Have you always wanted to learn vector but was never sure how to go about it, or do not have the Illustrator programme? The key to success is the pen tool, which most of you have probably heard of or learned of by now if you have been searching for vector making tutorials since forever. If not, you probably wouldn't even be reading this tutorial.

But to tell you the truth, my tutorial could be no different than the rest on the world wide web. It all revolves around one tool and in order to create your own vector images, you definitely need to master it.

As I know that most of you do not have Illustrator, we can always opt for the alternative: Photoshop.

And today, I'm going to teach you how to draw a simple flower.

1. Open a new canvas and select the pen tool. Make sure the settings of your pen tool are the default ones as shown above.



2. Click and drag at the same time using the pen tool on your canvas. Hold and release when your tangent line is spread out within an appropriately small distance.



3. Now click on another spot as shown in the screenshot above. The 2nd anchor point should be located not more than 45 degrees from the extended tangent line.



4. Next, move on to the third anchor point as shown above. Remember to click, hold and drag the tangent line as shown in the screenshot.



5. With that, you are free to move on to the 4th anchor point. Click on the spot as shown.



6. Repeat the steps 4-5 until you eventually get this shape.



7. Select the path selection tool(not the direct selection tool).



8. Using the path selection tool, click and drag an imaginary square over your image to select the anchor points. The anchor points will reveal themselves in grey as shown above.



9. Click on any one of the anchor points and adjust the angle.



10. Once you're done adjusting your image, select the ellipse tool.



11. Create a circle over the image in the centre.



12. Select the layer thumbnail and change your colours accordingly.



13. Once you're done, you are all set to go! From now on, you may wish to move on to more advanced levels by practising on other images.

This is the first and biggest stepping stone that you will take in order to master the pen tool. Good luck and have fun in vectoring!

And always remember: Practice makes perfect.

There are many ways of blending your images. One convenient way of doing so is by using the masking method. But what exactly is the difference between erasing the image and masking the image? When you attempt to blend your images using the eraser tool, the changes are irreversible. Yes, you can always reverse history. But it will be impossible to edit your image when the time calls for again. Photoshop does not save histories or allow you to undo any changes when you reopen your working file. Therefore, allow me to introduce to you the method of masking your images.

1. Open your desired images and drag them into an empty canvas.



2. Add a layer mask to each image.



3. Switch the foreground and background colours. By doing so, you will be using black as your foreground colour.



4. Select a soft brush with a recommended size of 100 pixels(size of the brush may vary according to your image size).



5. It is important that you always click on the layer mask thumbnail before you start to work on your top layer. This is to ensure that you are working on the layer mask and not the image itself.



6. Click on areas of the image you wish to erase. To correct your blending, change white to your foreground colour and repeat the same method on your image. By doing so, you are revealing your image instead of hiding it.



7. Final product.

Some tips for blending include decreasing the opacity of your brush so as to reduce the fading strength, and ensuring that your images have balanced colours which compliment each other. Have fun with this tutorial and hope it works for you!

Have you always wanted to learn vector but was never sure how to go about it, or do not have the Illustrator programme? The key to success is the pen tool, which most of you have probably heard of or learned of by now if you have been searching for vector making tutorials since forever. If not, you probably wouldn't even be reading this tutorial.

But to tell you the truth, my tutorial could be no different than the rest on the world wide web. It all revolves around one tool and in order to create your own vector images, you definitely need to master it.

As I know that most of you do not have Illustrator, we can always opt for the alternative: Photoshop.

And today, I'm going to teach you how to draw a simple flower.

1. Open a new canvas and select the pen tool. Make sure the settings of your pen tool are the default ones as shown above.



2. Click and drag at the same time using the pen tool on your canvas. Hold and release when your tangent line is spread out within an appropriately small distance.



3. Now click on another spot as shown in the screenshot above. The 2nd anchor point should be located not more than 45 degrees from the extended tangent line.



4. Next, move on to the third anchor point as shown above. Remember to click, hold and drag the tangent line as shown in the screenshot.



5. With that, you are free to move on to the 4th anchor point. Click on the spot as shown.



6. Repeat the steps 4-5 until you eventually get this shape.



7. Select the path selection tool(not the direct selection tool).



8. Using the path selection tool, click and drag an imaginary square over your image to select the anchor points. The anchor points will reveal themselves in grey as shown above.



9. Click on any one of the anchor points and adjust the angle.



10. Once you're done adjusting your image, select the ellipse tool.



11. Create a circle over the image in the centre.



12. Select the layer thumbnail and change your colours accordingly.



13. Once you're done, you are all set to go! From now on, you may wish to move on to more advanced levels by practising on other images.

This is the first and biggest stepping stone that you will take in order to master the pen tool. Good luck and have fun in vectoring!

And always remember: Practice makes perfect.

There are many ways of blending your images. One convenient way of doing so is by using the masking method. But what exactly is the difference between erasing the image and masking the image? When you attempt to blend your images using the eraser tool, the changes are irreversible. Yes, you can always reverse history. But it will be impossible to edit your image when the time calls for again. Photoshop does not save histories or allow you to undo any changes when you reopen your working file. Therefore, allow me to introduce to you the method of masking your images.

1. Open your desired images and drag them into an empty canvas.



2. Add a layer mask to each image.



3. Switch the foreground and background colours. By doing so, you will be using black as your foreground colour.



4. Select a soft brush with a recommended size of 100 pixels(size of the brush may vary according to your image size).



5. It is important that you always click on the layer mask thumbnail before you start to work on your top layer. This is to ensure that you are working on the layer mask and not the image itself.



6. Click on areas of the image you wish to erase. To correct your blending, change white to your foreground colour and repeat the same method on your image. By doing so, you are revealing your image instead of hiding it.



7. Final product.

Some tips for blending include decreasing the opacity of your brush so as to reduce the fading strength, and ensuring that your images have balanced colours which compliment each other. Have fun with this tutorial and hope it works for you!