DESIGN A CUSTOM BRUSH with your settings

Many of the tools in Photoshop have modifiable brush options, and whether you retouch photographs, design brochures, or paint from scratch, you often need to vary the shape, size, and hardness of the brushes to fit your project. 

The Brush picker includes a variety of brushes you can select from a menu. You can also modify the attributes of any of these preset brushes and save the modified brush as your own custom brush preset so that you can readily use it for your next design. You can name and save any number of custom brushes as presets. 

Many other tools also have modifiable brush options, including the Pencil tool, the Eraser tool, the Clone Stamp tool, the Pattern Stamp tool, the History Brush, the Art History Brush, the Blur tool, the Sharpen tool, the Smudge tool, the Dodge tool, the Burn tool, and the Sponge tool. 

Customizing tools for your projects and saving your presets can save time for repetitive tasks and also open up more creative possibilities for your drawing, painting, and retouching.

 

 

1 With a new blank document open, click the Brush tool.

A You can optionally select different foreground colors for comparing the different brush strokes.

2 Click the Brush Panel Toggle button in the Options bar.

The Brush panel opens and the controls for the brush tip shape are visible.

3 Click a Bristle tip brush preset to modify into a custom brush.

4 Click and drag in the image to see the brush stroke.

Note: If you are using a Wacom tablet and stylus, the brush preview shows the brush angle as you angle the stylus.
 

5 Click and drag any of the sliders to change the size and look.

Note: To set any of the Control drop-down menus to Pen Pressure, such as the settings options under Shape Dynamics,you must have a pen tablet connected (see task #15).

B You can click the Shape drop-down menu and select a different shape.

C The Brush preview window displays the changed brushstroke.

6 Click and drag in the open document to test the brush effect.

 

 

D Your customized brush stroke appears on the document.

7 Click any of the other options, such as Texture, in the left section of the Brush pane.

8 Click and drag any of the sliders or drop-down menus to change the size and look.

9 Click and drag in the document to test the changed brushstroke.

10 Click the Create New Brush button.

The Brush Name dialog box appears.

11 Type a name for your brush.

E You can optionally click Capture Brush Size in Preset to save the brush size.

12 Click OK.

Your customized brush is now available in the Brush panel and stored in the default brush set.

Note: If you later reset the brushes without saving the changes, you will lose your custom brush preset.

TIPS

Important! 

You should save custom brushes in a set so they are available the next time you open Photoshop. Click the Brush Preset drop-down menu in the Options bar. Click the gear menu button and click Save Brushes. Type a name for the current set, including your custom brushes, in the dialog box and click Save. The brush set with the custom brushes is saved in the Photoshop Brushes folder in the Presets folder. 

Did You Know? 

The Brush Tip Shape options available with the Bristle tip brushes are different than those for the Standard brushes. You can change the Standard Brush Tip shapes by clicking and dragging the sides of the brush shape circle in the Brush Tip Shape pane. 

More Options! 

The Bristle tip brushes display an animated preview on-screen. You can see what a corresponding physical brush would look like, and also see how the bristles splay as you paint on the digital canvas. You can toggle the preview on and off by clicking the Live Tip Brush Preview button on the bottom of the Brush panel.