EDIT: Feel free to download the Photoshop document used here. (15Kb .zip, Photoshop 7)

Since sum_1 (I won't say who ) asked, here's a tutorial for making a basic tribal shape (Figure 1). Once you're familiar with the technique, complex shapes will be a piece o' cake.  The key to drawing anything is knowing what it looks like (thank you, Captain Obvious).  So before you start, get to know the shape of "Tribal" -- find some good source artwork you like (for instance the PR header) and observe which corners are sharp, which lines are convex/concave, etc.  I find it helps to sketch what you want on a piece of paper first.


The best way to make tribal designs in Photoshop is by using the Pen Tool and related path tools. The Pen Tool is one of Photoshop's more advanced (read: harder to learn) tools, so it WILL take some time and patience to master.  Any good Photoshop book should have a chapter or two devoted to Paths and the Pen Tool.  MyJanee.com has a good Pen tutorial here.


To begin making the tribal shape, start with a big blank canvas, select the Pen Tool ( ).  One click makes one anchor point ("anchor points" are dots that outline a "Path", or shape) .  Start at one edge of the shape, and progressively click around the edge of the shape you're imagining, making a very rough outline.  As you click, Photoshop connects the dots.  For my shape, I used one anchor point for each "sharp point", one in the middle of each curve, and one for each indent (Figure 4).  The fewer points you use, the smoother your shape will be.  As you're drawing it, the shape will look a little screwy at times, like overlapping triangles (Figure 3). To finish the shape outline, click back on the original point (the Pen Tool will have a little circle next to it when it's over the original point).  


At this point, j-dogg would tell me, "j00r 7r1b4L sux0rz", and he'd be right.  To make this shape ub3r-1337, we'll use the Convert Point Tool ( ).  (If you don't see it, click and hold on the Pen Tool on the toolbar.)  To use the Convert Point tool, click an anchor point and drag to the side (Figure 6).  Drag the "indent" points roughly the amount shown in Figure 6.  Drag the curve midpoints about half that much, parallel to the edge at that point.  I did not use Convert Point at all on the sharp endpoints.  Feel free to play around with effects by dragging different amounts in different directions.  If you mess up, simply click-and-release with the Convert Point tool to reset a point.


Chances are you'll need to move points around to give your shape the look you want.  For this, use the Direct Selection Tool ( ), the white arrow directly over the Pen on the toolbar.  To movie a point, simply click it, then drag-and-drop to where you want it (or use the arrow keys on your keyboard for fine adjustments).  You can also add and remove anchor points by using the corresponding tools on the menu in Figure 2.

If you have the Direct Selection Tool selected, click on the background somewhere to view your shape without the anchor points (Figure 8.  Don't worry, you can click on the shape again to get the anchor points back).  Once you're happy with the shape, apply different styles to complete your artwork.
If you have any questions, comments, or corrections, feel free to PM me or post them here!

A bit off-topic, but just wanted to share a graphic I had made entirely using the pen tool as above:



This was originally going to be a graphic for my wedding this month, but ended up going with a different design, so I never finished it.

Wow, very cool. I personally have yet to use the pen tool, heh. Very nice on the tribal, I am going to try one now.

very very nice write up..i have used photoshop since v3.0 and have not used the pen tool once..after seeing this, i will definately try to use it and learn it..also, congrats on the wedding, i just got married jan 5th

edit: my first attempt at using the pen tool (for the tribal piece):


good write-up dude (rep comin atcha)

Finally found the time to try this out! I think it came out pretty good for a very first try! Rep comin' at ya, Funky. [Edit: Can't rep right now ]
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Keeping it "FunkyFresh" as always!

Another good tutorial.

Quote: Originally Posted by FunkyFresh A bit off-topic, but just wanted to share a graphic I had made entirely using the pen tool as above: This was originally going to be a graphic for my wedding this month, but ended up going with a different design, so I never finished it.

/Off Topic: Congratulations!