How to customize a brush in Photoshop
The brush is included in the standard Photoshop toolbox. Its tuning is in a certain sense typical for other instruments as well.
What to look for when setting up a brush?
First of all, on the menu of this tool.
Clicking on the brush icon in the toolbox selects that tool. And immediately at the top of the working window a menu or panel appears with its parameters and properties.
On the left of this menu there will be an icon showing the properties of which particular tool are highlighted in the menu. We are now looking at a brush, so we will have a brush icon.
This, by the way, is very convenient. When working with an image, you often have to use several tools and periodically reconfigure them, and in order not to accidentally change the settings of the “wrong” tool, this icon helps a lot.
The fact is that the settings made are saved during work and even when you close Photoshop. By clicking on different tools, we get ready-made settings for it.
For example, you have set up a brush. Have worked, closed. Then they began to work with a plastic or other instrument, and also adjusted it. Back to the brush, it was required to reconfigure it. And so it can be several times. Plus fatigue during prolonged work. And here the tool icon helps a lot, so as not to confuse the settings.
The next parameter (to the right of the icon on the property bar or menu), which is always not only configurable, but also reconfigured several times in the process, is the brush size. The triangle next to the number showing the brush size in the window indicates that there is a drop-down menu and there will be several parameters in it.
Indeed, in this window, you can adjust not only the size, but also the hardness of the brush.
What is brush hardness and how do I adjust it? This is nothing more than the clarity of the outer boundaries of the print or brush stroke. The hardness of the brush is adjusted by moving the slider or by entering a number in the box. It is measured as a percentage and varies from 0 to 100%, respectively. The sharpest stroke will be at 100% hardness. The lower the hardness, the more blurry the edges of the brush mark will be.
Adjust the size of the brush. This is the size of the print or brush tip. Measured in pixels. It can vary from 1 to 5000 pixels. You can adjust the brush size by moving the slider or by entering the desired number in the settings window. You can enter just a number into the window without specifying the pix parameter. The number should be from 1 to 5000. True, in different releases of Photoshop, the maximum value may be less. In this case, 5000 is for Photoshop CS6.
Brush size is perhaps the most configurable parameter. Resize often. Therefore, it is more convenient to use hotkeys.
You can decrease or increase the size by clicking the left or right square bracket on your keyboard. This allows you to quickly resize the brush as you work.
Selecting and setting the brush mode.This is the next configurable parameter. By default, the settings are set to Normal operation. This means that we get the color and tone of the brushstroke that we previously selected.
It is most often used, although the drop-down menu offers a fairly large selection of brush modes. Each of them performs its own more specific functions.
In the course of work, modes can be reconfigured in accordance with the tasks being performed.
Brush opacity and adjustment. Also a highly sought after property. Easy to customize. It is measured in percentage and ranges from 1 to 100%. You can adjust it by moving the slider or by entering a number in the box. The number must be between 1 and 100. If you enter 0 or more than 100, a dialog box appears indicating the error.
What does the Opacity parameter say? Opacity ... That is, how clearly the underlying paint layer will be visible. Whether it will show through under the brush stroke. 100% opacity means that in one pass of the brush, the underlying layer or shade will be painted over and not visible. Opacity equal to 1% practically does not paint over the canvas in one pass.
At the same time, opacity is, in a sense, a measure of the saturation of the selected color.
Pay attention to the words "in one pass".
The point is that the opacity adds up. That is, if we set the opacity to 1% and drag across the canvas, we will hardly notice any changes. But if we hold several times over the same place, we will observe how the color we have chosen gradually appears and becomes saturated. If at opacity equal to 1 on the same place we draw 100 times, we get the same color saturation as at 100% opacity.
Brush opacity is one of the most useful parameters. Easy to configure and reconfigure. Usually start working with 50% opacity, changing it as you go. But, of course, everything is determined by the tasks at hand.
Adjust brush pressure. Brush pressure as well as opacity is measured in percent and varies from 1 to 100%. You can also adjust the slider or by entering a number in the box. It is somewhat similar to opacity, especially at values \u200b\u200bless than 6%. But in general it manifests itself in the fading of color at the beginning and end of the brush stroke.
