Photoshop is a complex bit of kit, which can take years to learn
properly. Thankfully, there's lots of Photoshop resources around to help
you out, including handy Photoshop tutorials and Photoshop actions to create impressive effects. But one of the essentials Photoshop features to know as a digital artist are the brushes.
Just
as with traditional painting, knowing what effects you can create and
what tools to use to do so is a great advantage to have. By mastering
your brushes, you can get the very most out of the software and once you
understand the basics, you can go ahead and create your very own.
01. Brush options
Getting started with brushes is fairly self-explanitoryOnce
you've selected the Brush icon from the toolbar, right-clicking
anywhere on the canvas will bring up a small menu with shape and size
options. Size is pretty straightforward, with a slider on the top right.
Each of the strange shapes located in the white boxes below are
alternate tip shapes, enabling you to create all kinds of different
marks.
02. Alter your brush edges
Tweak the brushes by moving the slider to the left or rightSome
tips, like the basic Round brush you start with, can also have the
hardness of their edges adjusted. Accessing the slider labelled Hardness
and moving it to the right will make for more distinct, hard-edged
brush strokes, while moving it to the far left will create a soft
airbrush effect.
03. Brush modes
Understanding layers can help you to get to grips with brushesWhen
the Brush Tool is selected, there'll be an options bar at the top of
the screen with Mode and Opacity drop-downs menus. These both work the
same way that their Layers window counterparts do, and the Mode settings
are exactly the same for both (Lighten, Darken, Overlay and so on).
Instead of controlling a whole layer, though, they're just applying
those settings to your individual brushstrokes.
04. Tip settings
Take time to know all the tip settings, as this will be invaluable to your artThe
brush is the tool you'll be using most often as an illustrator or
concept artist, so take the time to get to know its features. Go to
Window>Brush to open the Brush Window, where you'll see a list of
options such as Shape Dynamics (pressure on your drawing tool of choice
dictates brush size), Dual Brush (use two brushes at once), Color
Dynamics (use multiple colours at once) and Scattering (turns brush
strokes into a scattering of marks in the shape of the brush tip).
05. Create your own brush
Creating your very own custom brushes is simpler than you thought!Photoshop
comes with an impressive assortment of brush options, but when
something more specific is needed you can create your own custom ones.
Open
a new document, and then draw your desired tip shape. Go to
Edit>Define Brush Preset… from the top menu and it'll add the new
brush tip to your assortment, shaping it from the black and leaving
transparent any white parts of the canvas.
06. Loading custom brushes
If in doubt, why not download some other artists' custom brushes?The
internet is full of custom brushes available for download. I have some
Nagel brushes that have served me well over the years. You'll most
likely be downloading the files in .Abr format, which you can then move
to the Adobe Photoshop CS>Presets> Brushes folder on your hard
drive.
Open the Brush Preset window and click the drop-down menu
option to bring up the Load Brushes option. Navigate to the file,
double-click it and the new tip will appear in your menu.
Discover how to draw a ghost with these great tipsThe
fun thing about drawing ghosts is getting to play with supernatural
light sources and ambiance in your scene. This is particularly true of
any painting set in a tomb, cave or other dark environment.
How to
draw a ghost rising from a tomb – try to light the tomb or effigy as if
it's the ghost itself that's illuminating the stone. With this in
mind, choose a cool, saturated colour such as green or aqua to act as
your source light.
The next stage is to add tendrils of colour
trailing from your ghostly figure to the stone effigy on top of the
tomb, paying careful attention to the way that you place your
brushstrokes.
Try to always use your brush in the same direction
that your ghost or object is moving, because this will make the motion
in your image much more convincing. Keep
your edges soft and use a limited palette to give the impression of a
ghostly character. Controlling your light sources will also enhance the
scene.I'd advise selecting a Soft brush or the
Smudge tool to gently soften the edges of your ghostly figure to make
them appear incorporeal. Careful use of the Motion Blur filter can also
enhance this supernatural effect.
