Painting with a soft or hard brush in Photoshop. Drawing a brush in Photoshop

Do you think that it’s difficult to draw a clearing with flowers or scatterings of stars in Photoshop? Nothing like this! Just one or two strokes with a properly adjusted brush! It's not difficult, it's a very simple tutorial for beginners.

You just need to learn how to configure the Brush tool on the panel Adobe tools Photoshop.

Examples made in Adobe Photoshop CS4, but almost all settings are available in earlier versions of Photoshop. Later versions of the program have more options for working with graphics tablets.

How to choose a brush?

Select the Brush tool from the Adobe Photoshop toolbar.

In the options bar, click on the Brush list arrow, open the list with a set of brushes and select the brush you need.

In the palette that opens, set the size of the line stroke (the thickness of the line with which the brush will draw) – the Master Diameter slider, as well as the hardness of the brush – the Hardness slider.

If in open dial there is no required brush, you need to click on the triangular button and select another set of brushes from the collection installed in Photoshop.

If you are unable to find anything suitable here, then there are two ways: download the desired brush from the Internet or create it yourself.

How to install a downloaded brush?

Files with brushes have the extension abr (for example, stars.abr). There is usually a lot in a set different brushes one topic. Installing a downloaded set of brushes in Photoshop is easy:

How to create a new brush?

It's very simple. First you need to draw what will be the brush mark. You need to paint in black if the brush stroke is to be uniform and opaque. A complex color image will allow you to create a brush with areas of different transparency.

Draw in a Photoshop program, for example, like this Maple Leaf on transparent background. Then go to Edit > Preset Manager and give the new brush a name. The brush will appear in the brushes collection in the Photoshop toolbar.

How to set up a brush?

Select the new brush you created from the Photoshop toolbar. Then select the menu command Window > Brushes (or click the button on the Quick Launch toolbar).

The options panel will open - additional brush settings. You can use this palette to change the size, shape, angle, spacing between brush strokes, the opacity of individual strokes, enable the scatter feature, and change other parameters.

The lock images next to each setting are “not closed”, that is, you can change the settings of the brush with which you this moment work as you please. Once you select a different brush, your previous settings will disappear and the default settings will return. If you close the locks, the settings will be saved for this brush.

In the open settings palette, at the bottom there is a checkbox and a Spacing slider (distance, intervals). Move it left and right, look at the result and stop at approximately 100%. That's right, at these intervals your brush will draw, even if you draw one continuous line with your mouse.

What if you need to change the shape, size and angle of the brush when drawing one stroke?

Changing the shape, size and angle of the brush

To do this, Photoshop has a Shape Dynamics settings item.

Size Jitter will change the size of each leaf that appears as you draw. This is clearly displayed in the settings preview window.

A little lower – Control. Here you set the condition for exactly how the size will change.

Off – the size will change randomly.

Fade – (fading) – the brush size will gradually and smoothly decrease over a certain number of steps. This quantity is indicated in the square next to the right.

Minimum Diameter – (minimum diameter) to which the brush will decrease in size.

Angle Jitter – angle fluctuation. This slider will change the angle and orientation on the plane of your brush.

Roundness Jitter – fluctuation of roundness. If you paint with a brush with this parameter, you will see that from stroke to stroke its shape will change as if we had applied a free transformation to them (Distort, Prespective).

Minimum Roundness – sets the parameter how much you want to change the distortion of the brush shape.

Scattering brush strokes

What if you don’t need to place the leaves neatly along the line, but scatter them throughout the image?

Use Scattering! Set the Scatter slider to a value of 250-350% and the brush strokes will begin to “scatter”, “scatter”, deviating to the side from the line that you drag with the mouse across the canvas. This function in Adobe Photoshop is used to draw stars, snowflakes, leaves on trees, confetti, grass, etc.

The Count function increases the number of prints by 2, 3 or more times. Set it to 3 and evaluate the result.

Texture allows you to add a certain texture to an image. We will not use it for leaves.

Dual Brush - allows you to create a print using two brushes at the same time. At the very top is the Mode parameter, it allows us to select the brush blending mode. To the right of it is the Flip parameter; activating it allows you to flip the applied brush along the Y axis. Next, we are presented with a library of brushes, where we can select the brush that we want to apply to the previously selected one and use the sliders located below to change the parameters.