Thus, brush size, hardness, mode, opacity, and pressure are all general brush settings.
For convenience, they are placed on a special panel or menu at the top of the working window. They are really always in demand and are often reconfigured in the process.
Photoshop has a fairly large set of brushes installed initially. And in the process, you can always add and create new brushes. Therefore, in addition to the specified settings, you can always choose a brush with the desired print shape.
The brush has another configurable parameter. It is not listed in the properties panel. This parameter is called "Intervals". However, in different editions it may be called differently.
The point of this parameter is that you can adjust the brush so that when you draw a continuous line with a brush, you will actually get free-standing prints. This is sometimes useful. For example, you can easily draw a flock of birds or butterflies.
This parameter ranges from 1 to 1000%. Located on a separate panel in the brush set. In the same place where you can choose the shape of the brush.
It is also customizable by entering numbers or moving the slider, and at the bottom you can immediately observe the change in the distance between individual strokes or brushprints.
This parameter has a highly specialized purpose, in fact, therefore, it is not displayed in frequently used settings. But it can be misleading when you don't get the print you expected.
Therefore, it is better to uncheck the Intervals box. And then you will have a clean, solid line without interruption.
And when this parameter is needed, check the box again and adjust the desired brush stroke interval.
"Brush" - the most popular and versatile Photoshop tool. A huge range of work is done with brushes - from simple painting objects to interacting with layer masks.
The brushes have very flexible settings: they change the size, hardness, shape and direction of the bristles, for them you can also set the blending mode, opacity and pressure. We will talk about all these properties in today's lesson.
This tool is located in the same place as all the others - on the left toolbar.
As with other tools, for brushes, when activated, the top settings panel is turned on. It is on this panel that the basic properties are configured. It:
- Size and shape;
- Blending mode;
- Opacity and pressure.
The icons you can see on the panel do the following:
- Opens the panel for fine tuning the shape of the brush (analogue - F5 key);
- Determines the opacity of the brush by pressure;
- Includes airbrush mode;
- Determines the size of the brush by pressure.
The last three buttons on the list work only in a graphics tablet, that is, activating them will not have any effect.
Brush size and shape
This settings panel determines the size, shape and hardness of the brushes. The size of the brush is adjusted with the corresponding slider or with square buttons on the keyboard.
The stiffness of the bristles is adjusted with the slider below. A brush with 0% hardness has the most blurry edges, and a brush with 100% hardness is as clear as possible.
The shape of the brush is determined by the set presented in the lower window of the panel. We'll talk about sets a little later.
Blending mode
This setting determines the blending mode of the content created by the brush with the content of this layer. If the layer (area) contains no elements, then the property will be propagated to the underlying layers. Works similarly to layer blending modes.
Opacity and pressure
Very similar properties to each other. They determine the intensity of the color applied in one pass (click). Most often used "Opacity"as a clearer and more versatile setting.
When working with masks, it is "Opacity" allows you to create smooth transitions and semi-transparent borders between shades, images and objects on different layers of the palette.
Fine-tuning the form
This panel, called, as mentioned above, by clicking on the icon at the top of the interface, or by pressing F5, allows you to fine-tune the shape of the brush. Let's take a look at the most commonly used settings.
These were the basic settings, the rest are rarely used. They can be found in some of the lessons, one of which is shown below.
Brush Sets
Working with sets has already been described in detail in one of the lessons on our website.
As part of this lesson, we can only say that most sets of high-quality brushes can be found freely available on the Internet. To do this, you need to enter a query in the search engine like "Photoshop brushes"... In addition, you can create your own sets for ease of use from ready-made or self-defined brushes.
Lesson on learning the instrument "Brush" completed. The information contained in it is theoretical in nature, and practical skills in working with brushes can be obtained by studying other lessons on. The vast majority of training material includes examples of using this tool.
