CUSTOM BRUSHES: START WITH A CLEAN SLATE

If you're going to build your own custom brush in Photoshop, sometimes it's easier to start with an existing brush and edit it. The problem is that you may have all sorts of settings already in place (Texture, Scattering, Shape Dynamics, etc., along with all their individual options). To set everything back to their defaults could take a while. At least it would if you didn't know this cool little trick: Click on the brush you want to use as your starting point for your custom brush, and in the Brushes palette, click on the options you want to edit (like Texture, Scattering, etc.). Then, from the palette's flyout menu, choose Clear Brush Controls, and all the selected options will be instantly reset to their default settings.