Dynamic brush color change

Color Dynamic (Color Dynamics) allows you to change the color of the brush right as you paint. Set your foreground and background colors to red (#FF0000) and yellow (#FFFF00) in Photoshop's Toolbar. In the Brush palette, on the Color Dynamic tab, move the Foreground/Background Jitter slider all the way to the right - 100%.

If we now start painting with a brush, we will get leaves of all shades, from yellow to red.

In the Color Dynamic settings you can adjust Hue ( Color tone), Saturation, Brightness and Purity.

Working with color dynamics settings in Photoshop is much more difficult and requires some experience. Experiment on your own to gain this experience. You can use the lesson for training

The Other Dynamic tab settings allow you to adjust the spread of transparency and fill. Maple leaves are usually still opaque. We won't use these settings, but they are worth remembering.

Other dynamics settings. Perhaps they will come in handy..

Noise - noise. Added to gray tones brushes You will see its effect if you paint with a large diameter gray brush.

Wet Edges - wet edges. Imitation of watercolor. The paint seems to flow down to the edges of the brush, creating something like a stroke effect.

Airbrush - airbrush. Enables and disables the airbrush option (this button can be seen at the top of the menu) By turning on the checkbox next to the word airbrush in the brush settings, you will see that the airbrush button in the menu is automatically turned on.

Smoothing - used when drawing with tablets and serves to smooth out curved lines. If your drawing must have sharp corners, then do not activate this function.

Protect Texture – texture protection. If this feature is enabled and you are painting with a texture brush, then when you replace the brush, the texture will not change.

After all the experiments, if you are satisfied with the Photoshop brush you created, close the locks in the settings on the Brushes palette and use the new brush in your work.

Understanding the basics of Photoshop, you can’t ignore Brush tool. This is very important tool, which is not as simple as you think. It has a large number of functions and all kinds of settings. Within this article you will be able to learn to use the brush tool. Go!

Brush Tool located on the toolbar.

If you click on the small triangle, you will see all the tools included in this group: “Pencil”, “Color Replacement”, “Mix Brush”. For quick use, click hotkey - B.

This tool also has an options panel, which we will look at in detail and learn how to use. This is what she looks like:

I assigned each element numeric value. Let's look at them all in order.

1 element - Brush sets.

On the left is the tool icon itself, which once again reminds us that the Brush is now active, and not any other Photoshop tool. Please note that there is a small black arrow next to the icon. Clicking on it will open a drop-down menu - 3 Tool setting data (ToolPresetPicker):

Let's refresh our memory and touch on all the settings presented. On the left are the names of the settings, and on the right are their parameters. Begin.

1. . We already know this function. She opens the brush library, where you can see their print and change their size.

2. .

— Here you can specify the size of the brush diameter. This function measures the number of pixels of the brush and subsequently prevents other settings from increasing this value. Nearby there is a button in the form of a rounded arrow - it restores the diameter value to its original position. Flip X

— — reflects the brush impression along a horizontal projection. Flip Y

— reflects the brush impression in a vertical projection.

Superstructure Angle can change the angle of the brush. Shape or Circle (Roundness) changes the shape of the brush within a circle. Next to these parameters is a circle with an arrow pointing up. When changing the values, this circle will be deformed, and at the bottom of the window you will see how the brush will look with the given settings.

Hardness— regulates the pressure, but does not work with all brushes (it works 100% with standard round ones).

Spacing— the distance between brush marks. The higher the value, the greater the distance and vice versa.

3. Shape Dynamics. Here you can adjust the fluctuations in size, angle, circumference and reflection. By setting the parameters to high, random settings will be used. Here you can change the fluctuations of those parameters that we have already seen in the previous menu.

4. Scattering.Sets the number and location of brush marks.

5. Texture. Here you can use the texture to the brush.

An important parameter is Text each print (TextureEachTip). If there is no checkmark next to it, then the texture will be applied to the entire area where the brush is applied. If the checkbox is in place, then apply to each brush impression separately. Parameter Scale affects the scale of the overlay.

Mode works like . Only the quantity is much smaller.

Depth affects the contrast between the texture and the brush.

6. Dual Brush . You can customize a two-brush print.

7. Color Dynamics. Photoshop allows us to play with the shades of the selected colors. when drawing. To do this, set any foreground and background colors. Next, this function will independently select the desired shades.

Example of color dynamics (green and red are set as background and main colors):

The last group is symbolically separated by a horizontal line. They do not have their own parameters; you just need to check the box to apply the properties for the brush.

- Noise(Noise). Click if you want to add noise.