As a final touch you can use a
large cloud brush to add an ambient fog to your scene. If you set your
layer mode to Color Dodge it'll immediately become more ethereal. I
recommend playing with the Layer Opacity to find the best blend.
01. Sketch your composition
Keep posture in mind - it can express your characters personality and intentionFirst
I sketch out my composition. The posture of your figure helps to
express their personality or intentions. One trick to creating undead
characters is to make them lumbering or hunched, but here I decide to
show it pulling a ghostly sword from the effigy. Storytelling can be key
to selling a character.
02. Use a limited palette
A dark tomb with a cool limited palette will give that ghostly vibeThe
dark tomb will accentuate the spectral glow of your ghost. When
blocking in your painting, use a limited palette in cool colours,
focusing on saturation and value to define your shapes. This will help
tie your picture together and make it look like your character is the
solitary glowing light source in the scene.
03. Direct your viewer
Control your brushstrokes to usher the viewers eye where you want it to goUse
contrast and control the direction of your brushstrokes to direct your
viewer's eye. This will aid storytelling and create a focal point. I
push the hues of the image further towards blue to identify the sword
as the key point in the story. Color Dodge mode can be an effective way
to add this kind of colour.
Traditional and digital tools combine to paint this stunning retro poster
For this workshop I'll paint a retro film poster-style illustration. Vintage posters
used to be painted or airbrushed on canvas or illustration board, and
I'll use a technique inspired by the great Drew Struzan. It's based on
airbrush painting with acrylic colours to build up the colour and
shadings, and then colour pencils for rendering out the lighter parts
and adding details.
For this I usually use the same mediums, but
here I'll be doing a mix of traditional and digital. Often an
illustration needs to be changed during or after the process – working
digitally makes this significantly easier.
Starting off with a traditional drawing on paper, I'll do the colouring and final rendering in Photoshop as well as adding different textures and so on. But
first we need to get the idea and composition done. Each step is equally
important to get the end result we want.
Since it's a classic
1980s fantasy film theme, I'll make a composition of some of the famous
characters from the era, keeping in mind where the text and titles are
to be placed on the cover.
Researching reference pictures with the
ImagineFX team is crucial as they need to be instantly recognisable. I
usually come up with an idea, make a rough sketch, move on to the
drawing, scan it and do the colouring in Photoshop. The colour scheme is
a classic blue and orange-yellow theme that's often used in film
posters.
01. Composition and rough sketch
Andreas used photo references to create rough sketchesDuring
this early stage I think of composition, colour theme and content.
Since the main words on the cover will be placed in the middle, me and
the IFX team decide on a circular composition. Some film posters are
built up by different elements, like a collage, and I want to recreate
this same feeling. So using photo references I make a rough sketch in
Photoshop.
02. Full-size drawing
Drawings are sketched at a larger size to retain detailI
decide to make the final illustration about double the size of the
cover, which enables me to bring in lots of details. I use my references
to create a full-size drawing using lead pencil and a heavy-weight
illustration paper. It's important to be confident at this stage and to
emphasise the characteristics of the actors or creatures, as well as
creating good contrast.
03. Scan and prepare the document
The artwork is carefully scanned to capture every lineI
scan the drawing in sections using a flat-bed A4 scanner. A setting of
600 DPI captures the details. In Photoshop I go to
File>Automate>Photomerge and choose my scanned sections. This
automatically merges all images and blend them together on separate
layers. I create a new document (50x70cm and 300 DPI), drag the sections
into it and merge them to one layer.
04. Start colouring
Colours and skin tones are gradually built upNow
I make another layer and begin to do the colouring. This is done with
the standard Soft brush, at about 10-20 per cent Opacity or less, and I
carefully build up the colours. I usually start with the skin tones and
lighter areas, and gradually move on to the darker parts of the painting
from there.
