Make A Brush and Paint A Picture

©Doodles by LadyFox  01/12/07

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This tutorial and all images [except the PSP logos] belong to ©Doodles by LadyFox.  You may make a copy of this tutorial or print it out for your own personal use ONLY.  You are free to LINK to my tutorials if you would like to share them.  What you create from my tutorials belongs to you to do with as you wish.

Feel free to email me LadyFox

This tutorial was done with PSP9   
but could be done PSP8 or higher.

All of my tutorials are written following the steps I used to make my graphic.   
It is my hope that you will take what I provide 
and do your own thing with it. 

YOU WILL NEED

Remember to SaveOften
STEPS - These are the steps I used.

I have been looking at painting magazines to get ideas.
One method of painting pine trees appears over and over and looks so simple.  I decided to see if I could come up with my own brush to use in PSP.  This tutorial is a result of my playing around.  I do not claim the idea for the pine trees, however the brush and settings I have used are entirely my creation.

I am trying something new.
I borrowed this idea from Ginny http://www.ginnysdesigns.org/
I have put the brush settings on a separate page, you can print it out to work from.

1.

Making The Brush

New Image: 500x500 with a Transparent Background
This is just a playing canvas so I didn't save it

Foreground Color: #404040
Background Color: #c0c0c0

Paint Brush [B]
Click the drop down arrow next to the brush tip box

Select the +Round 25 brush

In the brush Palette
Change
Hardness to: 100
Step to: 110
Thickness to: 65

Tap the F11 Key to open the Brush Variance Palette

In the Brush Variance Palette
Change
Color to: 100
Size to: 5
Position jitter to: 0

Using the image grid as a guide

This is the checks you see in a Transparent Image

Place the brush near the left edge of the image
Click once
Move the brush to the right side and line up with the grid
Hold down the Shift Key and click once
You should have a row of dots

Draw a few rows

New Raster Layer
Flood Fill [F] with any color to make it easier to see the dots
I used #ff935f

Drag this layer below the dot layer

Selection Tool [S]
Selection type: Rectangle
Mode: Replace
Feather: 0
Anti-alias: NOT Checked

Look at the rows of dots
We are looking for 6-8 dots hopefully small on the ends and larger in the middle
Also a nice mix of color

Select the dots you want to use

Click inside the selection
Paint Brush [B]
Click the drop down arrow next to the brush tip box
Click the brush tip button in the bottom right corner

The Create Brush Tip will open
Name your brush

I always put LF_ before the name on brushes, tubes and shapes This forces all my brushes to appear together

Make sure to check the Save Variance box
Fill out the other boxes if desired

Select other groups if desired

Close this image we are done with it

2.

 Now The Painting

New Image: 500x400
File/ Save As: winter.pspimage
Flood Fill with color #1

Adjust/ Add/Remove Noise/ Add Noise
Gaussian
Noise: 8%
Monochrome: Checked
OK

New Layer: road

Paint Brush - fenceline and road

Using Color 2, paint in the fence line and road

3.

 Add Some Trees

New Layer: treeline

Colors 4 & 5
 

The first number will be the Foreground Color The second number, the Background Color

Paint Brush - treeline

Using an inverted V stroke brush on some trees for the far treeline

Smudge Brush
 

We will be using the pine brush we made

Smudge the treeline using up and down strokes
Change the Rotation to 90 and use some sideways strokes

New Layer: tree trunks

Colors 8 & 9
 

When using a tool that uses colors you can hold down the Ctrl Key while moving the cursor over the area image that has the color you want to choose. The cursor turns into a dropper over any area that you can choose. Just click the mouse button to select.

Paint a couple of tree trunks

New Layer: tree trunks 2

Paint a couple more tree trunks

Active Layer: tree trunks

Change Background Color to: #7

Paint Brush - tree tops
 

Hardness and Thickness are grayed out [PSP does not allow you to change these settings on brushes you make]

Place the brush at the top of a tree trunk and click twice
Repeat for the other tree trunks

Active Layer: tree trunks

New Layer: tree 1

Paint Brush - trees

Starting at the most distant tree
Add branches
Change the size of the brush as needed

I started with a brush size of 10 at the very top and increased it up to 25 as I worked down the trunk

Experiment to find what works for you
 

I found it easier to control the brush if I zoomed in to about 200

New Layer: tree 2
Paint the second tree as we did the first

Active Layer: tree trunks 2

Add layers and paint the remaining trees

Here are the layers we have

4.

