How to Create 10 Basic Shapes in Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop Tools

If you have read the post "The Elements and Principles of Design" you sure remember that shapes are one of the key Elements — an integral building block used by designers to create something much larger than the sum of its parts. A shape is an element defined by its perimeter: a closed contour. It is the area that is contained within implied line and it has two dimensions: height and width. Today, I will show you how to create 10 basic shapes in Photoshop using different tools.

As all the basic shapes we will create in Photoshop will be vector shapes (so we can scale them up or down without losing quality), there is a thing we need to pay special attention in order to make them. On every tool we select (rectangle, pen, ellipse, etc) we need to set the Tool Mode to "Shape". To set the Tool Mode to Shape, every time we select a tool in the Tools Panel there will be a dropdown menu in the top toolbar for that specific tool. In the top toolbar, right next to the tool`s icon there will be a Tool Mode dropdown menu. Click on that dropdown menu, and select "Shape".

Square

In the Tools Panel, select the Rectangle Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Square size you want and click OK. In this case mine will have a Width and Height size of 350 px.

Rectangle

In the Tools Panel, select the Rectangle Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Rectangle size you want and click OK. In this case mine will have a Width of 350 px and a Height of 200 px.

Rounded Square

In the Tools Panel, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Rounded Square size and Radius you want and click OK. In this case mine will have a Width and Height size of 350 px with a 10 px Radius.

Rounded Rectangle

In the Tools Panel, select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Rounded Rectangle size and Radius you want and click OK. In this case mine will have a Width of 350 px, a Height of 200 px and a 10 px Radius.

Circle

In the Tools Panel, select the Ellipse Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Circle size you want and click OK. In this case mine will have a Width and Height size of 350 px.

Oval

In the Tools Panel, select the Ellipse Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Oval size you want and click OK. In this case mine will have a Width of 350 px and a Height of 200 px.

Triangle

In the Tools Panel, select the Polygon Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Triangle size you want (mine will have a Width and Height of 350 px) and the Number of Sides to 3 and click OK.

Pentagon

In the Tools Panel, select the Polygon Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Pentagon size you want (mine will have a Width and Height of 350 px) and set the Number of Sides to 5 and click OK.

5 Points Star

In the Tools Panel, select the Polygon Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Star size you want (mine will have a Width and Height of 350 px), set the Number of Sides to 5, check the Star option, set the Indent Sides by 50% and click OK.

Diamond

In the Tools Panel, select the Polygon Tool (U), and be sure to have the Tool Mode set to Shape in the top toolbar.

Click once over the canvas and in the new window, set the Diamond size you want (mine will have a Width of 200 px and a Height of 350 px), set the Number of Sides to 4, check the Star option, set the Indent Sides to 0% and click OK.

About the Polygon Tool

As you may have noticed, our last 4 basic shapes were made using a few different options of the Tool Option window. If you want to take it a bit further and create an unlimited number of shapes using the Polygon Tool, experiment by changing some settings as you may see in the following examples; but remember, always set the Tool Mode to Shape in order to scale it up and down without losing quality.

A final Tip

If at some point after you´ve create the shape you want to change the shape color, you just have to double click on that shape layer thumbnail and from the Color Picker window choose the new color you want to apply, and hit OK.