Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Adobe Photoshop > Technique

Like this article? We recommend

Selecting and Configuring a Brush

To select a brush, open the Brush Preset Picker and choose a brush (see Figure 1). To add more brushes, click the palette flyout and choose a brush set from the foot of the dialog box (such as Assorted Brushes, Drop Shadow Brushes, Dry Media Brushes, and so on). When you select a collection of brushes, you can append them to the current selection or replace the current selection. After you have selected a brush, adjust its size (measured in pixels) by using the master diameter slider and vary its hardness to make it a harder or softer brush—100% is very hard; 0% is very soft. Think of hardness as being something akin to focus—a soft brush has a blurred edge, and a hard brush has a solid edge. In addition to selecting the brush diameter from this dialog box, you can enlarge or reduce its size by using the [ and ] keys on the keyboard.

Figure 01

Figure 1 Choose a brush from the currently active set by clicking it in the Brush Preset Picker.

The Brushes palette has settings for everything from brush tip shape to smoothing and edges. Click Brush Tip Shape to choose a tip for your brush. Below this, set the brush diameter and its spacing. The default spacing is 25%; if you increase it to 100% you will space tips so they paint side by side instead of overlapping (see Figure 2). Increase it to around 250% and see in the preview area that the brush tips will paint at an enlarged spacing. You can use it to paint a line of evenly spaced dots or angled shapes.

Figure 02

Figure 2 Setting the spacing for a brush to 100% lets you paint a repeated series of brush tip shapes side by side by dragging with the mouse.

Use this same dialog box to adjust the angle and roundness of the brush by typing values into the dialog box or by dragging on the preview image with your mouse to change the angle or roundness (see Figure 3).

Figure 03

Figure 3 Altering angle and roundness lets you configure your own brush shape by entering values or by dragging on the small image with your mouse.

The Shape Dynamics setting lets you set your brush roundness, size, and angle to change as you paint. Set a Size Jitter value, and the size of the brush will randomly alter as you paint. Below this is a setting for specifying the minimum brush diameter so you can set a size below which it cannot shrink (see Figure 4).

Figure 04

Figure 4 The Size Jitter value setting adjusts the size of the brush randomly as you paint. If desired, you can set a minimum size below which it cannot be reduced—here that setting is 25%.

The Control setting configures how the change is managed. Set it to Off and the brush paints continuously as shown. Set it to Pen Pressure if you use a tablet; if using a mouse, set it to Fade and specify the number of steps by which time the effect will fade to zero. Angle Jitter works similarly by randomly changing the angle of the brush and it has a similar set of Control options. The Roundness Jitter setting lets you configure the brush to randomly change roundness, and it has a minimum Roundness setting and the same Control settings as the other effects (see Figure 5).

Figure 05

Figure 5 Results of randomly varying angle and roundness are shown here, the Size Jitter stops partway through as it is set to Fade, but the other Jitters continue indefinitely.

The Scattering options let you scatter the brush head so it paints over a wide area (see Figure 6). You can make the result denser by increasing the count so you paint with the equivalent of multiple brush heads at the one time. Count Jitter randomly varies the number of brushes that you’re painting with.

Figure 06

Figure 6 This brush has a scattering value set so the brush heads spread out over a larger area.

The Texture option lets you create a brush that paints with a texture of your choice. Your choices include built-in Photoshop patterns and any patterns you created yourself. The Scale slider lets you adjust the scale of the texture that you’re painting. Enabling the Texture Each Tip checkbox applies the pattern over itself so that it builds up as you paint; if you disable the checkbox, the pattern is painted, but not overpainted where brush heads overlap.

Figure 07

Figure 7 With the Texture Each Tip checkbox enabled, the leftmost pattern is painted; with it disabled the results are those shown on the right.

One of the most surprising tools in this palette is the Color Dynamics option, which lets you vary the color of the brush as you paint. Although each brush tip is still painted in a single color—brushes can’t paint in multiple colors at a time—you can vary the hue so each tip is a different color, and the result is a rainbow painted effect. To do this, set a foreground color other than black or white and set the Hue Jitter value to 100% to use the full span of available colors. Ensure that the Purity value is set to 0 or higher and test the brush (see Figure 8). Other values such as Brightness and Saturation can also be randomly varied here.

Figure 08

Figure 8 Using the Color Dynamics settings you can set the brush so each tip as it paints is painted with a different color.

There are other options for brushes in the Brushes palette, such as adding noise to a brush that is not a solid black color and wet edges that make the brush edges look like the brush is painting with watercolor. Clicking the Airbrush option in this dialog box is the same as clicking the Airbrush option on the Tool Options palette. Smoothing is a tool used to smooth shapes drawn using a tablet.

When you configure a brush you like, make a brush preset from it by clicking the flyout menu, choosing New Brush Preset, and giving it a name. To add it to the Tool Preset button so you can use it with the current settings at any time, click the Tool Preset icon, click the flyout, choose New Tool Preset, and save your configuration.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020