Custom Shapes - Creating a Perfect Yin Yang - Photoshop Tutorials | Photoshop Contests

Dookie · 07-26-2008, 02:42 PM

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a perfect dimensioned Yin Yang, as well as how to create a Custom Shape from the result.
Of course, as long as black & white are used, the same method shown in step 7 will work for any shape or design.

1) Create a new document (Ctrl+N). Background should be white & hit the D key to make the color palates black/white. The size & resolution are your choice -
if making an icon, 512x512 would be ideal, while if making a wallpaper with the Yin Yang as the main subject, go with something like I did. (1600x1600, 150px/in)

2) Make sure that rulers are visible (Ctrl+R) then add 2 guide lines (1 horizontal, the other vertical) to mark dead center.
Next add 4 more, 2 each direction between the center & the edges, basically quartering the canvas.

*I uploaded a handy action that automatically quarters any size canvas with a click at the bottom of this post.

3) Select the Eliptical Marquee tool (M) and switch the style to fixed size, which will be half of the document size. (i.e. for my 1600x1600 doc, it will be 800x800px)

Create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N) and fill it with black (Alt+Backspace) or (Shift+F5, Fill with Foreground).
Now save the selection (name it whatever) then deselect (Ctrl+D), switch to the rectangular marquee, and cut the circle in half using the guides & Delete.

4) Switch back to the eliptical marquee, and change the size to a quarter of the total doc size. (In my case, 400x400)
Transform the selection, and move it to the top center of the larger semi-circle:

Fill it like we did the other, then move the selection to the bottom center & hit Delete. You should now have the black half of the symbol.

5) Reload the large circle selection, then either right click and choose Stroke, or access it from the Edit menu.
Set it to Center, with a size dependant on your circle size. For mine, I used 10px:

6) Now create an eigth-sized or smaller circle (mine was 150x150), and put it half way between the mid and top horizontal lines, centered on the mid vertical.
Delete from the black layer, then move the circle to the bottom and fill it with black, ending up with a perfectly symmetrical Yin Yang.

Optional steps:

7) Create a Custom Shape by holding Ctrl & clicking the black layer. Right click anywhere on the canvas with a Marquee tool and choose Create Workpath, set the tolerance to 0.5.
Now go to Edit and select Define Custom Shape.
That's it. Keep in mind that creating larger shapes makes them more versatile for future use, downsizing is no problem, but stretching one will create jagged edges.

8) Borderless version

Essentially the same, except after creating the black half, load the large circle selection, click on the white layer and duplicate it (Ctrl+J).
Now hide the bottom layer and you have just the symbol.

Note: When creating the small black dot, putting it on it's own layer can be helpful if applying effects. The same is true for the white one.
Instead of deleting from the black half, just fill the small circle with white on a seperate layer.
You may also wish to delete the black area from the white layer. This is what I ended with after a bit of simple layer styling:

If anyone's interested in the effects, let me know here and I'll add it to this tutorial.

Here's what I spawned from my Yin Yang shape: