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Getting The Most out of Your Photoshop Brushes – Exploring The Low Pressure Range

http://grutbrushes.wistia.com/medias/lpubpnx945?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=1020

Sometimes people ask me which brush I used to do the shading in this painting and when I tell them it’s the ‘Ocean Liner‘ brush they usually don’t believe me and I really don’t blame them because this is the stroke most people get when they use the ocean liner brush:

Brush stroke with average pressure applied
Photoshop Brush stroke with average pressure applied

The fact is that most Photoshop brushes have a wide range of looks that you can get simply by varying the pressure of your stylus and sometimes you can find some of the most interesting effects at the very low end of the pressure scale.

By charging the brush size slightly from 20 to 45 pixels and stroking ever so lightly, and lifting my stylus between strokes (this part is important!) I can begin to build up this nice texture.

[baslider name=”lowstyluspressure”]

Now I probably wouldn’t set out to create this with this brush but the point is to not accept your brushes at face value. Experiment and investigate how they behave at the very lowest stylus pressure ranges and you may discover that they, like you, have hidden talents.

 

 

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Free Photoshop Brush of the Week #49 “Re Cc” Pencil

Sketching in Photoshop with the free Photoshop brush of the week #49 a hard carbon pencil

This week’s free GrutBrush is the “Re Cc” pencil. It’s a hard Photoshop pencil with an intermittent line reminiscent of the marks you get when scratching with a hard point through carbon paper (thus the CC in the name) You can get it all this week on the free Photoshop brush page or in the brush shop.

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Free Photoshop Brush of the Week #48 ‘Rag Blather’

Painted in Photoshop with the 'Rag Blather' Natural Media brush
Painted in Photoshop with the ‘Rag Blather’ Natural Media brush

This was sketched in Photoshop with this week’s brush of the week ‘Rag Blather‘ which is available for free all week in the brush shop or on the free brush of the week page.

 

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Sketchercising with a Still Life

Still Life drawn in Photoshop with the "Rich Roast" Photoshop brush

Because I usually draw from my head, when I do try to draw from life I have a bad habit of drawing what I think should be there rather than what actually is. Here I’m doing a sketch trying to take the good advice of ‘drawing what I see’ not what I think I see. I think I am about a third of the way there but it’s hard to resist drawing it as I imagine it, which usually has little bearing on reality. This was drawn in Photoshop with this week’s free charcoal brush which is still up here until feb 14th grutbrushes.com/freebrush

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Free Photoshop Brush of the Week #47 – Rich Roast Photoshop Charcoal Brush

Photoshop charcoal drawing done with the Rich Roast Photoshop charcoal brush

This week’s free brush is “Rich Roast” a Photoshop Charcoal brush with a wide and fairly evenly ramping tonal range from light to almost fully opaque. Get it for free all week on the free brush of the week page or in the brush shop until Monday when as always, there will be a new brush.  grutbrushes.com/freebrush

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Impasto Painting in Photoshop – Quick Tips 01

Here are a few quick tips to get you going with the Photoshop Impasto brushes

I will be doing a series of tutorials on how to use the GrutBrushes Photoshop Impasto brushes but this short video above shows a few brief tips.

To summarise:
– Vary your stylus pressure and use short strokes for a more organic look
– Use a flatter Photoshop brush to block in large areas
– Press softly on your stylus to blend or soften texture
– Push harder when you want more texture
– Use alt/option to pick colours from your painting

Brush Strokes and animated previews

Photoshop Impasto painting with GrutBrushes
Photoshop Impasto painting with GrutBrushes
Impasto Brushes from Impastos 01

(Mouseover or tap the icons below to watch the Photoshop brushes drawing ‘live’!)

'Gravel Plough' Photoshop Impasto brush
‘Gravel Plough’ Photoshop Impasto brush
'Granite Sack' Photoshop Impasto brush

‘Granite Sack’ Photoshop Impasto brush
'Horse Main' Photoshop Impasto paint

‘Horse Main’ Photoshop Impasto brush
'Imp Giganto' Photoshop Impasto paint

‘Imp Giganto’ Photoshop Impasto brush
'Gypsum Slate' Photoshop Impasto brush

‘Gypsum Slate’ Photoshop Impasto brush
'Venal Weasel' Photoshop Impasto oil paint

‘Venal Weasel’ Photoshop Impasto oil brush
'Venal Weasel' Photoshop Impasto oil paint

‘Venal Weasel’ Photoshop Impasto oil brush
'Cliff Quarry' Photoshop Impasto oil paint

‘Cliff Quarry’ Photoshop Impasto oil brush
'Tenor Wake' Photoshop Impasto oil paint

”Tenor Wake’ Photoshop Impasto oil brush
'Jee Beach' Photoshop Impasto oil paint

‘Jee Beach’ Photoshop Impasto oil brush
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Free Photoshop Brush of the Week #45

Free Brush of the Week 45 - Photoshop Oil Impasto Brush

This week’s free Photoshop brush of the week (#45) is ‘Stump Trough‘ an oil impasto brush. This is a bonus brush from Impastos 01 the new set of 10 Photoshop impasto oil brushes. But try this one first to see if you want the rest which are all available to Art Brushes Complete members to download right now (from the brush shop, the portal page, or from your account page) It’s available to download for free through Sunday.

This is all native Photoshop by the way, all the oil paint texture comes from the brush itself, there are no layer effects or post processing of any kind.

Here’s a Photoshop painting that uses about 8 of the impasto brushes (this also has no layer effects or filters)

Photoshop oil impasto painting
Photoshop oil impasto painting

 

These are actual brush strokes of the 10 brushes in Impastos 01:

Photoshop Impasto painting with GrutBrushes
Photoshop Impasto painting with GrutBrushes

 

 

Want more? Impastos 01 Photoshop Brush Set

Photoshop Impasto oil Paint
Photoshop Impasto oil Paint

10 Photoshop Impasto oil brushes for digital artists.  Realistic pressure responsive Photoshop oil paint brushes that simulate the look of traditional oils without the use of layer effects or any post processing.

Painting with the Photoshop Oil Impasto brushes
Painting with the Oil Impasto Photoshop brushes
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Drawing and Painting in Photoshop With GrutBrushes

Drawing and painting with an assortment of GrutBrushes. Special thanks to the eraser, the unsung hero who saves this one in the end.

Brushes used include: Gull Plunder, Gentle Pedicel, Drip Drench, Wax Factor and Timpani Dee.

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Photoshop Cloud Brushes in the Workshop

Photoshop cloud brush
I’m working on a set of Photoshop cloud brushes for the new year, this fluffy cumulus brush will be given away free in this week’s GrutBrushes newsletter, in your email either today or tomorrow. Don’t get the newsletter? Sign up or Register here and you’ll be subscribed

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