Project 3: Selection Outline

1. After defining the document size, selection area, and background, I selected the Rulers option from the Window Menu Bar. I then went to Edit – Preferences to set the Ruler to Inches and Pixels. The next step was to create and place horizontal and vertical Guides to use as a basis for creating some sort of symmetry to the project
2. I saved the file and opened up the Layers palette to make sure I was not creating any layers.
3. I made 4 squares in each corner of the project using the Rectangular Marquee Tool, all the while keeping the shift key pressed. Then I drew the inside + using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. I used Right Click on the mouse to Fill the squares and + with the foreground color, a blue purple fill.
4. I made 4 triangles using the Polygonal Lasso Tool. I made the circle using the Elliptical Marquee Tool and centered as best as I could using the Spacebar trick, which is a cool trick I never knew about before. I used Right Click on the mouse to Fill the triangles and circle with the white background color.
5. I cleared the guides and saved my work in a Photoshop and jpg format.

A main obstacle I had with the project was how not to intentionally make layers. After I figured out how you can use the Marquee Selections and the Shift Key together to make it work, life was a little easier. The next issue was placement and symmetry. I’ve always liked using Guides and the Ruler was a big help. I stumbled a little in with the inside, the triangles and circle filling in with the background color until I chose Right click with the mouse. Right Click is another friend. The circle is almost a circle; it’s all how you look at it. I like my glass half full instead of half empty. Anyways, the placement of the circle in the pattern is enough to give one grief unless you press the Spacebar when making the circle and then you get movement to place the circle where you want it. Yeah for that! I thought this was a great assignment using selection tools on a single layer.