It often happens that poor-quality, poor brush performance is caused by incorrect settings of the graphics tablet. Sometimes, people who have just bought a tablet believe that it is enough to plug it in and it will be ready to go. But, alas, they are mistaken. In fact, you first need to find the right (just for you) tablet and brush settings. Make sure the nib matches and suits your drawing style. In this tutorial, I will tell you about the options, brush settings for easy work that will give you pleasure while painting.
Photoshop brushes library
To access the Photoshop brushes library, first you need to open the window the Brush Preset Picker (Brush sets). Choose any brush you like. Now in this window, click on the black arrow (top right). Thus, you will see a huge number of brushes provided by Photoshop. Pick any kind of brushes and get familiar with them.
Note: In version Photoshop CC (2014) in order to go to Brush Presets (Sets of brushes) must be selected through the menu (Window - Sets of brushes).
Commonly used Photoshop brushes
If you are not in the mood to create your own brushes, then you can use the brushes that artists use very often. Natural brush (Natural Brushes) - This is one of the most convenient types of brushes that comes with the standard set. They do not need to be configured, as they initially have the correct parameters to ensure quality performance.
Brush settings
Sometimes beginners are surprised that the brush does not respond to the pressure and tilt of the pen. But for this, you first need to adjust some brush parameters. To access the settings, open the window Window (Window) and select Brushes (Brushes). Thus, a window should open Brush Presets (Brush sets). In the next steps, I'll explain and tell you what each of the brush settings is for.
Save changed brush settings
Imagine that you have already selected the brush options that suit you, but now you need to save them. How can this be done? So we open the window again Brush Preset Picker (Brush sets), click on the arrow in the upper right corner, select the item New Brush Preset (New set of brush options). Keep in mind that if you don't save the modified brush settings, the brushes will revert to their default settings.
Known brush settings
In general, when painting, many artists use a brush Hard round brush (Rigid round) with customization Pen Pressure (Pen pressure). Select this brush, open the window Brush Presets (Brush sets), select Other Dynamics (Other dynamics - Photoshop CS3 / Transfer - starting with CS5). Then install Opacity jitter (Fluctuation of opacity) on Pen Pressure (Pen pressure). As you can see, I will paint the picture in parallel with my explanations. However, I will not explain to you in detail how I painted my drawing, since the main thing for us now is to understand how important brush settings are. And my picture will show you the possibilities of brushes. At this point, using this particular brush, I have drawn a rough sketch.
Note: Section name Other Dynamics (Different dynamics) from version Photoshop CS5 changed to Transfer (Broadcast).
Brush texture
Using Photoshop's brush library, you can add texture to your brush. To do this, select Window (Window) then Brushes (Brush). In the window that opens, select Textures (Texture). Now all you have to do is select the texture you want. After that, you can play with the parameters Depth (Depth) and Scale (Scale) using the provided sliders.
In the last lesson, we learned how to create custom brushes in Photoshop. Often develop an initial brush shape known as brush print (brush tip) can be very interesting. It becomes even more interesting when we begin to control the brush directly in the process of painting, changing its size, angle, roundness, color and opacity!
We can add texture brushes, place brush marks in a stroke, combine two brushes into one, and much more! These parameters are called brush dynamics parameters (Brush Dynamics), and they never cease to amaze us since they first appeared in Photoshop 7. These are the parameters that will be the topic of this tutorial series!
There are six main categories of hand dynamics parameters - "Dynamics of form" (Shape Dynamics), "Diffusion" (Scattering), "Texture" (Texture), "Double brush" (Dual Brush), "Dynamics of color" (Color Dynamics) and "Other dynamics" (Other Dynamics) - which are located on the panel "Brush" (Brushes panel). Each of these categories controls a separate brush parameter as you paint, but since the controls and options for all six categories are similar, you only need to study one category thoroughly and it will be easier to understand how the other dynamics parameters work.
After you've studied all the tutorials, I highly recommend that you take the time to experiment with the different brush settings yourself to get a visual idea of \u200b\u200bhow incredible (and useful, don't forget the benefits!) The results can be as you paint with a brush. But be careful! Before the advent of YouTube and the social network Facebook, there was Photoshop with its own brush dynamics settings, and many creative people have wasted countless hours of their lives playing with the Brush panel.
