What are digital brushes?
Ever wonder how to load, use, rotate & digital brushes?
Think of Brushes as Virtual Stamps.
You can stamp in various colors, sizes, alter them & get a variety of looks with these brushes.
Digital Brush kits usually include black PNG files &1 ABR brush file that has the actual brushes in it. I usually include the black PNG files for those that do not have Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. You can actually use the PNG files similarly to the brush; drag & drop them onto your canvas, change colors, rotate, etc. You can also use the black PNG files as Clip Art...so, if you can not live w/o those designs but don't have PS or PSE, you can still enjoy!
OK.
I’ll show you how to load the brushes, recolor/stamp in color, & turn & rotate the brush.
LOAD BRUSHES:
1. After you’ve unzipped your Brush kit, go into Photoshop, select the Brush Tool in the Tool Bar as seen above.
2. Now look above on your Menu Bar. You will see the above Brush Palette. You can change the Master Diameter...size. And select which brush you want to stamp when the brushes are loaded.
To LOAD: Click on the arrow to bring up the Drop Down Menu
as shown here. **Mac users; double click on the ABR brush icon & it will automatically load the brushes in your brush palette.
3. Select>Load Brush (Here, in this Drop Down Menu, you’ll notice a bunch of options. This is where you’ll organize, name, save your brushes later.)
NOTE: I like to view my brushes with Large Thumbnail selected. But, figure out what you like...it's personal preference.
The Load Window will come up & you’ll find your Rhonna Designs Spooky Junque Brush kit. Select the ABR folder & you will click on the ABR brush icon. Load.
**Note: See the Black PNG file folder? These are NOT the brushes..if you are trying to load & it's grey or you can't 'access' it...chances are you have somehow clicked into this folder instead. Key: You can ONLY load the ABR brush icon as seen below.
4. Now they are loaded in Brush Tool Palette, and you will see the Spooky Junque brushes are there.
COLOR/STAMP:
Now, let’s use these brushes. Rule #1. Always create a New Layer when you brush/stamp. Never stamp directly on another Layer. This will make it easy to delete the Brush layer instead of damaging the photo or paper.
1. Go to: LAYER>NEW. Select your Color you’d like to stamp/brush.
I have pink for this layout. And, I’ve created a New Layer on top of my frame so I my stamp can be a soft background of my image.
2. Simply click/stamp the Spooky Junque Brushes where you want. If you ever want to delete what you just did, simply hit: apple+z or ctrl+z. You can change the colors anytime you want...I just liked the pink background! LOL!
TURN/ROTATE:
Now, to change the rotation, spacing or even size of your brush go up to your Menu Bar & click on the Brush Tab.
This window will pop up & click on the Brush Tip Shape. This window allows you to control your world of brushes.
A. Diameter: much like the Master Diameter in the other window you can use the slider to adjust the size of your brush.
B. Rotation: You can flip the X&Y Axis by clicking on each of those little boxes. You can also rotate the Angle Degree by either typing in the degree in the Angle box OR simply rotating the arrow in the circle to turn your brush how you’d like it.
C. Spacing: Here you can use the slider to space out your brushes. I.e. for the Spooky Junque brush, if you want a perfect line of BOO on a strip or border, you would adjust the slider until you see the brushes spaced at about 442%. Voila! Perfectly spaced Brush!
I could do an entire class on Brushes because there are so many things you can do with them. For now, this is a great beginner tutorial, but here are a couple of tips!
Straight Line: Select a default brush, hard, round & about 5px. Hit your Shift Key while you drag your brush & you’ll have a perfectly straight line.
Dotted Line: With your default hard, round brush (any size) go into your Spacing& drag the slider until you have a good dotted line. Now, use the technique above & you’ve got a perfect dotted straight line.
Scalloped Line: Again, with a default hard, round brush (any size) go into your Spacing & drag the slider until you have a scalloped line. Now, use this technique above & you've got a perfect scalloped line!
Practice, practice, practice.
Once you get the hang of these, you will be amazed at what YOU can design! Seriously, Digital Brushes will rock your world whether you are a digital scrapbooker, mixed media artist, blogger, photographer or even a traditional scrapbooker! The world of brushes is a*mazing!
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