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How to Quickly Add Shapes in Premiere Pro

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6 min read

Adobe Premiere Pro is a versatile video editing app. With it, you can create cinematic videos with ease. It’s packed with powerful features that you can use to transform everyday clips into something special. One of these is the ability to draw shapes right on your videos.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to add shapes in Premiere Pro. Once you know how to add a shape in Premiere Pro, you’ll see that it’s a handy skill that you’ll use in every single video. 

Let’s learn how to add shapes in Premiere Pro, step by step!

How to Add a Shape in Premiere Pro

Learning how to add shapes in Premiere Pro is easy. The key features you need are built into the app. They work with every video that you might find yourself editing. But it pays to learn why you might want to add shapes. How can they enhance your videos?

Consider these advantages:

  • The ability to add emphasis. Shapes help you emphasize key details in your video. They’re visually eye-catching, which helps you keep your audience focused on specific content that you want to feature. 
  • Visual style boosts. Shapes elevate your visual style effortlessly. They help each video that you produce look its very best. 
  • Overlays for graphics and titles. Shapes are useful overlays for titles, graphics, and effects. You can use them to offset captions and transition from scene to scene. 

As you can see, shapes are a great thing to include in your next Adobe Premiere Pro video. Let’s learn how to add a shape in Premiere Pro quickly:

1. Choose Footage to Add a Shape To

Go ahead and launch Premiere Pro and identify the key panels that you’ll be working with. Specifically, find the Program Monitor and Timeline.

The Program Monitor is in the upper center of the Premiere Pro screen. It’s how you preview the work you’re doing to each individual video. 

In this lesson, we'll learn how to add shapes in Premiere Pro with sample footage from Envato Elements. It's the best all-you-can-download source for creatives. We'll use Downtown Los Angeles by Grand to learn.

Below is the Timeline. The Timeline controls the timing and placement of each video clip in a given project. You can click and drag video footage and drop it onto the Timeline to begin editing. 

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Click and drag to move a video clip onto the Timeline. With it, we’ll look at how to add shapes in Premiere Pro. (Stock footage: Envato Elements.)

With a video in place, it’s easy to learn how to add shapes in Premiere Pro.

2. Open the Shape Tool

With a video in place, find the Captions and Graphics panel. On it, three buttons above the bottom, you’ll see the Rectangle Tool. This is one of the shapes that you can easily draw in Premiere Pro.

If you want to draw a rectangle on your video, click on the Rectangle Tool. But if you want more options, click and hold the button. When you do, you’ll see two other options: the Ellipse Tool and the Polygon Tool.

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Use the Shape Tool to choose what to draw onto your Premiere Pro videos. (Stock footage: Envato Elements.)

Choose one of these to draw a shape. Let’s demonstrate by using the Polygon Tool. Click on it to activate it. 

3. Draw a Shape

After clicking on the Polygon Tool, move your cursor over a video clip previewed on the Program Monitor. When you do, you’ll see that your cursor has become a crosshairs symbol. This indicates that the Shape Tool you selected is active. 

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With a shape selected, move your cursor over the Program Monitor. (Stock footage: Envato Elements.

Move the crosshairs over a spot on the clip where you want to draw a shape. Then, click and hold. You’ll see a polygon shape appear.

Move your cursor across the frame, and you’ll see the shape being drawn in. It’s that easy! When you’re finished drawing a shape, hit the Enter key on your keyboard. The new shape will lock into place.

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Draw a shape by clicking and moving your cursor across the frame of a video. (Stock footage: Envato Elements.

Remember: you can draw multiple shapes at once. After hitting Enter, simply repeat the steps of drawing in additional shapes. 

4. Edit and Customize Shapes in Premiere Pro

With a shape drawn, you can customize them. To do this, go to Window > Essential Graphics. A new sidebar menu will appear on the right side of your Premiere Pro screen. Click on Shape 01 on the sidebar.

Below, you’ll see an array of options. For example, you can use the Align and Transform menus to adjust the placement of a given shape. You can change the size, position, and scale of the shape.

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Use the Essential Graphics panel to learn how to add a shape in Premiere Pro and customize its look and feel. (Stock footage: Envato Elements.

Below, in the Appearance group, you can adjust the stylistic appearance of the shape itself. With the shape selected in the Timeline, click into the Fill color chooser.

Here, you can choose a new color for the shape itself. Select a new shade, then click OK. Watch as the shape transforms in real time.

You just learned how to add shapes in Premiere Pro. It’s a simple workflow that pays dividends with new styling and cool designs. Try it today.

The Best Source for Adobe Premiere Pro Video Templates (With Unlimited Downloads)

Envato Elements is the top source for the very best Adobe Premiere Pro video templates. With thousands to choose from, finding a great design for you is a breeze. And these templates are just the beginning. 

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Envato Elements: unlimited downloads of millions of digital assets.

For a flat monthly rate, Elements offers over 15 million digital assets with unlimited downloads. These include fonts, stock photos, music, and more. They’re the perfect complements for your next Premiere Pro video project.

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Elements has thousands of premium custom Adobe Premiere Pro templates available for download now.

Choose a premium Envato Elements Adobe Premiere Pro template, and you’ll experience:

  • Custom, modern designs. Premium templates don’t use the dull, flat layouts you might find for free online. Instead, they embrace the latest in current design trends to create sleek, ultra-modern designs.
  • Simple, intuitive features. If you aren’t a video production pro, don’t worry. Premium templates use simple, easy-to-use features. And many include helpful tutorials to help kickstart your own editing process. 
  • Inspiring designs. It’s often hard to decide how best to share content in Premiere Pro. Premium templates have you covered, with inspiring designs. All you have to do is drop in your own content to share creatively. 

Envato Elements is the very best value for creatives in 2023 and beyond. Join today and get started exploring the vast library of creative content! You’ll be glad you did.

Add Shapes in Adobe Premiere Pro Today

Today, you learned how to add shapes in Premiere Pro! As you can see, it’s a fast and easy process. And it’s a key skill so that you can shape the graphics and overlays in your production.

What are you waiting for? Take your new skills and start drawing shapes in Adobe Premiere Pro today. When you do, you’ll find yourself creating even more amazing videos that audiences will love.