Simple shapes are very useful when you are designing or editing images in Photoshop.
You can use the brush or eraser tools to draw freehand shapes, or you can use some of the tools in the program to draw shapes that have more accurate or straight lines.
However, you may be having trouble figuring out how to draw a simple rectangle or square in Photoshop CS5, as the rectangular marquee tool doesn’t have a built-in option that allows you to outline your selection and draw a square or a rectangle on your canvas.
Luckily there is a tool that you can use that will allow you to accomplish this.
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Outlining a Box in Photoshop CS5
If you are going to have a lot of elements to your Photoshop project, then it’s a good idea to try and separate things into layers as much as possible.
This will make it much simpler to make adjustments to individual parts of the image later, without affecting the rest of the image.
You can create a new layer at any time by pressing Shift + Ctrl + N on your keyboard. So once you’ve determined where you need to place a square or a rectangle in your Photoshop image, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop, then select the layer into which you wish to insert your square or rectangle.
Step 2: Click the Rectangular Marquee Tool in the toolbox at the left side of the window.
Step 3: Draw the outline of the shape on the canvas.
Step 4: Click Edit at the top of the window, then click Stroke.
Step 5: Adjust the options on the Stroke window as needed, then click the OK button to draw your rectangle or square.
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Now that you know how to draw a square or rectangle in Adobe Photoshop, you can simplify the process a bit and start including more of those shapes in your image.
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Kermit Matthews is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with more than a decade of experience writing technology guides. He has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science and has spent much of his professional career in IT management.
He specializes in writing content about iPhones, Android devices, Microsoft Office, and many other popular applications and devices.