Techniques-Digital - Page 11

Brushes - Making, Using, Installing

Brushes

When we hear the term "brushes" used with reference to a graphics program, we are talking about pictures or textures that can be applied to a digital image. Unlike a piece of clip art which has a specific color and transparency, images or textures converted into brushes can be used with various properties such as size, hardness, step, density, etc. Brushes have a certain transparency to them that are not found in clip art or photos.

In this tutorial, we'll go over how to create your own brush from an image, how to use the brush, and how to import brushes.

There are hundreds of web sites that offer free brushes for various graphics programs, and many digital designers are now creating brushes to be used in your scrapbooking. It's very easy to make your own brushes, too, out of any image.


Image 1



Image 2
Creating a brush from an image: If the background of your image is white, only your image will be converted to the brush. If the background is colored, then the outline of the background will be included in the brush.
  1. Open the image you wish to make a brush from

  2. Make a copy (SHIFT + D), and close your original image

  3. Click the File Menu, Export, Custom Brush (Image 1).

  4. You will see your brush in a little box on the left and a place to type in a name for your brush (Image 2)

  5. After typing the name, click OK and the brush will now be listed in alphabetical order with your brushes

  6. If you want to select only a portion of your image to use as a brush, use your Magic Wand tool to select the portion you want, and proceed as above.

Let me give you an example. The image to the left below is clip art, a pretty flower bouquet. When I convert it to a brush, I can then choose my color, reduce the size, and use it to make a background suitable for a card or scrapbook page. Notice that it keeps all the shading of the original.

       


I added a colored background to the flower bouquet. See what happens when I make a brush:

       



Image 3



Image 4
How to use a brush:
  1. Open an image, any size, any background color

  2. Add a layer (Layers Menu, New Raster Layer)

  3. Choose your foreground color - this will be the color of the brushed image

  4. Click the single Paintbrush on your Tools Toolbar (usually on the left of your desktop) (Image 3)

  5. On your Tool Options Pallette, there is a small square box showing your brushes, with an arrow to the right. (Image 3) Click the arrow and you will see all of the brushes you have available. (Image 4)

  6. Double-click the brush you want to use

  7. Click once on your image and your brush image will appear



Image 5



Image 6
Importing (Installing) Brushes: Brushes must be imported into Paint Shop Pro 9 and 10. For other graphics programs, check your help feature on how to install brushes.
  1. Download and unzip your brush file.

  2. Open PSP and choose File menu, Import, Custom Brush(Image 5)

  3. Click the OPEN button and make sure you navigate to the unzipped folder (NOT the zipped one), and then to the files inside.

  4. The brushes should appear on the left side and you can pick one or all of them to ADD which will move them to the right side. (Image 6)

  5. Then click OK and it will either import them, or tell you that it can't (which is what happens to most Photoshop brushes).
Paint Shop Pro brushes have an .jbr extension. Photoshop brushes have an .abr extension and while some are able to be imported into PSP, many cannot. Many digital designers who sell brushes will include the brush image as a .png file so you can create your own brush following the directions in the first section above.
Here are some sample ideas for using brushes. In the first photo, I added a decorative brush in white to three sides, and in the second example, I used a crackle brush to age the photo further.

       


Following are just a few of the myriad of brushes available, in all styles from vintage to cute, historical to decorative. They are great used as backgrounds, or focal images.

       

Published in SSReflections On-Line Ezine

Some cards made with brushes:

               


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