Thursday, May 1, 2014

Tutorial: How to Color Match Text and Shapes in Photoshop Elements

I think it's time for another tutorial, don't you all agree? :) In my last tutorial I promised to show you how to color match. I frequently receive emails asking for color codes to match my graphics. I don't include color codes with any of my sets but there is still an easy way for you to get them!


As with all my tutorials, I'll be showing you how to do this in Photoshop Elements.

To start I started a new file in PSE and "placed" my Kite Clipart in that. If you are new to placing files you can find another tutorial on that here.

From there I clicked on the little eyedropper tool in the upper left hand corner.



And then I clicked on the first color I wanted to color match which was the first purple ribbon on the tail of the kite. Once I clicked on that one of the boxes at the bottom of the toolbar menu (on the left) turned purple. The color was matched!


 From there I decided to add some text to the document so I clicked on the type tool next (the little "T" on the toolbar) and then added text to the right of the kite. Since I had already selected the purple to color match the text automatically came up in that same purple.


I always like a little variety, however, so next I went back to my eyedropper tool and this time I clicked on the green ribbon on the tail to color match that. I then decided to highlight the word "to" and then I clicked on my green box at the bottom of the tool bar (same box where the purple had been). A new screen popped up asking me if I wanted to change the color to green & I clicked on "OK".



I then went back and decided to do the word "Color Match" in alternating colors. Even though this can be a little tedious, I would use the eyedropper tool to click on the color I wanted to use and then I would highlight the letter I wanted to change until I got everything just the way I wanted it. After that I colored matched the dark brown on the graphic and added some more text and broke up the lines a little bit differently (sorry...I didn't do a screenshot for each of these steps).

What if you want to add a shape though? That's pretty easy too. To do that you can go to the shape tool (I choose the heart) and just draw that wherever you want it. Since brown was the last color I had color matched my heart automatically came up in brown, but I really wanted it in purple.


No problem! To change the color I used my eyedropper tool & clicked on purple again and then I clicked on the paint bucket tool on the tool bar. From there a little bucket graphic came up which I placed over the heart & then clicked the heart to fill it with the new color. Easy peasy!


All done! But...what if you want to use the same color outside of Photoshop Elements? That can be done too! Stay tuned for part 2! :)

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