 The Fence

Active Layer: tree 2

New Layer: fence
Colors 10 & 11

Paint Brush - fence

Pant a line of fence using your fenceline as a guide

Selection Tool [S]
Feather: 0
Anti-alias: NOT Checked

Zoom in to about 200
Select the fence posts where the opening will be
Tap the Del Key

New Layer: gate

Paint a short strip for the gate

Active Layer: tree trunks 2

5.

 The House

New Layer: house 1

Colors 10 & 11

Paint Brush - house 1

Sketch the shape of the house

I placed my brush at one corner and clicked 1 time. Then went to the next corner and held down the Shift Key and clicked once. Continued around until I had my house shape.

New Layer: house 2

Swap Materials Arrow

Paint Brush - house + windows

Fill in the walls of the house

New Layer: windows

Colors 12 & 6

Paint Brush - house + windows

Paint a few windows

Change brush size to: 10

Paint one upstairs window
Lower the layer opacity to 50

New Layer: windows 2

Colors 10 & 11

Paint Brush - window frames

Paint the window frames and door frame
Change the brush Size to: 1
Paint the window details

New Layer: roof

Colors 1 & 2

Paint Brush - roof

Paint some snow on the roof
 

I clicked once at a corner then held down the Shift Key and clicked at the opposite corner. Still holding down the Shift Key clicked back at the first corner. Repeated this until I had the coverage I wanted. Doing this preserved the feathery look of the snow.

New Layer: roof edge
Change the Background Color to #c0c0c0
Change the brush Size to 2

Add a little darker color to the edges of the roof
 

I turned off Raster 1 so I could see better to do this step

Adjust/ Softness/ Soften

6.

 Add Snow

New Layer: snow 1

Colors 1 & 2

Paint Brush - snow

Add some snow on the branches

Active Layer: roof edge

New Layer: snowdrifts

Brush Tip - snow

Brush Variance
Set Size to 5

Paint a snowdrift around the house

Active Layer: fence

New Layer: fence snow

Change the Brush Size to: 25

Turn off layers as needed to see what you are doing

Paint some snow on top of the fence
Also paint some snow along the bottom of the fence
Paint a pile behind the gate

Active Layer: gate
new Layer: gate snow

Add some snow to the top of the gate and some along the bottom

7.

 Finish The Road

Active Layer: Raster 1

New Layer: road 2

Colors 1 & 1

Paint over the line that shows in the opening of the fence

Adjust/ Add/Remove Noise/ Add Noise
Gaussian
Noise: 8%
Monochrome: Checked
OK

Paint Brush - fenceline and road

Using Color 2, paint the tire marks going into the yard

Change the brush size to 5
Change Density to 15

Paint in the edge of the road
This will be the shadow for the snow

Paint in more details on the tire tracks
I changed the Brush Size to: 2 to do the right side detail

8.

 Snow Banks

New Layer: snowbanks

Colors 1 & 2

Brush Tip - snowdrifts

Paint the snowbanks along the side of the road

New Layer: drifts

Change the Brush size to 5
Paint in some snow drifts

Almost Done

9.

 Snowman

New Layer: snowman

Colors 1 & 3

Paint Brush - snowman

Place the brush and click 3-4 times

Change the brush Size to: 50
Move the brush up a little and click 3-4 more times

Change the brush Size to: 35
Move the brush up a little and click 3-4 times again

Apply a slight drop shadow
offsets: 1
Opacity: 50
Blur: 1
Color: #c0c0c0

Change Colors 1 & 2

Repeat the above steps
[
New Layer: snowman details
Paint Brush

Brush Tip: +Round 5

Add some details to the snowman, changing brush settings and colors as needed

10.

 Frame

Frame Your Painting and you are done.
I used my Frame 2 tutorial for mine You can find that tutorial

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial