Lesson #02 Starting with Photoshop - Part #1
Written By Darren

When you first open Photoshop, it can seem a bit intimidating because of it’s unique look and the number of tools that open up automatically. Photoshop is more robust than most graphics editing programs, but it’s also more flexible, hence it’s popularity.

You may feel less overwhelmed and confused if you close up some of the toolboxes that open up as I’ve done below. We will be opening these up again when we get to the point of organizing your work area. For now, let’s look at Photoshop when it’s not so cluttered. You can start by closing up all the tools except for the main drawing tools and the box that has the layers, channels and paths. Do this by clicking the “X” in the upper right of each toolbox that you don’t want to use.

Much better, isn’t it? The next thing (in order to show you some of Photoshop’s functions) is to make a new drawing area. The drawing area is your workspace where you’ll be designing. Call it your “canvas” if you will.

Make a new canvas by going to “File”/ “New”/ “OK”. You may want to name your file ahead of time by replacing the spot where it says “Untitled-1” with the name you wish to use. Plus, you can also put new sizes in the dimensions. For now, you don’t have to do anything to those because we’re just demonstrating some basic features.

The next thing we want to do is make a layer so that the tools can be better demonstrated. With Photoshop, you get some flexibility on many of the operations you’re going to be performing. Some operations can be done several ways by either using the menu items at the very top of the Photoshop screen, by using the keyboard shortcuts or even by clicking different little icons within the toolboxes themselves. Such is the case with making and deleting layers.

To make a new layer, look at the screenshot below and notice where the arrow is pointing. Click on that button. It makes a new layer. The new layers are always placed on top of the layer you were just on. Also notice that when you make a new layer, that layer automatically becomes the current/active layer. When the layer is highlighted in blue, that signifies that you are currently working on that particular layer. Layers are stacked in the same way as a cartoonist would lay transparencies on top of each other, with each layer being a different piece of the entire drawing. This allows him/her to work on each independent object without disturbing the other objects.

Notice the little trash can to the right of the “New Layer” button? That button deletes the layer. Try it if you like. After which, you can just go to the top of Photoshop and click “Edit”, “Undo Delete Layer”. You’ll be right back where you were before deleting the layer.

You can see what the other buttons do next to the New Layer and Delete Layer buttons by simply placing your mouse over each of them, but not clicking them. You just want to see what each of their functions are. Don’t worry if you don’t understand what their meanings are, because we’ll go over that. Much of Photoshop works that way. You can just “mouseover” different icons and tools and up will pop a little box that tells what it does.

With This Tutorial, You Learned The Following:

1. How to make your work area a little less cluttered so it’s not so overwhelming.
2. How to start a new drawing board by selecting “File” then “New”.
3. How to quickly make and delete a layer and how layers work.
4. How to find out what the different icons and tools are by placing your mouse over them.

In the next tutorial, “Starting with Photoshop Part 2,” we’ll look at more tools and all the other gizmos in the menu area and vertical toolbar.