Fundamentals of Photoshop: Drawing, Layers, Masks, and Selections (Photoshop II)

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 second class in the 5-class series.

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 second 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 II) you'll learn advanced features working with layers and masks. I'll teach you some truly amazing things that you can do by adding effects and adjustments to those layers. Then it's on to masks, one of Photoshop's most impressive features. Topics covered in this class include:

• Adjust and Style Layers. There are so many wonderful things that you can do with layers and we’ll touch on some of the best ways to make your composition look awesome. We’ll take a look at layer styles and adjustment layers. We’ll also learn some other handy things like locking layers and flattening them.

• Masks. Layer masks are probably the coolest and one of the most amazing things about Photoshop. I’ll cover exactly what layer masks are, how they work, and why you want to use them. They’re an advanced feature that is actually easy to learn. You’ll be glad you did.

• Selection Tools. We'll learn the difference between the regular old selection tool and the direct silection tool. I'll show you how to adjust images and shapes with these exciting tools.

• Transform Tool for Shapes and Images. You can do a lot with the transform feature in Photoshop. Manipulating shapes and layers has never been more fun. We’ll go over how to tranfsorm objects and enhance your work through resizing various elements.

• Cropping. I’ll show you guys how to use the crop tool and resize your canvas. If you’ve ever created a canvas in Photoshop and then changed your mind about the size, the cropping feature will be perfect for you.

What You'll Make
At the end of the class you'll apply all of the skills you've learned to make an abstract image collage using photography and shapes.

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 III: Typography and the Pen Tool
• Photoshop IV: Color, Swatches, and Blending
• Photoshop V: Creating Efficient Workflows, Tips, and Tricks