— Wet edges. The brush becomes like watercolor.

— Airbrush. We'll talk about this function separately, in the next element of the Brush tool options bar.

— Smoothing. Smoothes out the sharp edges of the brush, making them smoother.

— Protect texture. Sometimes a brush has a personal texture. To avoid changing the texture we preset from time to time, use this parameter.

4th element - Drawing modes

I will not dwell on this element within the framework of this article, because... A lot of work has already been done on lighting “what is it and how to use it”— . Let me remind you that Drawing Modes = Blending Modes and represent the mixing of colors using a series of mathematical formulas that work on each pixel.

5th element - Opacity

Using the slider, you can change the color intensity of the brush. You can learn more about opacity here - or here -.

The value of this parameter can be changed either with the mouse or with the keyboard using numbers: 0 is 100%, 1-10%, each next number will change the opacity value by 25%.

6th element - Pressure controls opacity

This button is useful for those who use graphics tablets. By clicking on it, Photoshop will automatically change the opacity of the brush depending on the force applied to the tablet.

7th element - Pressure

You can draw a parallel with the pencil you use to draw at home. The harder you press it, the brighter and harder it draws and vice versa. Photoshop works on the same principle.

8th element - Turn on Airbrush mode

Interesting feature. It is like a sprayer. By left-clicking, the brush will be continuously applied to your document. Imagine that you are holding a can of spray paint in your hand and spraying it on the walls at one point. Gradually this point will become richer and richer from the abundance of paint, and so it is here.

To best see this effect, set the Pressure parameter to minimum.

9th element - Pressure controls size

As with the 6th element, this button is needed for those who use a tablet. In this case, the pressure will affect the size of the brush.

If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thank you!

Genre: Illustrations

In this lesson, I would like to explain to beginners (or people who “came” from other programs) the principles of working in Adobe Photoshop using the example of creating an ordinary portrait (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Long lesson.

1. Getting started

So. Here we have a Photoshop window. A person who sees this for the first time most often simply does not know where to start. I have highlighted the main tools that you will work with in this program. 1. What causes problems for most beginners in using this program. A person simply does not know how to mix colors when the brush goes with one solid bold color. To avoid hassle on this topic, click on the highlighted buttons. They are responsible for pressure and color intensity. You can also play with opacity for ease of drawing. (Windows appear only if the Brush tool is active) 3. Brush tool. 4. Eraser. 6. Reference to point number three. In the window that appears if you click on the arrow, you can change the brush size and the brush itself. In the adjacent right window you can change the brush settings. (Windows appear only if the Brush tool is active) 2. Everything here is simple and clear. Layers as they are. Create a layer and delete a layer. I’ll say right away that if you draw on the background, you will no longer be able to draw anything underneath it, since the background is filled with white by default, unlike the initial background in SAI, which, in principle, is transparent. 5. Rotate the sheet, magnifying glass and palette. 7. Pipette. Don't think about it, it's not for stealing colors from photos. It is called by the left alt key and thanks to it you can mix colors by applying layers of color on top of the base. Hm. It turns out to be a tautology.

2. Pressure and color intensity

An example of how the buttons numbered 1 in the first paragraph work.

3. Sketch

To start drawing, be sure to create a new layer. Choose a brush that is convenient for you. I drew a simple sketch portrait for display.

4. Base

Let's create a second layer under the first. We throw the primary colors on it.

5. Shades

On the same layer on top we draw highlights, shadows, add different colors to make the drawing look more voluminous and interesting.

6. Mixing colors

Here we return to using the eyedropper and brush. The principle is simple: press alt and apply. We press and apply. Many will tell you that nothing depends on the brush. So, in reality this is not at all the case. Depending on your brush choice, your subject will have different shapes and smoothness.

7. Shaping

If you are not yet tired of scrolling through pictures that are similar to each other, then we continue. Create a new layer above the sketch. We begin to smear, smear, smear the color on top until we achieve a result that is pleasing to the eye. The degree of elaboration depends on your laziness and time `v`

8. About blending modes and clipping masks

We have reached the stage where we want to edit our work. But how? Let's figure it out. In Photoshop there is such a thing as blending modes. The button responsible for blending modes is located directly above the layers and is set to “Normal” by default. To open a window, you need to left-click on it and select any mode with the same LMB click. In addition, there is such a thing in Photoshop as a clipping mask. It is called by right-clicking on the layer (To avoid accidentally turning part of the picture into a clipping mask, create a new layer and right-click on it). What does a clipping mask give us? In essence, this is an analogue of the “Attach Layer”, which SAI users are probably familiar with. A clipping mask limits the drawing area from the entire sheet to what was drawn on the previous layer. If you create a clipping mask over another clipping mask, they will act on the layer that the first mask is attached to. That is, if we draw as an example of our portrait, then the mask will only act on the last layer where we finalized the drawing. It's not going well. However, without using masks, we will paint over all the layers below. Oh! We covered the background!