05. Ensure the edges are sharp
The original line work can be seen beneath the coloursI
mask off certain areas with the Lasso tool to achieve sharper edges,
much like airbrushing in real life. I don't build up too much colour
because I still want to see the drawing underneath, which is my guide
and makes everything look more alive. I'm not working with details at
this stage. Rather, I'm finding the right values from studying my
references.
06. Background colouring
The background is coloured in the same way as the charactersNow
I move on to the background and paint this in the same way as the
characters. Later I'll add textures to make it look more alive and
painted. A glow effect will surround the character group and so I leave
that part lighter here. The corners and edges fade into near-black.
07. Rendering the details
Andreas starts establishing detail by highlighting the brightest areasNow
I concentrate on the details. This is where I traditionally would have
used colour pencils, so I create a lightly textured brush. After
establishing a new layer I set the brush's Opacity to about 80 per cent
and Size to about the same as the lines in the drawing. I usually start
with areas such as eye reflections and shiny armour, since I know that
they'll be the brightest parts of the painting.
08. Draw with confidence
Strong colourisation starts to bring the image to lifeWorking
through the whole image, I use a lighter version of the base colour for
each part. Again, my drawing needs to be confident and in the right
places, also showing how objects are affected by coloured light sources.
This is time-consuming, but also rewarding because I can start to see a
more finished result. For the background I increase my brush size
slightly.
09. Tinting techniques
Tinting helps to merge the colours togetherTinting
is used to help blend colours together and to develop, for example,
coloured light. Create a new layer and choose Color in the Layer Mode
dialog. I use the standard Soft brush and tint the character group
slightly blue around the border of the blue background, while a
yellow-orange on the inside blends them with the glowing crystal ball.
10. Reflections and glow
Glow effects are added sparingly for greater impactFor
a glow effect I use the standard Soft brush on a new layer, with
Opacity set to between 20 and 40 per cent, and make soft dots where I
want highlight to glow. I don't overdo this effect – less is more. On
the same layer I use the Path tool to draw some reflections on the
crystal ball. I convert the path to a selection and fill it with white.
Once I make a layer mask, I'm able to control the Opacity by painting
either black or white in the mask.
11. Who's inside the crystal ball?
Digital painting lets Andreas drop in an exra characterI
need to develop the crystal ball element for the subscribers' version
of the cover, which doesn't have text on it. So I paint Jennifer
Connelly from the film Labyrinth. I create it in the same way as the
rest of the illustration. Again, this shows the convenience and
flexibility of digital painting.
12. Add noise and textures
Textures are made from digital and traditional elementsI
make a new layer and fill it with 50 per cent grey, then add 10-15 per
cent Noise. I set the layer to Overlay and adjust the Opacity slider to
30 per cent. Gaussian Blur softens the noise. The watercolour texture is
made by painting black watercolour on to wet paper. When dry, I scan
the texture into Photoshop, and drag it to a new layer with Layer Mode
set to Multiply.
13. Colour splashes
Simple splashes provide the background with extra depthI
splash some colour onto a new paper. After scanning, I open the image
in Photoshop and drag it on to a new layer. I go to Image Adjustments,
click Invert, then choose Screen as its Layer Mode. I go to Image
Adjustments Levels and drag the black slider until only the colour
splash dots are visible. Then I go to Image Adjustments Hue/Saturation
and click Colorize.
14. Final adjustments
Saturation is tweaked before the layers are mergedI
make a new Adjustment layer and choose Hue/Saturation. I adjust any
colours that need to be more or less saturated and change hues by
choosing the colour in the drop- down menu and adjusting either hue or
saturation. The illustration is now finished. I merge all layers, except
the troublesome Gremlin, and save it as a PSD file.
Niño Batitis relights the fire in PhotoshopDigital
artist Niño Batitis has been very kind in releasing 13 high quality
Photoshop fire brushes for free. Perfect for your design projects, these
will allow you to experiment with flames, characters and landscapes.
