Combining Text With Shapes In Photoshop

In this Photoshop Basics tutorial, we'll learn how to create fun designs and interesting logos by combining text with custom shapes! First we'll learn how to convert the text itself into a shape

Here's the document I'm starting with, a simple background with the word "dogs" added in front of it (sorry to all the cat lovers out there):

Some text in front of a simple background.

If we look in the Layers panel, we see that the document is made up of two layers - the Background layer on the bottom and a Type layer above it:

We're going to learn how to add other shapes to our text and how to subtract shapes from the text. Let's start by seeing how to subtract a shape, or in other words, how to cut a hole out of a letter with a shape! In a moment, I'm going to use one of Photoshop's custom shapes to replace the hole in the center of the letter "o" with something that looks more interesting.

Before I do that, I should remove the hole that's already there, which means I need to delete part of the shape. To do that, we need to select the part we want to delete using Photoshop's Direct Selection Tool. By default, it's hiding behind the Path Selection Tool in the Tools panel, so I'll click on the Path Selection Tool and keep my mouse button held down for a second or two until a fly-out menu appears, then I'll select the Direct Selection Tool from the list:

The difference between the Path Selection Tool (sometimes referred to simply as the "black arrow") and the Direct Selection Tool (the "white arrow") is that the Path Selection Tool is used for selecting entire shapes at once, while the Direct Selection Tool can select just the part(s) we need. Before we select anything though, make sure the shape's thumbnail is selected in the Layers panel. You'll know it's selected because it will have a white highlight border around it. If it's not selected, click on the thumbnail to select it before you continue, otherwise you won't be able to select the shape (or any part of it):

Make sure the shape's thumbnail is highlighted in the Layers panel.

With the shape's thumbnail selected and highlighted, I'll select the hole in the center of the letter "o" by clicking and dragging a thin box around it with the Direct Selection Tool, similar to how you would select pixels in an image with the Rectangular Marquee Tool:

Click and drag around the area you want to delete.

When I release my mouse button, small squares known as anchor points appear around the shape. It's hard to see in the screenshot, but if you look closely at the shape in your document, you'll notice that the anchor points within the area you dragged around appear as solid squares, while the others appear as hollow outlines. The solid squares are the anchor points we've selected:

Selected anchor points appear as solid squares. Unselected ones appear as hollow outlines.

To delete the selected part of the shape, simply press the Backspace key on your keyboard. The selected area is instantly removed:

Select Photoshop's Custom Shape Tool from the Tools panel. 

With the Custom Shape Tool selected, make sure the Shape Layers option is selected in the Options Bar along the top of the screen. 

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This opens the Shape Picker, which displays small thumbnails of all the shapes we currently have to choose from. Rather than use any of the default shapes, I'm going to load one of the other shape sets included with Photoshop. To load one of the other sets, click on the small arrow icon in the top right corner of the Shape Picker:

Selecting the Animals shape set from the Shape Picker's menu.

Photoshop will ask me if I want to replace the current shapes with the new shapes or if I just want to append the new ones to the end of the list. I'll click Append to add the new ones in with the others:

Directly to the right of the shape preview thumbnail in the Options Bar is a series of five icons, most of which look like overlapping squares. Clicking on these different icons allows us to switch between different drawing modes, like Add to shape, Subtract from shape, Intersect shapes, and others. The icon on the left, Create new shape, is always selected by default because usually, we want to create a new shape when we draw one in the document:

Photoshop gives us five different drawing modes to choose from, like "Add to shape" and "Subtract from shape".

The problem with choosing drawing modes by clicking on these icons in the Options Bar is that each time you need to switch to a different mode, you have to drag your mouse up to the Options Bar and select it manually. Also, it's too easy to forget which one is selected, so you'll go to draw a new shape only to end up adding it to an existing shape because the "Add to shape" option is the one you used previously and you forgot to change it back. A better way to switch between drawing modes is with the much faster keyboard shortcuts, which allow us to switch between modes temporarily and always revert back to the default "Create new shape" mode as soon as we release the key!

For example, to subtract a shape from an existing shape, rather than choosing the Subtract from shape option in the Options Bar, simply hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key on your keyboard. You'll see a small minus sign ( - ) appear in the bottom right of your mouse cursor letting you know you've temporarily switched to the "Subtract from shape" mode (if you see the Eyedropper icon appear when you hold down your Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key, it's because you don't have the shape's thumbnail selected in the Layers panel. Make sure it's selected before you continue).

With the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key held down, click inside the shape you want to cut a hole through and drag out your new shape. You'll see a thin outline of the new shape appearing inside the original shape. To constrain the aspect ratio of the new shape as you're drawing it, hold down your Shift key as well. To move and reposition the shape as you're drawing it, hold down your spacebar, drag the shape to a new spot with your mouse, then release your spacebar and continue dragging. Here, I'm dragging out a Dog Print shape inside the letter "o":

Hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and drag out the new shape inside the original one.

When you're done, release your mouse button and Photoshop subtracts the new shape from the original, effectively cutting a hole through it:

This time, let's add a new shape to the text. Click once again on the shape preview thumbnail in the Options Bar to open the Shape Picker, then click on a different shape to select it. I'll choose the Dog shape this time. Press Enter  when you're done to close out of the Shape Picker:

Choosing a new shape from the Shape Picker.

To add the new shape to the text shape, we need to be in the Add to shape mode, and we can switch to it temporarily by holding down the Shift key. You'll see a small plus sign ( + ) appear in the bottom right of your mouse cursor, letting you know you're about to add the new shape to the existing one. With the Shift key held down, click inside the document and begin dragging out the new shape (again, make sure the shape thumbnail is selected in the Layers panel). A thin outline of the shape will appear as you drag. I'm going to place the dog above the last two letters of the word so it looks like he's standing on them:

Hold Shift and drag out the shape to add it to the text.

When you release your mouse button, Photoshop adds the shape to the original:

The new shape is added to the text shape.

Here's what my text looks like now after cutting a hole in the letter "o" with one shape and adding another shape above the last two letters:

its the finals results,thanks to visit my blog

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