9. Highlighting colors using blending modes

To highlight special places in a drawing, show light, or simply layer a gradient on top for a “pretty” look, we can use the same blending modes. In the drawing I marked the places where light can fall. Create a new layer with the value "Soft Light". Using the brush tool, apply White color to allocated places. Even though I used a five-minute sketch as an example, but even from it you can see that a certain sense of volume and atmosphere appears.

10. Gradient and blending modes

Create a new layer with the value "Soft Light". To use a gradient, you must select the button that is located under the "Eraser" and draw a straight line on the drawing. Eat different kinds gradients, but for now we will consider only the default view. If you did not select a gradient from the menu that automatically appears in the second top panel and opens by clicking on the arrow, then the gradient will correspond to the colors of your palette. If your first color is pink and the other is blue, then your gradient will be pink and blue. The gradient can only be of one, gradually dissolving, color. To change the structure and color of the gradient (for example, if you still selected a sample from the menu), open the same menu of gradient samples. The first two gradients correspond to the colors in your palette. The first is two-color, and the second is translucent. Draw a gradient line on the layer with the value “soft light”. It seems our drawing has become a little warmer =)

11. A little about curves

Hm. Let's draw a bunny. At some point you decided that it turned out too pale. Don't be afraid, this can be fixed. In my case, the "Correction" window is located above the "Layers" window. If you do not have this window, left-click on the "Window" item in the top panel and select "Correction". You can select any icon on the panel and experiment. For example, I'll take "Curves". Let's set a random value for our two points and our bunny will become much brighter! You can take more than two points on a curve, although in general you will only need these two.

12. Last steps

And now, when our image is almost ready, we can edit the color to give the drawing atmosphere, lightness, etc. and so on. Playing with brightness and contrast. Create a new layer with a value, say, “Soft Light” and mark the places you need with color `v` That's all! Our portrait is ready. P.S. Many thanks to Vornava for corrections, tips and pointing out typos =)

To master digital painting on top level, you need to know a variety of drawing rules. In today's tutorial we will talk about whether it is better to use a hard or soft Adobe Photoshop brush. I'll show you the difference between them and the applications that work best with each brush.

But I can already draw...

It makes sense that if you can draw on paper, you can draw in Photoshop, right?

Well, not quite.

I've seen many excellent traditional artists make the transition to digital painting with great difficulty. Truth be told, digital painting requires more than just knowledge basic principles. This type of creativity requires a full understanding of the used software and the limitless potential of these tools.

As you can see, in order to draw on a computer you need to reprogram your thinking to understand that the drawing can be changed at any time. Once you become more familiar with the tools, this feature becomes a nice feature rather than a burden.

Hard Brushes & Soft Brushes

So what are hard and soft brushes? The hardness of a brush directly indicates how sharp its edges are. The higher the percentage of hardness, the more precise the stroke. For a more blurred edge, simply lower the parameter Rigidity(Hardness).

Opacity(Opacity) also plays important role in determining the soft or hard nature of a standard round brush. The higher Opacity, the more paint.

Here are the settings I'm considering for the Hard and Soft brush.

Hard brushes

50-100% Hardness(Hardness)
50-100% Opacity(Opacity)

Soft brushes

0-50% Hardness(Hardness)
0-50% Opacity(Opacity)

You will notice that there is a "sweet spot" here, somewhere between both types of brushes. 50% Hardness will be a great setting for drawing even fine details without having to worry about the edges being too blurry.

To show you which settings work best in certain situations, let's look at these examples.

Sketches

Let's start with the sketches. They must always be followed Hard brush(Hard Brush) - usually about 100% Hardness(Hardness). Sometimes you see artists adjust the settings to get a more tapered end of the brush, but this setting simply gives the strokes the appearance of a regular pencil drawing.

Keeping the edges of your brush hard will give you clean, neat sketches.

Soft brush(Soft Brush) does small parts drawing less noticeable, especially due to the blending of blurred areas.

