Create a basic set of brushes for painting in Photoshop. Smoothing Brush in Photoshop
In the last lesson, we learned how to create your own brushes in Photoshop. Often, develop the initial shape of the brush, known as brush mark(brush tip) can be very interesting. It becomes even more interesting when we begin to control the brush directly during the drawing process, changing its size, angle, roundness, color and opacity!
We can add texture to brushes, place brush marks in a certain way in a stroke, combine two brushes into one, and much more! These parameters are called brush dynamics parameters(Brush Dynamics), and they have never ceased to amaze us since they first appeared in Photoshop 7. It is these parameters that will be the topic of this series of lessons!
There are six main categories of hand dynamics parameters - "Shape Dynamics"(Shape Dynamics) "Diffusion"(Scattering) "Texture"(Texture), "Double Brush"(Dual Brush) "Color Dynamics"(Color Dynamics) and "Different Dynamics"(Other Dynamics) - which are located on the panel "Brush"(Brushes panel). Each of these categories controls a different brush parameter as you paint, but since the controls and options for all six categories are similar, you'll only need to learn one category thoroughly before understanding how the other dynamics parameters work.
Once you've completed all of the tutorials, I highly recommend that you take the time to experiment with the different brush options yourself to get a visual representation of how incredible (and rewarding, don't forget the benefits!) the results of brush painting can be. But be careful! Before YouTube and Facebook came into our world, there was Photoshop with its brush dynamics options, and many creative types wasted countless hours of their lives messing around with the Brush panel.
In my case, I'll be working in Photoshop CS4, but all of these lessons 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 a key on the keyboard IN to quickly activate this tool:
Select the Brush tool if it is not already selected
Step 2: Open the Brush panel
Once you've selected the Brush tool, the easiest way to open the Brush panel is to press F5 on your keyboard (pressing the key again closes the panel) or click the Brush panel toggle icon in the options bar at the top of the screen (clicking the icon again closes the panel):
Clicking the corresponding toggle icon in the options bar opens and closes the Brush panel
By default, when you open the Brush panel, there will be an option selected. "Brush Sets"(Brush Presets) (you will see the name “Brush Presets” 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. To select the brush you need, simply click on its image.
If you have the option selected "Show hints"(Tool Tips) in the section "Settings"(Preferences), then as you hover the cursor over the brush image, its name will appear on the screen. A useful preview area at the bottom of the panel displays the current stroke appearance of the selected brush. We can use the diameter slider (Size)(Master Diameter), located below the list of brushes, to change the size of the selected brush. If you only need to select 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 brush fingerprint (the current shape of the brush that we see in the icon) and a list of preset dynamics parameters that control the brush as you paint. Six categories of brush dynamics options (Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Texture, etc.) are located on the left side of the Brush panel, and if you pay close attention to them as you switch between different images of preset brush shapes, you will notice that in 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 brush tip: Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Color Dynamics, and Other Dynamics. :
Each brush set includes a brush tip and preset brush dynamics settings
However, if I select a basic brush, such as one of the standard Photoshop round brushes at the top of the list, then only the category will be available for it "Shape Dynamics"(Shape Dynamics). In fact, depending on whether you have a drawing tablet connected to your computer or not, you may not be able to see any of the selected brush dynamics categories at all.
The brush tool is one of the most commonly used in Photoshop. Not to mention that other drawing tools have almost identical settings with the brush. In the process of writing articles for the blog, I was faced with the fact that I had to constantly describe the same actions on at a construction site, it is not effective.
Therefore, I decided to write a separate post in which, using the Brush tool as an example, I will show most of the settings typical for drawing and retouching (for example) tools in Photoshop. By the way, no one has canceled the F1 key yet and you can get more comprehensive help on brush parameters there.
Customizing the brush cursor and painting tools
Even at the very beginning of working in the program, now is also not too late, in the Photoshop settings available along the path Editing – Preferences – Cursors (Edit – Preferences – Cursors), it is advisable to set the following settings:
Painting Cursors – Normal Brush Tip, setting this option will allow you to see the actual size of the tool and imagine the area of its influence. While working, you can switch to Precise view if necessary by pressing the Caps Lock key.
