Introduction to the Brush Tool

Introduction to the Brush Tool

In this lesson, we will take a closer look at the Brush Tool in Photoshop.

When to use

The Brush Tool (B) can be used for a wide variety of purposes ranging from retouching to painting or creating digital illustrations in Photoshop.

Instructions

Brush Size and Hardness

• Begin by deleting all of the layers except for your original 'DO NOT ENTER SIGN' layer and the solid color layer below it.
• You can do this by selecting the top layer, holding the Shift Key, and then selecting the last layer you want to select and then dragging them to the Trash Bin or pressing 'Delete' on the keyboard. 
• Select your 'DO NOT ENTER SIGN' layer and apply a new Layer Mask.
• Switch to the Brush Tool (B) and then zoom in by pressing Command/Ctrl and the '+' key on the keyboard.
• You'll notice that after selecting your Brush Tool you have several options along the top toolbar to modify your settings. 
• Click on the first option which shows a brush preview and you should see a dropdown menu appear.
• From this menu, you can change things like the size and the hardness of your brush using the sliders.
• As an alternative, you can also use the left and right bracket keys on the keyboard to change the size of your brush.
• To change the hardness or softness of your brush, hold the Shift Key while using the left and right bracket keys. 
• Drag the hardness of the brush all the way down and then paint on your layer mask with black.
• You will notice that this creates a very soft effect.
• Drag the hardness of the brush all the way up and then paint on a different part of your layer with black.
• You will now see the hard edges created by the brush.
• Press Command/Ctrl+Z to Undo these brush strokes, or simply paint over the image with white instead of black.

Brush Opacity and Flow

• In addition to changing the size and hardness of your brush, you can also control the opacity and the flow.
• Just like when working with layers, you can use the number keys on your keyboard to change the opacity of your brush.
• Using a low opacity and flow will allow you to gradually build up paint.
• Think of the opacity as how light or dark your brush strokes will be, and the flow can be thought of as the amount of paint on your virtual brush that appears with each stroke.

Painting Manually

• Add a new layer above your 'DO NOT ENTER SIGN' layer.
• Switch to your Brush Tool (B) and make sure that you lower the hardness settings so your brush will have softer edges that blend better with colors.
• Change the opacity of your brush to something around '20%' and the flow can be set to around '75%'.
• Before we begin painting over the words 'DO NOT' on the sign, we need to sample some color from the image.
• We can do this one of two ways.
• The first method is by pressing the letter 'I' on the keyboard to switch to the Eyedropper Tool and once it's active we can simply click on the part of the photo that we want to sample color from.
• The second method is to hold the Alt/Option Key to quickly toggle from the Brush Tool (B) to the Eyedropper Tool (I).
• Sample some of the red color next to the letters and begin brushing over them.
• You can increase the opacity of the brush to speed things up.
• As you continue painting with the Brush Tool (B) you can toggle back and forth between the brush and the eyedropper to continue sampling colors from the photo as you go.
• Continue to gradually build up the colors and paint until you've completely covered the words 'DO NOT' on the sign. 

Hints & tips

• Increase or decrease the size of your brush using the left and right bracket keys.
• Increase or decrease the hardness of your brush by holding Shift along with the left or right bracket keys.
• Toggle between your Brush Tool (B) and the Eyedropper Tool (I) by pressing 'B' to grab the brush, and then click and hold the Alt/Option Key to quickly change to the eyedropper.
• Using this keyboard shortcut to toggle between brush and eyedropper allows you to quickly sample colors from a photo while painting.
• Using a low opacity and flow setting will allow you to gradually build up your colors.
• Using a low hardness setting will give you softer and more seamless-looking blends, whereas a hard brush will leave more noticeable edges.