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Open your scanned object image and zoom in until you are viewing

it at 200%. Next, position your non-mouse hand over the spacebar,

alt/option and control keys on your keyboard to take advantage of

keyboard shortcuts.

Pick the Pen tool from your palette and start clicking points

slightly inside your desired shape. Always work slightly inside the

edge as this will prevent any stray and unwanted background pixels

from appearing inside the selection.

As you come to the edge of your image window, press and hold

the spacebar down and move to another part of your image without

changing tools. If you are new to the tool, keep the History palette

on your desktop so you can reverse out of a mistake if need be.

Next open your Paths palette and double click the Work Path

icon, which will show the shape you have just created, then

save your work using a recognisable name. Your pen tool

selection has now been saved as a vector Path.

Now click on your saved Path icon then select Load Path

as a Selection, from the bottom of the palette, as shown. The

dotted moving ants of a selection area will now appear around

the shape you’ve been working on. To cut it out do Edit>Copy

then Edit>Paste into your montage.

Straight lines are easy to plot with the pen tool, but as you

encounter a curve, you need to work differently. At the start of

the curve, click hold and drag your cursor to create a Bézier

handle (it looks like a baton), then repeat the process at the end

of the curve. To modify the line, there’s no need to change tools,

but press the Alt (Win) Alt/Option (Mac) and drag the Bezier

handles until the shape looks right. Let go of the keys and you

are free to resume plotting the path.

For making angled corners where only one half of a Bezier

handle should move, press the Alt key and click on the handle

required. Make a fully enclosed path by joining the final point to

the first point.

The principle behind layers is simple: all elements of your project

are best kept separate so you can make changes at any time in

the future. The downside of using layers is each extra whole layer

increases your file size. Think of layers working like separate image

documents stacked on top of each other. These can be shuffled

back and forth and even cut into stencils, allowing underlying details

to appear through the gaps. The layer at the top of the pallet is the

uppermost in the stack, as shown.

HOW LAYERS WORK

1 GETTING PREPARED

3 SAVING AND MAKING

PATHS INTO SELECTIONS

2 DEALING WITH CURVES AND LINES

SECTION 3:

LAYERING AND BLENDING

For creative montage projects, images are best arranged

and assembled in different vertical stacking layers –

think of them like a pack of playing cards.

SECTION 2: USING PHOTOSHOP’S PEN TOOL

The Pen tool is the best way of making a professional job and your results can be permanently saved for future use too.

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