Other Cursors (Other cursors) switch to Standard, the setting allows you to see which tool you have in your hands, from those that do not draw, for example “ ” (L), it is very convenient when switching between them using “hot” keys.
Brash Preview – not used in “normal” work, its presence does not appear in any way. However, by changing the size and rigidity of all drawing tools, it makes it possible to see the size and shading of the affected area. That is why there is only one Color option as a parameter, which makes it possible to set the color with which the impact area will be highlighted during resizing. As a rule, the setting does not need to be changed; the default color is quite suitable for this purpose.
When the settings in the Cursors tab are made, click OK and proceed to the “water procedures”, working with the brush.
For training, let's open a picture. In the tool palette, select the “Brash” Brush (hotkey V).
Changing the size, hardness and opacity of the brush as you work
The most common customization operation is changing the size, edge hardness, and opacity of the tool. Moreover, during work, these parameters need to be changed frequently, quickly, and preferably without distraction. You can do this as follows:
Just right-click and a parameter selection dialog will open in which you can change almost everything. You will see almost the same dialog for selecting parameters as when using the corresponding item on the toolbar.
You can change the shape of the brush, select the desired brush from the installed ones using the fingerprint viewing window. Load a new set of brushes, reduce or increase the size of the thumbnails, these and other settings are available after clicking on the gear icon.
The most frequently changed during work: Size – the larger the parameter value the larger the brush and vice versa. Hardness – similar to the first parameter, the higher the value, the harder the brush, the more “rough” its edges. In my opinion, it is more convenient to change these two parameters as follows:
Press Alt, the brush will switch to color selection mode, the cursor will take the shape of an eyedropper. We hold down the right mouse button (usually the top button of the tablet pen), and when moving horizontally left and right, the size increases or decreases. When moving up and down, the stiffness is less or more. Now the meaning of the Brash Preview setting becomes clear.
Near the tool options panel there is a drop-down list of blending modes, Mode, similar to that from the layers palette. The difference between them is that the first relates directly to the selected tool and allows them to work with different blending modes on the same layer. In this case, of course, the layer must be pixelated. Let's try this feature in real conditions. I have a picture of a mountain landscape, I’ll make the sky brighter.
I take a brush with soft edges of a suitable size and color, in the Mode list, blend mode Soft Light (Soft Light) and brush the sky.
Now I'll add some light sunspots to the grass, change the brush color to Overlay and off we go.
This method of processing images is quite good, it’s a pity that after using it you can’t weaken anything, as is the case with using separate layers. But you can adjust the strength of the brush before using it. Two options following the list of blending modes serve this purpose:
Opacity – Adjusts the intensity of the paint color. In real life, it can be compared to working with a helmet fresh from a 100% can and gradually diluted to almost complete dissolution of 1%. Flow – adjusts the intensity of paint flowing off the brush in one pass. The effect of these parameters is almost the same, but there is still a difference that can be seen with the naked eye. To identify it, do the following experiment yourself:
Using a brush with 40% opacity of any color, draw a line from one edge of the image to the other so that the starting and ending points are clearly visible. To get a straight line while working, hold down the Shift key. Return the opacity value to 100%, change the pressure to 40%, draw the same line, as they say, find the differences between them.
I will continue processing my image and put text on the hillock that matches the occasion.
Of course, we can’t say that he’s standing on a hillock, rather he’s hovering above him. I’ll correct this situation with a brush that imitates tufts of grass, and at the same time we’ll look at a whole palette of tool settings.
Brash Brush Options Palette
You can call this palette by following the path Window – Brush (Window – Brush) or by pressing the magic key F5. A palette will open, consisting of two Brush tabs, we will return to it a little later and Brush Presets, there is nothing particularly interesting in it except for the fact that brush previews are represented not by one print, but by a line. Let's select the brush to imitate grass 112 "magically" after this the Size parameter will change to 112 pixels. (this is just fantastic).