Block in Colors

IN digital painting There is a concept called "block in colors". This is the process of creating a basic color scheme for a drawing. Typically used for this process Hard round brush(Hard Round Brush) with Rigidity(Hardness) 50-100% to apply primary colors to the sketch.

The artist then continues by adding colors using Soft round brush(Soft Round Brush) with Rigidity(Hardness) 0-50% .

If in the same situation we start with Soft round brush(Soft Round Brush) you will notice that the colors have mixed and become muddy. You'll also have to spend a lot more time applying multiple layers of color just to get the same effect as using Hard round brush(Hard Round Brush).

Most things in nature have a certain texture and weight. It is much more difficult to convey this idea using only Soft brush(Soft Brush).

So think of digital painting as fine sculpture. Lay out the basics first Hard brush(Hard Brush) and then soften whatever is needed Soft brush(Soft Brush).

Final touches

Visually, a piece of cotton and a diamond have two completely different textures. However, most of the details you draw will need some form of definition - like a diamond.

When you see that the drawing is almost finished, raise the values Hardness(Hardness) and Opacity(Opacity). Use more hard brush to draw those final details.

So should I only use a hard brush?

No, but when painting with a hard brush you will feel more comfortable than when using a soft brush. It is worth considering that a soft brush is a tool that helps polish all the details after working with a hard brush. Try using the sweet spot (50% Hardness) and simply adjust the settings to suit the needs of your specific design.

List of applications for Hard and Soft brushes

If you're having trouble and feel like your drawing doesn't look right, it could be because of your brush choice. Keep this list as a reminder of what details are best to paint with each brush.

A hard brush is suitable for:

nature: general landscape and details such as grass, rocks, trees, etc.
clothes and accessories
general facial features
hair
formation of any other material

A soft brush is suitable for:

nature: sky, clouds, smoke, fog, etc.
creating smooth skin
texture polishing
general color mixing (after color blocking)

Depth perception

The only time you will need to use a soft brush very actively is when working with depth perception. Depth perception is a really cool effect that makes an object appear closer or further away depending on what details are blurred.

However, in truth, you can get the same effect by using other tools, e.g. Gaussian blur(Gaussian Blur). Don't worry, we'll cover working with different digital painting tools in a future tutorial!

Conclusion

To be successful with digital art, focus on the basics. You can get rid of problems simply by adjusting the settings of a particular tool. Try to take frequent breaks so that you can look at your robot from a new angle and complete it perfectly. Good luck!

"Brush"– the most popular and versatile Photoshop tool. Using brushes, you can perform a huge range of work - from simply painting objects to interacting with layer masks.

Brushes have very flexible settings: the size, hardness, shape and direction of the bristles can be changed; you can also set the blending mode, opacity and pressure for them. 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.

Like other tools, when activated, brushes enable the top settings panel. It is on this panel that the basic properties are configured. This:

Size and shape;
Blend mode;
Opacity and pressure.

The icons you can see on the panel do the following:

Opens the brush shape fine-tuning panel (analogue – F5 key);
Determines the opacity of the brush by the pressure applied;
Enables airbrush mode;
Determines the size of the brush using pressure.

The last three buttons in the list only work on a graphics tablet, that is, activating them will not lead to any result.

Brush size and shape

This settings panel determines the size, shape and hardness of brushes. The brush size is adjusted using the corresponding slider or the square buttons on the keyboard.

The stiffness of the bristles is adjusted using the slider located below. A brush with 0% hardness has the most blurred edges, while a brush with 100% hardness has the sharpest edges.

The brush shape is determined by the set presented in the lower window of the panel. We'll talk about sets a little later.

Blend Mode

This setting determines the blending mode created by a brush content to the content of this layer. If the layer (section) does not contain elements, then the property will propagate to the underlying layers. Works similar to layer blending modes.

Opacity and Pressure

Very similar properties. They determine the intensity of the color applied in one pass (click). Most often used "Opacity", as a more understandable and universal setting.

When working with masks, it is "Opacity" allows you to create smooth transitions and translucent boundaries 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 look at the most commonly used settings.

These were the main settings, the rest are rarely used. They can be found in some lessons, one of which is given below.

Brush sets

Working with sets has already been described in detail in one of the lessons on our website.

For the purposes 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 like this in a search engine "brushes for photoshop". In addition, you can create your own sets for ease of work from ready-made or custom-defined brushes.

Lesson on learning an 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.