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USING GRADIENT MAPS TO APPLY COLOR TO BRUSHES
USING BRUSHES TO 'CUT OUT'DIGI SCRAP PAPER
{USING GRADIENT MAPS TO APPLY COLOR TO BRUSHES}
I create some of my brushes with varying shades of black and gray to make it easy to color them with a gradient map. I'll show you how I do it using Photoshop!
First, you'll need to start with a white layer. Then, with black as the foreground color, apply the brush directly to the layer. I used one of my 'little hooty owl' brushes.
Next you'll use a gradient map to color your layer. Go to Image>Adjustments>Gradient Map. (For PSE users go to Filter>Adjustments>Gradient Map). Since there are several shades of gray, a gradient with 3 or more colors will generally work better. There are some very nice, free gradients on myphotoshopbrushes.com!
Now I want to get rid of all the color surrounding the owl so that I can use just the owl in my art work. To do that, just use the Magic Wand tool and click somewhere in the colored space around the owl. It should automatically select the surrounding color.
Now hit the Delete button and the color is gone!
P.S. Make sure your layer is 'unlocked' in your layers palette. Otherwise, when you hit delete it will just turn the selected color back to white instead of transparent.
Ta Da! Now you can 'drag' your colored owl into your artwork!
{USING BRUSHES TO 'CUT OUT' DIGI SCRAP PAPER}
You can use brushes to make a cut out from your digital scrapbook paper! Here's how I did it in Photoshop using one of my little birdi brushes!
First, I picked out a scrapbook paper. Then I made a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N). Next I applied my birdi brush to that new layer in the spot I wanted the shape to be cut out from.
In order to 'cut out' the birdi shape, I need to do a few things. To start, I need to select that birdi layer I just made. The easiest way to do that is to click on the layer image in the layer palette while holding down the Ctrl key.
Now my little birdi is selected, but I need everything else to be selected instead so that its the part that disappears. To do that go to Select>Inverse. Now everything around the birdi shape is selected. Making sure that the digi scrap paper is the layer that's highlighted in the layer palette and that it is 'unlocked', I can now hit the Delete button.
Now I want to Deselect everything. Just hit Ctrl+D to do that. Next, I deleted that original birdi layer to reveal the cutout layer beneath it.
Ta Da! I've got a birdi shape cut out from my digi scrap paper! Now I can 'drag' it into whatever artwork I'm using it for. P.S. If you want to save your shape, make sure you use the 'Save As' option so you don't end up losing the original digi scrap paper. Or, you can 'drag' the paper into a new file before you even start the whole process so you don't have to worry about accidentally losing it.
{USING PATHS AND BRUSHES TO MAKE AN OUTLINE}
Ever wonder how to make a shape look like it is stitched around the edges?
You can do that very thing using paths and brushes in Photoshop.
Here's how I do it.
First you will need to open or make what ever you will be outlining. I made a little cupcake with my Sweet Shoppe Brushes and my Little Cupcake Kit following the same process from the tutorial above to 'cut out' my digital scrapbook paper.
In this instance I will only be outlining the top part of the cupcake so I made sure that my cupcake pieces are in two layers, top and bottom.
I want to outline the top of my cupcake with little dots. So to start out, I am going to select my brush tool AND make sure my foreground color is the color I want the outline to be in.
Next I want to select my brush. Since I'm doing dots I just selected a basic default circle brush. If you want something else like stitches, select that brush. Now, make sure the brush is the size you want it. Mine worked out to be the right size so I left it alone.
If the brush you are using is not a 'progressive' brush then you need to change it so that it is (you can always change it back later when you're done). Progressive brush means that if you click and hold while brushing, the brush will not blend together. So in the case of my dot, as you can see in the preview window, if I click and hold while brushing it will make a solid line rather than a row of dots making it a non-progressive brush.
To fix this you will need to click on 'Brush Tip Shape' in your brush palette (highlighted in blue). At the bottom you will see Spacing. It will probably be set to 25%. You need to change it to somewhere around 170%-190%. And as you can see in the preview window, my brush will make a row of dots now.
Next, select the shape you will be outlining, in my case it is Layer 3. As you can see in the image above there is a dotted line surrounding the top of the cupcake indicating it is selected.
(See the {USING BRUSHES TO 'CUT OUT' DIGI SCRAP PAPER}
tutorial for an easy way to select a layer).
With your shape still selected, make a new layer. Make sure this new layer is highlighted in your layers palette.
With your brush tool on, your shape selected, and you new layer highlighted, you will now go to your Paths window. If you don't see your Paths window, go to (Window>Paths) and it will pop up.
You will first hit the little icon (circled in red on the image above) on the right. If you hold your mouse over it, it should say: Make work path from selection. When you hit that you will see a work path layer show up in your Paths window. Now you will hit the icon (circled in red on the image above) that's on the left. This one should say: Stroke path with brush.
After you've hit that you should see an outline show up on your shape. The outline will have been made on your new layer that you made earlier, in my case Layer 5.
In the image above you can see the dot outline, but you can also still see the solid black line of my work path. So in the Paths window, delete the work path layer that it made earlier and the line will disappear.
Now you will have a dotted outline around your shape! I wanted my outline to be set a little bit inside my shape, so I used Transform and scaled it down just a tad.
Ta Da! I've got a cute little cupcake with a cute little dotted border!
