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NatameSecrea β Pen Tool and Lineart Tutorial
Published: 2007-03-19 20:48:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 17575; Favourites: 219; Downloads: 387
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Description
Just my way of using the pen tool. The pen tool is pretty complicated thing to explain. Hopefully this is easy enough to understand. There is a lot more information that I could have put about the mechanics of the pen tool, but I didn't want this to be any longer. And really, it just takes patience and playing around with it.Normally I wouldn't have bothered to make a tutorial, since there are so many already out there. But I wasn't quite satisfied with them. Most of them give an inefficient method involving adding anchor points in the middle of a path in order to move and curve them. If you want to use that method, that's fine, and those tutorials are out there.
I'm not saying it's wrong. But that method...just doesn't jive with me. XD It's inefficient, and adding extra anchor points puts more stress on the program.
Anyway. Enough of my spiel. Eww, I just ate a really nasy flavored jelly bean.
Someone on FP had specifically asked how to make lines with varying widths, which was the real reason I decided to do this tutorial anyway.
If you have any questions, feel free to note me or leave a message in a comment. I know I suck at doing tutorials. XD
Edit: Typos fixed. :0
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Comments: 57
thank you for the easy to understand tutorial! it is a great help!
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waaa! when i was trying to click on the stroke path, i couldnt 
ill try again but crap i must have done something stupid TT_TT
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Omg I did what you said and I finished my line art in less than an hour! and it looked so AWESOME! THANK YOU!!
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oh mah bacon i never knew that you could finish a path without actually closing it 
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Thanks for posting this! I learned how to use the pen tool a few years ago in a class, but I unfortunately forgot how to really use it cause I had a PS Elements 5 (and it isn't till at earliest 7 that the pen tool appears) but I recently got PS CS2, so I have access to it! You have reminded me of the basics on how to use it, so now I can start using it again.
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when using the pen tool it doesn't just make a line to and from the path it makes a circle with them
how do you stop this?
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I'm not quite sure what you mean. Could you provide a screenshot or different explanation?
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thank u so much for this tutorial 
-are you going to put more tutorials about photoshop??...shading, coloring, or wathever? beacause itΒ΄s too difficult find the correct tutorial.
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I'm glad you like it! There's more to using the pen tool than in my tutorial, but it helps explains the basics. The best thing to do is just keep playing with it until you become familiar with it. I pretty much taught myself the pen tool because most tutorials I found were confusing, lol.
I wasn't planning on doing a coloring tutorial since the method I use already has many tutorials available (I use a slightly varied method of gradient shading). And I know there are many pen tool tutorials too, I just didn't think any of them explained it very well so I made my own.
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cool..one more thing..
i use your tutorial..itΒ΄s awesome..but..when i decided to paint my lineart..something happens
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I used this and it helped me lots
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I really have trouble trying to use line art in PSP8 but I don't have pen tool. What kind of program do you use? It seems like your tutorial is easy me to understand. I need to know what kind of program. i might will buy like that.
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I use Photoshop CS2. The other versions of Photoshop have it as well. The Photoshop Elements series does not have it, however.
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Is that Paint Shop Pro X2? or it's different?
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Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro are completely different programs. They are made by different companies.
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Ohhhhhh! That makes sense to me now. Thank you!
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This is one of the most easy to follow and straightforward pen-tool tutorials, plus the results look really nice! It's a great alternative for people without a tablet too. Thank you!
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I'm glad it helped you!
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oh wow! 
ok.....I worship you!!!!! 
even though i have a tablet and i'm usually doing the lineart by hand, i was extremely frustrated because I wasn't able to use it!! 
do you have any idea how many times i tried to figure it out?!
until i tried out your wonderful tutorial!! you made miracles in my photoshop 
hm...and it's really fun and easy to play with ! weeee!!
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lol I'm glad your life is easier!
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oh and btw, I featured your tut. in my artist's comment here [link]
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Thanks! ^^ Wow, that is a really pretty picture! :0
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you're welcome!! 
and thanks!! 
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haha lol I guess i sounded something like at the TV shopping thing
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cool, do you use mouse or tablet for this?
I use gimp, and i found out how to use it there, but photoshop is mean to me XD
So Alt is the one that lets you drag it? *is bad as getting things*
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I use a mouse when I use the pen tool. It's easier that way. For coloring I use a tablet. ^^
Yep, holding down Alt is what lets you drag the anchor point. I'm not sure about Gimp though, I've never used it.
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haha, cool, i do too.
Hmm i see, at least i know now for photoshop at school xD
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For some reason whenever I used the pen tool I'd end up with a complete mess and would give up after not getting anywhere. I don't know why, but something in this made my brain click and I figured it out. Now if only the errors I've been getting would go away. Thanks for the bit about the line width too. ^^
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I'm glad it helped!
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this is awesome! thanks, this will help me a lot
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omg yay xD You totally gave me that answer to a question I had.
I didn't know that you could do the whole image at one time by just "unselecting" the path.
Here I've been doing bits and pieces of my pictures at a time xD
-wow riya's dumb-
Awesome tut. And definitely helpful
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lol I used to do it that way too at first. And then suddenly one day I was like "...What happens if I do all the paths at once? o_o"
You can still do little bits of the image at a time if you don't have time to do the whole image at once. Since Photoshop doesn't save the paths. ^^
Glad you liked it! ^^
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Wow, thanks! I'll try that out on my next lineart-to be
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Yay, Pen Tool!
Your tutorial is great, and I actually understand it!
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Awesome, I've always wondered how to work that damn pen tool...
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"That damn pen tool" is right. I think that's how everyone feels about it.
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I still don't get how to make a new line after you created one... what do you mean by the 'alt' thing? And drag the little nobby XD
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Eee, I knew there had to be some confusion somewhere. The pen tool is hard enough, plus my horrible explaining skills...it equals disaster. XD;
Okay. I assume you mean making a completely new line that isn't connected to a previous line. To do that, just use the pen tool, hold down the Ctrl button, and click in the blank area of the picture. This deselects any lines/paths that may be active. Then you can just click with the pen tool to make a new anchor point and start a new line.
For the little notchy...I circled on the picture which one I was talking about. To grab the notchy, you hold down the Alt button on your keyboard, which turns the pen tool into a little half-triangle shape, click on the notchy (still holding the Alt button), and move it around so the path goes where you want.
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Ooooooh, I get it now! Thanks
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