Let's go back to the Brush tab and select Brush Tip Shape ( Brush imprint shape) here almost everything is familiar to you except the Spacing parameter, which sets the distance between brush marks in a line as a percentage of the tool size. Since the grass does not grow in a continuous fence, I will set this parameter to 24%. You can monitor the changes caused by a particular setting in the preview window below the parameters.
Let's move on to the Shape Dynamics item, which allows you to change the shape of the brush marks while working. I am interested in the following parameters: Size jitter (Size fluctuation), since in one bunch of grass that I am going to imitate there is not the same size, I will set the values for this parameter to 100%, which will allow the sizes to change from 0 to the actually set one. The parameter has an item for setting the control mode (Control), select Pen Pressure (brush pressure), the harder we press on the tablet pen, the faster the size changes.
I set the Minimum Diameter value from which size fluctuations will begin to 4%. Since the blades of grass stick out from the ground at different angles, I will change the Angle jitter parameter to 8%, the percentage is calculated from a full circle of 360 degrees. I will not control the parameter (Control - Off).
Also, due to the heterogeneity of the shape of the blades of grass, I will change the Roundness jitter parameter ( Shape fluctuation). Changes occur as a percentage of the actual diameter. Just as in previous cases, it is possible to establish control and set the initial value of changes.
Let's move on to the Scattering parameter, which allows you to set the scattering of brush marks relative to the “center line”. I will change the following settings Scatter (Scattering) 20%. Values are specified as a percentage of the print size. The Both Axes checkbox speaks for itself: scattering occurs in two axes (X Y).
Count (Counter) sets the number of scattered prints, for blades of grass I think 6 will be enough. Count jitter - a percentage that allows you to dynamically change the number of prints generated, 93% is quite suitable for me. The control option for both parameters is turned off.
When setting up a brush, it is convenient to create an empty temporary layer and go over it after changing each parameter. This makes it possible to test the tool in “combat conditions”. Once the setup is complete, the temporary layer is simply deleted.
The next setting is Color Dynamic, which will allow me to change the color as I work from the foreground color to the background color set in the program toolbar. Let's get acquainted with the settings of this setting: I set the Foreground/Background Jitter parameter to 100%, which is why I wrote above. I'll control the parameter with the Pen Pressure brush.
Hue fluctuation is calculated from the foreground color at 9%. Saturation is considered between the foreground color and white – 19%. Brightness, carefully calculated between black and foreground color, is 15%. I won’t tell you why such settings, I set them by eye, maybe it will work well. The Purity parameter, which affects color saturation, was left unchanged. To ensure a smooth line when moving the tool quickly, check the Smoothing checkbox.
Now that the brush settings for simulating grass are finished, I’ll move on to the picture, taking color samples for the foreground and background from the light and dark areas of the grass, I’ll brush the base of the inscription, not forgetting to set the tool to an adequate size. As you work, you can (even need to) change the size of the print and colors, the result is this:
Since the work is progressing so quickly, I’ll add a few more elements to the composition, first I’ll create a new brush, read below about how to do this.
Creating your own brush in Photoshop
In the program you can use not only pre-installed brushes, sets specially downloaded from the Internet, but also brushes of your own making. This is done as follows: Select a suitable picture, adequate in size and for the purpose of use. I have one.
And then the “black magic” begins - we say the spell “Fuck - Tibidoh - Tibidoh”, go along the path Edit – Define Brush Presets (Editing – Define a set of brushes) a dialogue box will open for specifying the name of a new brush in the current set. Give it a name and click OK.
A new brush, "Praise the Poker", is available in the current set.
I used the same parameter settings as for grass, although I changed some parameters a little? Think about it, they are all shown in the article. Foreground color set to #e411ab background white. The result is the following picture:
This is where I end the opus, I hope it was useful to you.
Practical use
You can get acquainted with the practical use of the tool in the material
One of the biggest advantages of Photoshop is the ability to customize brushes. You can find and download thousands and thousands of different brushes on the Internet, and creating your own is very easy.
Brushes can not only be used for painting with the Brush tool, but can also be used as eraser, blur, burn and dodge tools.
