Part 8. Drawing, Painting, and Filling with Color

Task

1. How to Paint an Image

2. How to Erase an Image

3. How to Erase a Background

4. How to Use the History Brush

5. How to Use the Clone Stamp

6. How to Draw Graphic Shapes

7. How to Build a Custom Brush

8. How to Fill with the Paint Bucket

9. How to Use the Pattern Maker

10. How to Apply Gradients

11. How to Create Custom Gradients

Considering that Photoshop is often called a "paint" program, it's surprising how seldom the paint tools are used. Typical users will resize images, color correct, or apply a filter, but few people focus on the drawing or painting functions of the program.

Handled properly, the drawing and painting tools can yield predictable and acceptable results even if your drawing skills are limited. Touching up images, spotting photographs, and erasing an area of a photo all involve the drawing and painting techniques described in the tasks in this part.

The underlying skill for almost all these tasks is the ability to effectively use a brush to apply the effects. When using a brush, the basic rule of thumb is to move from big and light strokes to small and heavy strokes. This means that you should start with the largest possible feathered brush set to the lightest possible setting. As you build up the effect, reduce the size of the brush to concentrate the results and slightly increase the pressure by increasing the Opacity slider. The one instance when this rule does not hold true is when you are doing line drawings and you want to put down a clean brushstroke.

The tasks in this part also look at filling areas with color or gradients. Although "filling" is certainly not the same as "brushing in" an effect, it does create a graphic effect that many people associate with digital drawing.