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Miker2426
Miker2426
Inspiring
July 7, 2017
Answered

Open shapes on one layer w/the Pen Tool

  • July 7, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 5198 views

Is it possible to draw separate open shapes on one layer using the pen tool? I would've sworn that you could, but I've run into a wall. The shape either closes, or creates a new layer. I'm either missing something, or maybe I can't do it after all? Thanks for any help!

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Barb Binder

    Originally, this wasn't really a vector job at all. It was an illustration where I was mainly using the brush. However, once I hit the hair, I needed long smooth lines, so I switched to the pen tool to do this work. I got this idea from a youtube tutorial, and the girl on that particular vid uses the pen tool to do exactly that. She's using the pen tool in path mode, and the tool is working as if it were the brush tool, i.e. she's simply drawing lines, the lines are automatically stroking with a 3pt round brush as she clicks away, just single lines, all on one layer. I asked her HOW DID YOU DO THAT AMAZING THING? She said, "Huh? That's how the pen tool works. It's just like the brush tool, but you click."

    Here's the video if you're at all curious: Hair Tutorial: Art Nouveau Style - YouTube

    The inking portion starts about 5.30 into the video. You can clearly see she's somehow doing what I'm talking about, but I can't figure out HOW! haha!

    Thanks again for your responses!


    Morning, Mike. She is using the technique I mentioned earlier with paths. She is drawing paths and then stroking them, but instead of clicking on the Stroke Path button in the Paths panel, she is

    1. drawing a path
    2. right-clicking on the page > Stroke Path
    3. She previously set the brush size, hardness and color, and she previously choose Brush here:
    4. So that all she has to do is press Enter/Return:

    She explains this technique slowly in the lineart video she referenced (Quick Lineart Tutorial - Snow White Art Nouveau Style - YouTube) and then she is speeding up that part of the video. Go back and watch that one section again (starting around 6:02)—you can see the context menu and the dialog box flashing by once you know to look for them. I'll admit, I didn't see it the first time, either.

    1 reply

    Barb Binder
    Community Expert
    Barb BinderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 7, 2017

    I don't think you can. You can add multiple closed shapes to a single shape layer with the Shift key (the shortcut for Combine Shape), but you have to indicate that an open path is done—which deselects it—and then any new open path insists on creating a new shape layer. I tested this in CC 2017, CC 2015 and CS6.

    I wonder if you are remembering sub paths in the Paths panel?

    ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
      Miker2426
      Miker2426Author
      Inspiring
      July 7, 2017

      Thanks for the response! I appreciate your time!

      re Subpaths - Maybe, but I'm not sure. To be honest the only subpaths I know about are those dealing with closed shapes. If you know anything about OPEN subpaths, I'm all ears!

        Barb Binder
        Community Expert
        Barb BinderCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 7, 2017

        Hi Mike

        Not sure whether this will help you or not, but something you can do as a bit of a workaround:

        Create the open shapes on separate layers then group them. By then applying a single layer style to the group you can add a stroke or colour overlay in common size and colour as required.

        These are separate shape layers

        By combining the separate shape layers into a single group then adding a layer effect to the group, I gave them a single color and stroke size along with a drop shadow

        The individual shapes remain editable

        Dave


        Nice, Dave. That's a really good workaround to this multiple open paths on a single shape layer limitation.

        that this may well be a job for Illustrator!

        And Miker2426 , part of this is choosing the right tool for the task at hand. I'm sure you know this, but you can create the vector art in Ai, place (or paste) it as a smart object in Photoshop and then if you double click the thumbnail in then Layers panel, the file will open in Ai and you can edit it. Save the edited file and close it and Photoshop updates the file.

        We haven't seen your artwork, so we can't say for you what is best, but I suspect you have your answer in here somewhere.

        ~Barb

        ~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training
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