How to Make a Brush (and use it!)
Inspired by the positive response to my last tutorial, I've decided to make another one. This one shows you how to (a.) make a brush, (b.) use said brush, and (c.) just for fun, how to add basic shadow or glow effects.
Make sure you have the layer docker window open, and that you're familiar with the How to Make an Icon tutorial.
First, you want to create a new image.
Make it, oh, about 500 x 500. You want a lot of room to play around. Also, make sure that "Contents" is set to transparent.
Click on the first color-select box and select black. This is very important when making brushes. If you use other colors, the brushes will be fainter when used, and you don't want that. (If you do want a brush faint for any reason, you can always lower the opacity or fill.)
Type a capital letter using the Text tool. I went with "G" for absolutely no good reason.
Select it, and change the font. In this case, I'm using Common Bullets. Everyone has common bullets, right?
Make it big.
Instead of a normal-looking G, you should have an asterisk on your screen.
Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, select an area around the asterisk.
Go to Edit -> Define Brush. (Yes, it is that easy!)
Name your brush something distinctive, like "Asterisk".
Now, click on the Brush tool. If it's been set to Pencil instead, click on "Pencil" and hold the button down, then, when the little window pops up, click on "Brush".
Click on the "Brush Selector" button...
and scroll down. Your new brush should be at the bottom of the list. Click on it.
Create a new layer. This is very important, as you can't brush/fill/draw on a Text layer.
In your new layer, click somewhere in the image. The shape of an asterisk will appear.
Click again, and again! Change colors. Fiddle with opacities. Make new layers, and put asterisks on top of other asterisks. Now you have a brush that you can use in different colors on many different images.
Either delete all your asterisks (by selecting them via the marquee tool and then hitting the delete key) or create a new image. Hold down the mouse button and drag your asterisk brush around...
Or you can click, hold shift, and click again (and then release shift) to make straight lines.
Just for the heck of it, let's add a shadow to our Xes. Duplicate the layer that the Xes are on, and, using the Hue/Saturation slider I mentioned last time, make this layer totally black. Click OK.
Now, in the layers docker window, click on the all-black layer and drag it down so it's below the colored layer.
With the all-black layer still selected, go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur.
Set it to 1.7 and click OK.
Use the move tool, and click on the image.
Holding the mouse button down, drag the mouse downwards a little bit. See how the Gaussian Blurred layer only shows up below the Xes, like a shadow? While there are other ways of making drop shadows, I find this way to be the most versatile.
Create a new layer, fill it with yellow, and drag it beneath the other two. The shadow stands out more.
There's a quick and easy way to change a shadow like this into a faux glow.
Click on the all-black Xes layer in the layers docker window. Go to the Hue/Saturation selector. Instead of dragging the Lightness slider all the way to the left (like we did for black), drag it all the way to the right. Click OK.
Lower the opacity a little, and you've got an instant glow.
Make sure you have the layer docker window open, and that you're familiar with the How to Make an Icon tutorial.
First, you want to create a new image.
Make it, oh, about 500 x 500. You want a lot of room to play around. Also, make sure that "Contents" is set to transparent.
Click on the first color-select box and select black. This is very important when making brushes. If you use other colors, the brushes will be fainter when used, and you don't want that. (If you do want a brush faint for any reason, you can always lower the opacity or fill.)
Type a capital letter using the Text tool. I went with "G" for absolutely no good reason.
Select it, and change the font. In this case, I'm using Common Bullets. Everyone has common bullets, right?
Make it big.
Instead of a normal-looking G, you should have an asterisk on your screen.
Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, select an area around the asterisk.
Go to Edit -> Define Brush. (Yes, it is that easy!)
Name your brush something distinctive, like "Asterisk".
Now, click on the Brush tool. If it's been set to Pencil instead, click on "Pencil" and hold the button down, then, when the little window pops up, click on "Brush".
Click on the "Brush Selector" button...
and scroll down. Your new brush should be at the bottom of the list. Click on it.
Create a new layer. This is very important, as you can't brush/fill/draw on a Text layer.
In your new layer, click somewhere in the image. The shape of an asterisk will appear.
Click again, and again! Change colors. Fiddle with opacities. Make new layers, and put asterisks on top of other asterisks. Now you have a brush that you can use in different colors on many different images.
Either delete all your asterisks (by selecting them via the marquee tool and then hitting the delete key) or create a new image. Hold down the mouse button and drag your asterisk brush around...
Or you can click, hold shift, and click again (and then release shift) to make straight lines.
Just for the heck of it, let's add a shadow to our Xes. Duplicate the layer that the Xes are on, and, using the Hue/Saturation slider I mentioned last time, make this layer totally black. Click OK.
Now, in the layers docker window, click on the all-black layer and drag it down so it's below the colored layer.
With the all-black layer still selected, go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur.
Set it to 1.7 and click OK.
Use the move tool, and click on the image.
Holding the mouse button down, drag the mouse downwards a little bit. See how the Gaussian Blurred layer only shows up below the Xes, like a shadow? While there are other ways of making drop shadows, I find this way to be the most versatile.
Create a new layer, fill it with yellow, and drag it beneath the other two. The shadow stands out more.
There's a quick and easy way to change a shadow like this into a faux glow.
Click on the all-black Xes layer in the layers docker window. Go to the Hue/Saturation selector. Instead of dragging the Lightness slider all the way to the left (like we did for black), drag it all the way to the right. Click OK.
Lower the opacity a little, and you've got an instant glow.