WORKING WITH BRUSHES:
Photoshop brushes are very good, but their settings may seem too complicated for some. It will be useful, it seems to me, to switch the brush viewing mode to the Large List, where you can see the descriptive name of all the brushes next to their icons. This will make it easier to find the right brush. To do this, click on the area next to the selected brush, a new window will open - click on the small button in the upper right corner and select Large List. You can also select Stroke Thumbnail, which allows you to see how the selected brush will look on the canvas.
Also, here you can download new brushes (Load Brushes). It's very easy to load brushes one after the other until it becomes impossible to find the one you need in so many brushes, even in a list with descriptive names. It is best to Replace Brushes. This will remove the selected brush from your list and replace it with a new one. The problem arises when you have a lot of brushes that you want to use in one particular painting, and you constantly have to download and delete these brushes again. The best thing to do is this: if you have a certain set of brushes that you use constantly, it is better to combine them into one group. To do this, use the Preset Manager, and load and delete brushes until you find the perfect group of brushes for you. Then be sure to Save Brushes under a new name.
BRUSH PARAMETERS:
The BRUSHES window (accessible from the Windows panel or the small Toggle Brushes panel in the top right corner) contains all the different methods by which you can control how your brush looks and works. Here's a quick overview of the different possibilities:
Brush Tip Shape:
Here you can adjust the diameter of the brush (which can also be controlled while drawing using the [ - to decrease the diameter, and ] - to increase it), rotate the brush and set its angle.
At the bottom of this window is the Spacing column. It controls how far apart the brush points will be located - the lower the number, the smoother and more uniform the line will be; The larger the number, the more distant the points will be from each other.
Practical Application: If you want to create a dashed or dotted line, set the spacing level to high.
Variations of the interval of the same brush, from 1 to 500%:
Shape Dynamics:
When this item is checked, Shape Dynamics is activated. This section allows you to adjust the Size Jitter, which changes the size of each individual brush spot, creating a unique brush line. If Control is turned Off, the size of the brush points will depend on the number specified on the slider. If you set the Pen Pressure parameter and set the slider to 0, then the pressure of your pen will determine the size of the brush - strong pressure - larger dots. Minimum Diameter sets the possible smallest diameter of the brush.
Size Jitter 100%, Regulation – Off. (Control – Off), Minimum Diameter 0%:
Size Jitter 0%, Control – Pen Pressure, Minimum Diameter 0% (pressure from weak to strong – from left to right):
Click on the picture to view the image in full size and 100% quality.
Another useful option is Angle Jitter, which, as the name suggests, adjusts the angle of the brush points. As with Size Jitter, if Control is Off, it will be adjusted by the slider. An interesting result will be obtained if you set the Adjustment (Control) to Direction (Direction), and set the slider to 0. The angle of inclination will follow the movement of your brush.
Practical Application: If you wanted to create a chainmail or wave pattern, set the angle variation to 0, its adjustment to brush direction, and draw lines from left to right and right to left.
Angle Jitter 0%, Control – Direction (brush elements fall in the direction of brush movement):
Click on the picture to view the image in full size and 100% quality.
Scattering:
When this feature is enabled, brush scattering is enabled. This feature controls how widely the brush elements are scattered. The difference between this feature and Brush Spacing under Brush Tip Shape is that Scattering occurs in different directions, whereas Brush Spacing keeps the brush points in one line. Count groups your points into small bunches, the higher the number, the more groups there are.
Scatter 90%, Control – Off. (Off), Count – 1:
Scatter 700%, Control – Off. (Off), Count – 5:
Texture:
When this function is enabled, Texture of the brush is possible. There are many templates you can download online that you can use to texture your brushes. You may need to play with the Modes settings to get the look you want - some works look great in Overlay mode, others look great in Soft Light, etc. It's important to remember that like any texture, the edges of the pattern can stand out too much. To avoid this, drag the Scale slider to change the size of the template. The size of your brush does NOT affect the size of the texture pattern, only the area where the brush touches.
