Making Brushes

Tutorial

1. Create a new canvas of any size.

2. Let's start with a very easy way to make a swirl brush. Use the Text Tool , and select a curvy/swirly font. Type a letter.

   

3. In your Layers window, right click the layer with the text. Select Rasterize Layer.

   

4. Now we can edit the text layer. Use the Polygonal Lasso to select the parts you don't want in the brush. Hit Delete on your keyboard.

   

5. Deselect (Ctrl + D) your selection. Then, go to Edit >> Define Brush. You can name your new brush.

   

6. Your Brush is now available for use!

   

   (Though, if you'd really like to make your own custom swirl, I recommend trying the Pen Tool.)

7. Next, let's use an easy way to make a grunge brush. I'm going to use part of a photo.

   

8. Go to Image >> Adjust >> Brightness/Contrast. Increase the Brightness a little and the Contrast a lot.

   

9. Do the same steps as before. Go to Edit >> Define Brush. Give it a name, and now you have another custom brush!

   

10. Now that we have some custom brushes, we should save them as a brush set. This will let you load them again later or share them with others.

    The first thing we need to do is remove all brushes not part of the set. You can right click a brush and click Delete Brush. You can also hold Alt on your keyboard and then click the brush.

    

    If the brush is already saved in a set, this will not permanently delete the brush. You can delete Photoshop default brushes without worry!

11. Click the small arrow in the Brushes window, and select Save Brushes. Name it whatever you want, and now you have an abr file, which is a brush set.

    

12. To bring the default Photoshop brushes back, click the same arrow and select Reset Brushes. You can choose to replace your current brushes with the default or just add it onto the ones you have.

    

13. To load other brushes, click that arrow again. Select Load Brushes to append another brush set. Select Replace Brushes to replace the brushes you have with the other set.

    

    And that was the basics! Now you can create custom brushes and brush sets.