar and continue dragging out the shape.

As you're dragging out the shape, you'll see only the basic path outline of the shape appearing:

When you're happy with the size and location of the shape, simply release your mouse button and Photoshop fills the shape with your current Foreground color (mine happens to be set to black):

We're going to finish things off by looking at how to change the color of our shape, along with how to resize and rotate it, next!