I’ve recently started using Photoshop as a painting program and instead of really familiarizing myself with all the tools I just jumped right in and did what I could with what I could find. While I’ve been able to Produce at least one cool piece it was challenging.
What was really frustrating was that I knew there were more brushes and tools there than what I was finding. I was sure I had run across them before and I had read about people using them. So it was quite frustrating to try to create something when I couldn’t find what I needed. Like finding a good blending or smudge tool. I found the smudge tool but it sure wasn’t behaving like when I would smudge the graphite in a pencil drawing or the charcoal in a charcoal piece. It was more like trying to smudge an oil pastel on paper using an eraser.
Sometimes, though, being handed a lot of work can force you to find a better way. That’s what happened for me. I was talking to an author/publisher who likes my manual art and had already asked me to do some other art for one project. That was the first piece I managed to complete in Photoshop. Anyway, this person has asked if I would do the pieces for another project and there’s now a deadline. This is on top of some website development work I’m doing for this same person. Oh yeah, remember, I work full time and have a whole host of other projects I’m working on.
Admittedly, I prefer to have a whole stack of things to do. I get so much more done that way. And I don’t put off finishing something because then I won’t have something to work on. No, with lots of stuff to work on I make a list of everything so I don’t lose track and so that when I can’t think of what to do I look at the list and get started. Still, with all I was just handed to work on, I was a little mind blowing. Especially since I am still learning Photoshop. And now I really need to find those brushes and tools so I can make this easier and get even better looking pieces.
The first thing I did was to pull out some digital art magazines that come with CDs of ‘free’ resources such as custom brushes and filters and models, etc. I found one with that said it had some watercolor type brushes and decided this was as good a time as any. To figure out how to get them into Photoshop and maybe that would help me find the other ones. This worked. I got the brushes in the folder they needed to go into and started Photoshop but couldn’t find them. Then I figure out that you have to load them. And Photoshop includes some brushes in it’s library already that aren’t loaded by default.
Ok, sure, I could have read the help, or tried to, or even looked it up. As I’ve said I just dove right in. Yes I could have gone to a forum to ask but seriously, this just seemed like a no brainer to me. They should be right there, I really thought I’d seen them before.
Photoshop CS5 has different default layouts for your workspace. I had been using the Essentials layout. Since the problem I was having was related to painting I swathed to the Painting layout. It helped. It made the brushes and the accompanying tools that much easier to find. I took a little time on a blank canvas to try the all out to see which were more transparent than other and which gave a chalk look and a felt marker look and all of that. I found a couple that will be great for hair and even one for grass. This is going to make all those art pieces I need to do a lot more fun.
To try out these new toys I opened up a project that I’ve been working on. I have a version of it nearly done but halfway through it I saved it off to another name. So I open up the partial version, save it off to a different name and go to work on this one. I knew from the other one that I needed and wanted a more saturated look so the first thing was to darken up and tighten up what I already had. Fortunately, the different colors were still on separate layers. That made it easier to pick out my colors and go to it. I am not near enough to done with it but I am much happier and excited about the work. As I worked on areas I thought about how I would come back after getting all the main color down and blended and then add in the detail of the creases and scuffs.
I finally found my brushes and it’s going to make all the difference in the world. And painting in Photoshop a lot more fun.