Anyone have a good brush tutorial?

[Darcy Baldwin]

I'm ready to jump in with brushes..but I have NO clue what to do, where to put them, how to use them, etc. I'm working in PS7...any good tutorials out there?

[suvel]

Hey Darcy, keep in mind that I never had PS7, went straight from PSE to PSCS2....so am only doing this on a web search but this guy seems like he has some info:

http://www.arraich.com/ps6_tips_7aausebrush1.htm

[Darcy Baldwin]

Thanks, Susan. I'm already frustrated by it..and I've only read a paragraph into it ROFL! I think I'll leave it for this weekend - too late to start something now.THANKS!

[ang517]

Ok... I know this thread was posted back in June but before starting a new thread I thought I'd ask here first...

What's a brush... wait, I know what it is but what confuses me is that I'll buy a kit or something and you get an element and that element as a brush - so I have no idea what to do with it. I did just click on the link in Susan's post above so maybe that will help. I'm using PS7 (not by choice - I just already have it so I didn't want to buy something else). I should go to Jen's PS site too, I just thought I'd ask the simple question here as well. :)

Oh and if I'm just a digi scrapper and not trying to actually design anything... do I even need the brushes?

[daisyrose]

Firstly Ang, I love your siggy quote! :)

Second, yes everyone can use (and have fun using) brushes - not just designers! I don't use them to make my own patterned paper or anything, just as accents. Most of the brushes that we make for ourselves or buy in kits are to be used more like rubber stamps. You can change their size, color, use them to erase part of an image, and do cool stuff with them in blending modes.

If you get a "brush" in a kit it is either a .abr or .png file.
A .abr file is a true brush file.
A .png file is just an image on a transparent background (waiting for you to turn it into a true brush).

To make a brush is pretty easy in ps7.

1. Open the image you'd like to turn into a brush (a photo, clip art, a .png file, or even patterned paper.)

2. Select the part of the image you want to be the brush.
If it's the whole image: Go to> Select>All.
If you just want part of the image use your selection tool or magic wand to select it.

3. Go to> Edit>Define Brush

4. Name your brush.

5. If you like how it turned out and you want to keep your brush: Go to>Edit>Preset manager. Find your brush and click "save set".

Let me know if you have any questions! :)

[ang517]

WOW! :) Thank you so much! I think I may actually have to try this now. LOL

[Kim2002]

Great explanation! :D

I just wanted to add that there is a brush tutorial for photoshop users at DigiScrapping Tutorials (http://www.digiscrappingtutorials.com).

[rmcabana]

Here are some tutorials from RAKScraps: Brushes 101 (http://www.rakscraps.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3551)and Brushes 202 (http://www.rakscraps.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3900)