Fundamentals of Photoshop: Typography and the Pen Tool (Photoshop III)

In collaboration with Adobe, we're excited to announce a free 5-class series on Adobe Photoshop CC for Beginners that'll run from March 1 – March 31st 2015. Each week, you’ll create projects in Photoshop and submit your work on Skillshare for feedback from your classmates, pushing your skills even further.

If you complete all project assignments before the final deadline, you’ll be eligible to receive a free voucher to take the Adobe Certified Associate exam in Photoshop (a $95 value). The top student chosen by the class teaching assistants (TAs) will also be awarded 1 free year of Creative Cloud membership. Judging will be based on quality of projects submitted and student participation.

This is the third class in the 5-class series.

→ View the syllabus for more details and a list of the key dates.

Important Notice

A trial of Adobe Photoshop CC or Creative Cloud membership will be needed to get the most out of this course. If you’re not a Creative Cloud member we recommend that you download a free 30-day trial of Adobe Photoshop CC when you start the course.

→ Click here to start your 30-day free trial of Adobe Photoshop CC

→ Click here to purchase a Creative Cloud membership

Welcome to the third class in this five-part series of Photoshop classes. Throughout this series we'll cover everything you need to know to become a Photoshop pro. Knowing how to use Photoshop is an incredibly useful skill and is commonly used by anyone from photographers to graphic designers and illustrators. It is such a robust program that can be extremely overwhelming. I'll do my best to make you feel comfortable while I teach you the ins and outs.

This series is perfect if you're slightly familiar with yet aren't completely confident in your Photoshop skills. If you have never opened Photoshop and are feeling brave; this class is great for you too! It’s absolutely fine if you’ve never opened Photoshop until now.

Photoshop is such an exciting program as it allows you to produce so many kinds of beautiful things. Anything from beautiful business cards and stationery to websites tailored just for you can be created in Photoshop. The goal of this series is to get you to expert level so that your imagination can go straight to Photoshop’s canvas.

What You'll Learn
In this class (Photoshop III) you'll learn how to master the pen tool. Together, we'll cut apart photographs and combine those cuttings with color, type, fonts, and tons of text. At the end of this class, you'll be a typography genius and a pen tool whiz.

• Pen Tool. I’ll take the headache out of the pen tool by showing you a lot of easy to learn techniques. We’ll trace images and use the pen tool to cut apart an image. I’ll even show you some advanced techniques and tools to use as well!

• Typography and Fonts. Adding type to your composition is so important and using the right techniques is key to perfecting your design. I’ll show you guys the ins and outs of the type features in Photoshop and give you some advanced techniques while I’m at it.
  

What You'll Make
At the end of the class you'll put all of your new skills together to design a greeting card for a friend or loved one. We'll combine images and text to create a truly strking card. You're pal is going to love it!

Required Class Supplies
Adobe Photoshop. If you don’t have the program you can download a 30 day free trial here. All class tutorials are recorded on a Mac using Photoshop via Adobe Creative Cloud. You do not need a Mac or the most recent version of Photoshop to follow along. Most of the tools are consistent across all versions of Photoshop. 

Please note: Photoshop Elements is a limited version of Photoshop and is not recommended for this course.

Other Classes in This Series:

• Photoshop I: Getting Started with the Interface
• Photoshop II: Drawing, Layers, Masks, and Selections
• Photoshop IV: Color, Swatches, and Blending
• Photoshop V: Creating Efficient Workflows, Tips, and Tricks