In my case, I'll be working in Photoshop CS4, but all of these tutorials will work for any version of the program up to Photoshop 7. Let's get started!
Step 1: select the brush tool
In order to access the Brush Dynamics options, we need to open the Brush panel. First, make sure you have the tool selected in the toolbar. "Brush" (Brush Tool), or press the key on the keyboard INto quickly activate this tool:
Select the Brush tool if not already selected
Step 2: open the brush panel
After you have selected the Brush tool, the easiest way to open the Brush panel is to press the F5 key on your keyboard (press the key again to close the panel) or click on the Brush panel toggle icon in the options bar at the top of the screen (pressing the icon again closes the panel):
Clicking on the corresponding toggle switch icon in the options panel opens and closes the Brush panel
By default, when you open the Brush panel, the option is selected there. Brush Sets(Brush Presets) (you will see how the name "Brush Presets" is highlighted in blue in the upper left corner of the panel). With this option selected, all we can do is simply select the appropriate option from the list of ready-made brush shapes on the right side of the panel. In order to select the desired brush, just click on its image.
If you have selected the option Show hints(Tool Tips) under "Installations"(Preferences), then as you move the cursor over the image of the brush, its name will appear on the screen. A useful preview area at the bottom of the panel displays the current view of the stroke with the selected brush. We can use the diameter slider (Skittle)(Master Diameter) located below the brush list to change the size of the selected brush. If you only need to choose a ready-made brush and paint with it, then this section is for you:
Brush panel with Brush Presets selected
Each of the brush sets on the right side of the panel includes a brushprint (the current brush shape that we see in the thumbnail) and a list of predefined dynamics parameters that control the brush as we paint. The six categories of brush dynamics parameters (Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Texture, etc.) are located on the left side of the Brush panel, and if you keep an eye on them as you switch between the various pre-shaped brush shapes, you will notice that Depending on the selected brush, some parameters are activated, and some are disabled. For example, if I select the Scattered Maple Leaves brush, we can see that the following dynamics options are available for this brushprint: Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Color Dynamics, and Other Dynamics. :
Each brush set includes a brushprint and predefined brush dynamics parameters
However, if I choose a basic brush, for example, one of the standard round brushes in Photoshop at the top of the list, then only the category will be available for it. "Dynamics of form"(Shape Dynamics). In fact, depending on whether your drawing tablet is connected to your computer or not, you may not be able to see any of the selected brush dynamics categories at all.
I tried a new brush in practice. The results made me very happy! In terms of convenience and ease of work in the drawing process, it gives a very acceptable result, greatly saving time. Maybe I just drew incorrectly before, but I really liked the brush and painting technique. thanks B_z (mr. tot) - his hint.
Brush settings
I'll describe how to install this brush, and in one step, how to make your own brush from scratch.
Blank To create a brush:
1. Save the workpiece that is located above.
2. Open this picture in Photoshop.
3. Edit - Define Brush Preset ...(Editing - Define Brush).
4. An unconfigured brush appears at the end of the brush list.
How do I customize the brush?
Opacity (Non-transparency) we eliminate in 100% never changing it while drawing.
In the case when you still need to use opacity, you can turn on the transparency change mode. This button is located next to Opacity (CS5 only, in my opinion).
In other versions, you can enable this setting in the panel F5by enabling the checkbox of the branch "Broadcast", in which the dependence of transparency on the degree of pressing is configured.
In the Brushprint shape branch of the F5 panel, you need to increase And interval at least until 10% or lessto make the stroke appear as a single shape.
When drawing, at first, it is better not to include the change in the size of the brush from pressing, but to paint with a brush with a static size - this saves time and does not lead the drawing process ahead of time (there is an opportunity to work more on the general appearance of the image without specifics).
Detail drawing
When drawing details, when the main one is outlined, you can turn on the dependence of the size on the degree of pressure, and turn off the transparency dependence.
What happened to me
