Tutorials::Brushes and TexturesIntroThis tutorial will go over the use of brushes and textures. These are two resources that you can use on your graphics that are very useful. They can add a really nice effect.
BrushesWhat are brushes?
Click on the brush tool in your tools window (the paintbrush). See this in the top left corner?
Click on the drop down arrow next to the dot and you will see more dots as well as some other designs.
These are your brushes. If you still aren't sure what brushes are, try using a brush on a blank canvas. You are not limited to soft dots and grundgy dots, however. Many resource sites provide brushes for you to use on your graphics (as well as this site). Here is an example of a graphic with and without brushes:
Without:
With:
Using Brushes
To use brushes, select a brush from your brush menu and put it where you want on a graphic. To change the color of the brush, change the foreground color in your color palette. (This is your color palette. To change the foreground color, click on the black (in my case) and change it to whatever color you want your brush to be.) Unfortunately, there is no easy way to resize brushes, so you will have to put one brush on a new canvas and resize the canvas itself to achieve that. I would suggest putting all of your brushes for your graphic on seperate layers so that you can do more with them (such as setting the layers to a layer mode, changing the color, being able to delete one brush without having to delete all of them, changing its opacity, etc.). Remember to credit when you use someone else's brushes, though.
Downloading Brushes
Before you decide to download a brush set, make sure that the brushes are compatible with your program and version. If they are not, check to see if the site lets you download image packs. Brush sets usually come in zip files. When it is finished downloading, unzip the zip file. Once you have done that, click on the brush tool in your tools window in Photoshop and click on the drop down arrow to view all of your brushes. You should see an arrow on the window somewhere (for me it is in the top right corner). Click on the arrow and then select "Load Brushes...".
Find the .abr file that you just downloaded (which will be in the unzipped file) and double click on it. Ta-da! You should be able to use them now. :)
See my brushes.
TexturesWhat are textures?
Textures are images that you can apply to a graphic to add depth, color, and basically...texture. Many sites provide textures (including mine), but make sure you credit when you use them. :) Here is an exmaple of a graphic with and without textures:
Without:
With:
Using Textures
First, save a few textures that you like to your computer. When you are ready to add a little texture to your graphic, open the textures in Photoshop. Ctrl+c (copy), ctrl+A (select), and Ctrl+V (paste) on top of the graphic. Make sure the texture is on a seperate layer. Using the move tool, move the texture around the canvas to find the part of the texture that you like the best. Then, play around with the layer modes.
 
See my textures.
Those are the basics of textures and brushes, though you can do much more with them. Just remember not to go too crazy with brushes and textures (it looks bad if you use too much) and credit, credit, credit!
OtherI add a texture, but it is too bright and you can't see the person's face. What should I do? That actually happens quite a lot. What you do to fix it is take the burn tool and make that area darker on the texture.Have any questions or comments? E-mail me.
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