Newb: How to properly use pen tool for drawing?

Question

Photoshop 2022 macOs

I've drawn my whole and have made lots of comics.

After finally being able to afford a computer, tablet and the adobe suite I'm starting the work to digitalize my comics.

On paper my style is aspiring to be inbetween Junji Ito and Uno Moralez. Black, white and gray.

I've already learned that photoshop is better for drawing rather than illustrator. Felt super stupid about that.

https://community.adobe.com/t5/photoshop-ecosystem-discussions/photoshop-or-illustrator-for-drawing/m-p/7291970

For this panel in the comic it's a view of my house. See image 1

I did a bunch of line work and figured out the pen tool. I don't know what layer the lines are actually on. When I try to add them to a layer on top of the photograph to trace, it does its own thing and stores them elsewhere? See image 2 - It's with the photograph layer not visible. I like it.

The last image is what is png exported. Big fat nothing.

It's literally pulling teeth trying to learn these programs.

So I'm guessing the pen tool isn't meant for drawing but rather for clipping out selections. Okay well how do I initialize that? Should I have been using illustrator this whole time??

If the pen tool in photoshop isn't for drawing then how do you make curved lines? I know you can make a straight line with the pencil or brush by shift clicking.

Maybe the adobe suite isn't what I'm looking for? It's so rudely unintuitive that I don't think I'd have a problem paying more for a different program. Any suggestions?

Thank you so much for any help.

Gee.Willikers · Accepted Answer

I had to go to the "Paths" group and stroke it.

davescm · Answer

For that style of drawing, with even black linework, Illustrator would be a better choice. It produces vector artwork which means each line is stored as an instruction. That in turn means that if you scale up, or down, the artwork there is no softening of the lines. They are just redrawn at the new scale.

Where Photoshop would win is if you were painting digitally, rather than drawing with fills, so for example watercolour or oil style painting.

You can draw with the pen tool in Photoshop but on adding a stroke and on output it will be converted to a pixel image, which in itself is not an issue, but scaling will not be as crisp as the vectors in Illustrator.

So vector drawing is a bit of an add on to Photoshop which excels at pixel work, whereas vector drawing is bread an butter for Illustrator.

Dave

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