Photoshop Friday!

Well, I have done a lot of thinking over the past few weeks. A lot of thinking and not a lot of blogging as you can see.

I’ve decided to start a little something I’ll call Photoshop Friday. I chose Friday because it’s my favorite day of the week. So full of hope for the weekend, things winding down from a usually hectic week, that kind of thing. I’m just usually in a great mood on Fridays, and I hope you are too.

Well, what I would like to do is share a little bit with you. Not just a layout, and not just a tutorial, but sharing ideas and inspiration for Photoshop as it specifically relates to digital scrapbooking.

I put together a layout, and some little instructions, which you can use to do the Inaugural Photoshop Friday challenge: creating your own digital brush.

*This is geared specifically toward Photoshop. If you use another program for your digi scrapping, you can still download this image and use it!

First, you need an image. Try this one (you can right-click this image to download it):

This is a royalty-free image from a Dover Books publication called “1500 Decorative Ornaments”. If you like what you do with this, and dig digi brushes, I recommend this book. :) Plus it comes with a CD, which makes creating brushes just about as painless as it can get.

Okay, so you have your image ready to go?

Now let’s set about making your brush:

1. Open your file in Photoshop.
2. Select Edit, Define Brush Preset.
3. Type in a name for your new brush.
4. Hit OK.

If you open your brush palette, you will see your new brush down at the bottom of the list.

Now using your new brush:

1. Open a blank canvas. (I usually start out with 12 x 12 inches, 300 dpi)
3. Hit B to choose the brush tool.
2. Open your Brushes palette (Window > Brushes). (If you don’t have a tool active that can use the brushes, they will be greyed out)
2. Hit Shift-Ctrl-N to create a new layer. (It’s generally good practice to create a new layer any time you’re going to stamp with a new stamp. This keeps things individually editable.)
3. Select the brush you just made (it’ll be at the bottom of the list).
4. Pick a cool color for your brush.
5. Click anywhere in the document once. Brushes are like stamps.

Next Photoshop Friday we’ll talk about using Photoshop brushes in other ways. Stay tuned.

Here is a layout I created using my custom-made brush:
I used the brush as a single stamp for an accent, as well as creating a new layer just over the background paper, stamping randomly, and playing with the layer blending modes until I got just the tone-on-tone I was looking for.

All of the papers and the journaling tag are from the Jungle Cruise Digi Kit by Kellie Mize. Love this kit!

Okay, now the fun part.
Go make a layout. :)
And if you do a layout with this brush, PLEASE link it up in the comments so I can go check it out!

That’s it for now. Can’t wait to see! :)

Comments

[Missy]

VERY cool, Jess.
you've prompted me to stretch my legs a little with the PSE ;)

[Angi]

Jessica, you rock! I think I've said that like 3 times today! LOL. I already knew how to make brushes, but I'm sure you can teach me things I *don't* know. And I also had no clue about the whole royalty free image thing!!

[Sheila]

Great idea! :)

[~~~Drama Queen's Mom~~~]

How cool of you to do this. I have wanted to digi scrap but do not have a clue where to start.

I have to do taxes this week end but plan on jumping in and giving your photoshop Friday a go.

Francy

[Steph]

Dude! How much do I need this right now??? I was just telling Angi the other day that I really needed to learn the whole brushes thing. And then here you are!

Thanks!

Now off to play :)

[amy howe]

cool cool cool!

(hey, can you tell me how to round photo corners digitally??)

[Melissa Blair]

omg!!! I can't believe I just made a brush!! I am going to be making them all night now... thank you so much Jessica!! I can't wait until next week!! ((HUGS and THANKS))

[Andrea Mooney]

Jessica, you're unreal. Thanks so much for this. I'm so going to try it out!

[Corinnexxx]

yeah! I finnaly know how to make my own brush! THANKS! do not know if I have the time this week to make a lo but will do one ofr sure later!

corinnexxx

[Carol]

WOW! Great picture of that cutie man Elliott! I love that his hair is still the same. Your sun ray is wonderful and I especially like how it is faintly repeated throughout the page.

[joann]

I am loving your tutorials on Photoshop...friday is great...I went through yout tutorial, but I got marching ants and could not save my stamped image....did I miss a step?(oh, I have pse 4.0-does that make a difference?) thanks...

[Dawn]

I tried your tutorial and it worked :) Thank you so much. I've posted my layout on my blog.

I'm already looking forwar to next week :)

take care,
Dawn

[Dawn]

Ooop, I forgot to leave you the link

http://dawnsdaybreak.blogspot.com/2006/04/i-did-it.html


Thanks again.

take care,
Dawn

[Kirsten]

oh.
my.
gosh.

I love you!
K

[Kelly (jacksonsmama)]

Thanks so much for doing this, Jessica! I've been wanting to jump into digi for the past several months, but didn't even know where to start.
I'm looking forward to learning more!
Here is my first attempt at using a brush:
http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=839342

[Laura]

Thanks so much for doing this! I look forward to Photoshop Friday!!
Laura

[Marieke]

Thank you! First time visit to your blog and I find PhotoShop Friday! You're a gem! I'm not a digi scrapper (yet?) but like to play around in PS to get to know it a bit and use digital elements in my paper scrapping.
So great to find someone who will hold my hand and walk me through the possibilities of PS so to speak.

[*Paula*]

Thanks so much for this - I never knew about the royalty-free images either. Here is the layout I created using the brush: http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=841550
I'm looking forward to Friday now for our next installment!

[Sara]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I could NOT figure out how to USE the brushes!?!?!? I just tried this simple step by step and finally USED a brush! I can't wait to experiment more!

Sara

[Corinnexxx]

ok I made a monkey brush and another one that I used for creating my paper with. it is on my blog http://corinne-delis.typepad.com/the_life_of_a_dutch_scrap/

corinnexxx