Same brush size, Web texture 15%, 60%, and 150% Scale:
Click on the picture to view the image in full size and 100% quality.
Dual Brush:
When this feature is enabled, it becomes possible to combine the brush you have selected with another brush. The second brush will overlap the first. In this column you can adjust Diameter, Spacing, Scatter and Count, which will control the degree of influence of the second brush on the first.
Examples of Dual Brush:
Click on the picture to view the image in full size and 100% quality.
Color Dynamics:
When this feature is enabled, you can adjust the colors of your brush. Fluctuating the Foreground/Background allows you to combine the colors of the foreground and background; the greater the degree of mixing, the more mixed the colors become. Fluctuations in Hue, Saturation, and Brightness increase variations in these parameters.
The foreground color is green, the background color is pale blue. The swing of all levels is set to 80%.
Click on the picture to view the image in full size and 100% quality.
Dynamics of Other Indicators: (CS4) or Transfer Mode (CSS):
You need to set the switch to ON. (ON) if you want your brush to respond to the pressure of your pen - so that the brush lines taper at the ends, and so that the transparency of the lines depends on the pressure of your pen. In most cases, you will need to set the Control of Opacity and Flow to Pen Pressure. If your brush isn't working as it should, make sure this checkbox is checked. Of course, sometimes you will want this feature to be OFF, for example when you want your brush to act more like a stamp than a brush.
Other points:
I don’t use these points very often, but they are still worth mentioning.
Noise: adds even more unevenness.
Wet Edges: makes the lines transparent and the edges saturated, just like when painting with watercolors.
Airbrush: Makes the brush look like an airbrush by selecting specific shades.
Smoothing: creates soft lines on brush strokes.
Protect texture: This feature will allow you to apply the same texture templates and brush settings that have a texture. Useful if you want to achieve a dense textured effect when painting with multiple brushes.
For convenience and increased speed of work in the graphic editor Photoshop you can change the brush settings. These settings will suit you both when using a graphics tablet and when working with a mouse. The most primitive and quickly accessible brush settings are called up by right-clicking the mouse or using an additional button on the tablet’s stylus. In this menu you can adjust the size with slider 1 and the hardness of the edges of the brush with slider 2 (how blurry they will be).
Box 3 gives you a set of brushes that are already in the Photoshop knowledge base. These brushes are maximally customized to match their real counterparts. In addition to standard brushes, you can also use those already created by someone or create your own. On the Internet there is a huge bank of brushes that can be used as ready-made blanks for something: lightning, trees, silhouettes of people and other little things which speed up the work. Creating a brush is described in this lesson ( ).
When you left-click on icon 4, you will be prompted to save the current mouse settings, these include size, hardness and the brush itself. The gear icon will prompt you to select the display of brushes in the menu, as well as sort by groups. And if you hold down icon 6 with the left mouse button or pen pressure and drag to the sides, you can change the size of the brush settings menu. See other lessons here ( ).
For more detailed brush settings, you will need access to the Brush menu. To add this menu to the quick access toolbar, you need to select the section in the top panel “Window -> Brush” After which you will see a menu with brush settings. This menu is very useful when working with a graphics tablet that responds at least to pen (stylus) pressure; for those who like to work with a mouse, this menu will be practically useless.
"Brush Mark Shape" is responsible for the shape, angle, rigidity and how often the brush will be duplicated when drawing. By pulling the sliders on the scales you can see how these brush overlay parameters change. This setting is useful for everyone.
"Shape Dynamics" affects the thickness of the line you draw; when working with a graphics tablet, the thickness of the line will depend on the pressure you press, the tilt of the pen, or you can set the mode "Transition" the line will increase or decrease depending on the parameter you set.
"Texture" applies the texture you select at the top of the dialog box to the canvas. The scale slider affects the size of your texture and how it will be stretched when pressed. Brightness determines how much your texture will be visible against the background color. Contrast affects the contrast of your texture. In the tab "Mode" you select the brush blend mode for each print. The remaining parameters affect the overlays of each print.
