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March 2006 1) Brush Tutorials and Ideas 2) A Question For You 3) Quick Cloud Tips 4) Easter Idea ----------------------------------------------------- Brush Tutorials and Ideas ----------------------------------------------------- Photoshop brushes are a great way to add all kinds of interesting effects to your projects. Get some ideas here, but first find out all you need to know from the site's new section on brushes. Whether you want to make them, download them, install them, grab some free sets, or just use them, find great brush information and free resources right here: http://www.easyelements.com/photoshop-brushes.html Lacking inspiration? Let me help! Here are some ideas for how brushes could be used in your projects: Backgrounds - Sometimes when an image needs a background, and nothing immediately presents itself, the brush tool can come in very handy. Try experimenting with the default brushes, and using very light shades of colors that are almost white. A heavy gaussian blur can give you a subtle background, which is neither too loud nor too plain. Borders - Pictures often lack a defined edge, but sometimes a border can do much to improve the composition of an image. It doesn't just have to be a rectangle however! Experiment with using different brush strokes to create a more interesting effect. Maybe a subtly repeating pattern, or even a picture brush that isn't too stark could add that missing element to your scene. Foreground Detail - Certain picture brushes, especially natural objects like foliage I find, can work well to give some images an immediate foreground. For example if you put a 'long grass' brush along the bottom edge of an image, the rest of the image appears to be a scene which the viewer is set to pounce on from the sidelines. Adding immediate foreground detail can give an image a whole new three dimensional feel. Logos - Brushes are fantastic for use as logos. Picture brushes give you that 'rubber stamp' capability, so you can just drop them into any picture, any time, anywhere. Quick and easy, no fuss. Watermarks - Same sort of idea, but if you want to watermark your images, why not try a brush using a very low opacity (or on a separate low opacity layer), to make your impression. ----------------------------------------------------- A Question For You ----------------------------------------------------- In the February newsletter I gave links to my free Star and Heart brush sets. These giveaways started off the entire site section on brushes. Since then I've also added a Musically themed brush set. I plan to keep adding these brush sets regularly, and have quite a few ideas, but it's only sensible to create the brush sets that are going to be most useful to you! So here's your chance to really get your way. What brushes do *YOU* want me to make? These ideas seem to be the most popular, but by all means submit any other ideas you have. Just drop me a line using my contact form and stating which brush set you would like to see made. 1. Snow / Snowflakes 2. Bubbles 3. Foliage Brushes (Leaves, Trees, Flowers, etc) 4. Fire, Smoke and Clouds 5. Lightning 6. Artistic Brushes (Swirls, Sparkles, Spatters and other abstract things) Let me know via my contact page: http://www.easyelements.com/contact.html ----------------------------------------------------- Quick Cloud Tips ----------------------------------------------------- This tip relates directly to my Easter idea, so brush up on these concepts briefly before taking a look at that. The clouds effect can be found under the Filter menu. Filter - Render - Clouds. The first thing to remember is that it takes into account your color palette. Depending on what effect you want to achieve, pick your colors carefully. Also take note of this extra little feature. It's not immediately obvious to most, that if you hold the Alt key down (Option key for Macs) when you select the menu item, the effect changes. It becomes more intense, with a less gradual fade between the two colors. If you're repeating the cloud effect by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F, pressing Ctrl+Alt+F will also achieve this. Be imaginative in your use of the clouds filter! Here are some examples: The Sky - Choose white for one colour and a pale blue as the other, (I like RGB=130,195,225). Use both the normal and intensified clouds to see different skies. Red Velvet - Pick two shades of red, (For example RGB=160,0,0 and RGB=240,0,0) and use the normal clouds effect to simulate a red material. Parchment - Pick two sandy colors from the yellow / orange range, (Try RGB=200,200,155 and RGB=190,165,120), and use the intensified clouds effect to achieve the beginnings of some ageing parchment. There are many other uses for the clouds filter too, and to see one straight away, you can take a look at my next item... ----------------------------------------------------- Easter Idea ----------------------------------------------------- Easter is coming, so why not take a few moments out of your schedule to celebrate the occasion with Photoshop! If you're the arts and crafts type, this could be just the project you're looking for: Kids go crazy over Easter Eggs, but why stop there? If you want to really impress someone you know, why not add a handmade touch to your gifts this year. How about a miniature gift box to store chocolate coins, mini eggs or other delicious treats in? Take a look at my article on how to build your box, and get the resources to make it a five minute job! http://www.easyelements.com/easter-gift-box.html ----------------------------------------------------- That's it for this issue! A heavy work load at college (200+ pages of coursework this month to be precise) has meant I've been fighting to get this newsletter issue done, but in any case, I hope YOU found YOUR newsletter useful! Please do contact me with any requests for the April edition of Elements Express, as all these requests go into the making of my next newsletter. Any other comments or requests for this newsletter? Just let me know via my contact page here: http://www.easyelements.com/contact.html Until next time! Kind Regards, Robert Redwood. |