Create perfect looking skin with these brushesMarta Dahlig
has been creating digital brushes for years now, and as she specialises
in portraits, her set of skin brushes is an amazing boost to any
digital artist's armory.
Use this collection of free Bokeh brushes for free in your next photoediting projects and moreThe
term Bokeh is of Japanese origin and refers to the appearance or feel
of the out-of-focus areas of a photograph. Add this cool effect to your
imagery with this free set of high quality Bokeh brushes
Add fire to your photo manipulations with these explosion brushesA
useful set of 16 explosion images, each saved as a standard image, but
easily used as a brush. Perfect for compositing or adding impact to your
designs.
These gradient shape brushes are free for personal and commercial useA
nice set of simple swishes that incorporate gradient colours to provide
a modern, soft-edged finesse to any graphic design project.
These heart brushes were made using paintbrushesThese
18 love heart themed brushes have a nice real media feel that sets
these apart from some of the alternatives available on the web.
There are 16 brushes in this free setA really nice set of halftone images arranged in 3D with perspective to create interesting patterns that add depth to designs.
There are both fancy brushes and some plain ones in this setA
rich set of brushes each featuring a paisley design element. Also
includes the original PNG files the designer used to create the brushes.
Add a twinkle with these free Photoshop star brushesHere are six high resolution star brushes from artist Austin Pickrell. And they're yours, "just
have fun," says the artist, "and I would love to see what people do
with them... and if you make millions from your piece, I want a
helicopter."
These free Photoshop brushes are great for nature-related designsFront
end web developer and designer John Horoszewski created this free brush
pack, which is made up of various flourish, vine and leaf designs.
These moon brushes are the result of a collaboration at Treehouse CharmsA
quirky set of 21 brushes, each related to the overall theme of "the
moon", and featuring a mythological bias. Great for adding some whimsy,
or accenting original illustrations.
Quickly create fantasy backgrounds with this brush setA
useful collection of fractal renders at up to 2500px, gathered together
under the theme of fairy tales due to their other-worldly appearance.
Get creative with these Heads Up Display Photoshop BrushesA
set of 30 high-resolution brushes that provide all the elements of a
HUD in the style of Iron Man. Includes brilliant details such as
exploded diagrams and topographical renderings.
Create stunning light special effects with these free Photoshop brushesCreate special lighting effects by using these brushes in combination with layer blending modes such as screen or vivid light.
13 large brushes represent the night sky in this setThis set of brushes includes 13 different night sky elements including space dust, stars and moons.
Glittery swirls and individual sparkles are included in this packA nice and simple brush that adds a sprinkle of diffused light orbs to bring a Disney-esque magic sparkle to your work.
Roughen your typography and illustrations with this brush setSeven
useful brushes that instantly add a grimy background to your work,
featuring useful specks and splatters as well as areas of grit.
Add some grime to your designs with this free Photoshop brush setA
useful set of brushes for adding a bit of dirt to your images, this
collection of five brushes from Mattox Shuler is understated but
incredibly versatile.
Create great sponge effects with this set of free Photoshop brushesSome
beautiful textures make up this collection of eight high quality
brushes, including some excellent sponge brush marks, great for adding
timbre to collage work.
Get your hands on the 117 brushes in this setA
full 117 brushes, each featuring a different dried blood effect. Great
for creating blood effects, but also worthwhile for paint simulation.
Create a scorched and burned effect with this brush setAnother great set of brushes from WeGraphics that feature realistic scorch and burn effects in 10 different designs.
Use these six hi-res antique postcard Photoshop brushesThis
wonderful collection of six antique postcard designs provides an
excellent background for further design work. Each card brush features
text and a delightful patina.
These 12 free Photoshop brushes are excellent for grunge and dirty effectsA
lovely collection of 12 brushes covering up to 2500px each. This set
features a range of spray patterns suitable for generating dirty
backgrounds and textures, or highlighting typography.