"Double Brush" helps to duplicate the brush. The mode is responsible for applying brushes. Next, in the brushes panel, select the brush you need. The Kegel slider affects the scattering of duplicate brushes, Intervals affects the distance between brush prints, Scattering controls the distance between duplicate brushes, Counter the number of additional brushes.
"Color Dynamics" affects the spread of foreground and background colors (primary and secondary colors), adjustable by pressing or pen angle. The wobble determines how much the hue of the selected color will change. Saturation swing affects the saturation of the selected color. Brightness swing, similar to saturation and purity, calibrates the saturation of colors, making them duller or brighter.
Today we will talk about how to properly configure brushes in Photoshop using numerous settings. By adjusting various parameters, you can set the dynamics of the shape, size fluctuations, scattering relative to the coordinate axes, surface texture, degree of pressure and transparency, color combinations, as well as various special effects for the brush.
First, make the Brush tool active by simply pressing “B.” Then we'll open the Brushes palette, where we'll adjust the brush settings. To do this, press the F5 button or through the top menu “Window” -> “Brushes”. This palette has several tabs for settings. Let's consider each of them in order.
1. Brush Tip Shape
On this tab we immediately see the library of brushes, where you can select the appropriate brush to which all the settings will be applied. I chose a brush with a maple leaf. Use the Diameter slider to adjust the brush size. If something happens, you can “Restore the original sample size” (Use sample size). 
The Flip X and Flip Y functions flip the image around the X and Y axis, respectively. 
You can manually set the angle of the brush by rotating the arrow on the coordinate axis with the mouse. In the example below, the tilt angle is set to 50 degrees. 
The Spacing function sets the distance between two adjacent brush marks. If the brush pattern is partially transparent, then using the “Hardness” function you can adjust the degree of transparency of the edges of the brush.
2. Shape dynamics
This tab contains settings that help the brush change its shape. By experimenting with the range of vibrations, you can change the size, shape, and angle of inclination. Let's take a closer look. 
Size jitter changes the size of the print along the line of motion. Size fluctuations can be further adjusted with the Minimum Diameter function. 
Angle Jitter controls the jitter angle. 
Roundness Jitter determines the variation in the vertical diameter of the brush mark. Additionally adjustable with the Minimum Roundness function. 
Flip Y Jitter flips individual brush strokes vertically. The function for horizontal reflection works similarly. 
3. Scattering
Chaotic scattering of brush marks up and down relative to the X axis. 
Scatter determines the spread of the print. 
“Count” determines the number of prints in the scatter. In the example there are 2 of them. 
“Count Jitter” makes the previous parameter not constant. 
4. Texture
The brush will paint with texture rather than just one color. To do this, a suitable sample is selected from the texture library. 
Adjustable by the following parameters. “Scale” - determines the scale of the texture pattern. “Depth” (Depth) - determines the brightness of the print. “Depth fluctuations” - makes the previous parameter inconsistent. “Mode” - determines the mode of applying the brush to the background. You can read more about blending modes. 
5. Dual Brush
Here you can get an image of two brushes at the same time. To do this, the image of another brush is subtracted from the image of the main brush, which is selected from the brush library right here. 
It turns out that this is the effect that is regulated by parameters already familiar to us. At the top, in the drop-down menu, you can adjust the blending mode for two brushes. 
6. Color Dynamics
To achieve this effect, you must first set the foreground and background colors in the toolbar. And then it’s best to experiment with the placement of the sliders. 
To achieve the result, use the Foreground/Background Jitter, Hue Jitter, Saturation Jitter, Brightness Jitter and Purity settings. (Purity). 
7. Other Dynamics
The dynamics of transparency and “inkiness” are indicated here. 
Adjustable using the Opacity Jitter and Flow Jitter functions. 
8. Parameters that do not have settings
These parameters can only be in the on/off position. 
The Noise function adds random pixels to brushes. “Wet Edges” creates the effect of a wet brush, however, it is hardly noticeable. “Airbrush” adjusts the degree of drawing of the brush depending on the pressure. Smoothing smoothes the drawing. Protect Texture gives uniformity to all texture brushes.
