Hi,

I am new at using (downloaded) brushes and am not really sure how to use them correctly. The problem is not in loading them (I can do that OK) but I can't seem to get them to look realistic.

For example, I have downloaded some grass brushes. When loaded they take on the foreground colour, in this case I have made it green, but they look transparent and lifeless. It is the same with water/waves brushes. There is no way that I could use them like this in any artwork. Now I know I am doing something wrong but I don't know what.

Any help would be appreciated - thank you :)

Cheers,
Pajama.

I am not exactly great with brushes that you are trying to use but as far as water brushes go I think you have create a layer for the waves brush and then put a layer below the brush layer and use a soft edge brush with the foreground colour set to say a greenish blue and brush where the waves are.

In many cases you will need to be very aware of what you are actually downloading when it comes to ABR's (brushes).  Most brushes out there are completely useless for the purpose they were intended. If you want something specific it is probably quicker and easier to make it yourself.

OK....thats my lecture over..lol

Grass in real life is 3 dimensional, light passes through it and individual pieces of grass are fairly fragile to get some authenticity into your work you need to reflect some of these aspects.
If you duplicate your grass layer once, twice maybe three times it should (if you are using a quality brush) begin to take on a life of its own.

I have knocked up a couple of quick examples using my own GRASS ABR, just to give you some idea on how things can look.

Thanks to my friends over at CG ( the professional artists lifeline) for backgrounds...

Here is another I made....if you want, you can have this as an ABR file, just let me know!

 straight outta' the box, brushes aren't very effective, but when you use the Photoshop's brush engine and play around with the presets, you can get some pretty good results.

try this:

create a new clean file.

choose two varied shades of green (one for foreground colour and one for background colour).

hit F5 or select the menu option BRUSHES in the WINDOW menu dropdown.

check the boxes next to some of the presets (see attached image).

click ON the preset name to call up the settings (play around with these too...)

see what slight changes to the setting do and find the look/effect you're trying to achieve. 

hope this helps
:)
retrocity

Many thanks for all the tips :) Your examples really helped in explaining things. I've got some time at the weekend and am looking forward to seeing if I can master this.

kylumi, I would love for a copy of your grass brush, that is very kind of you - thank you :)

Cheers,
Pajama.
**
**

OK, Pajama...no problem.

I will make a few more tonight I guess it should be OK to upload a RAR file here......can, you open RAR's?

Quote - OK, Pajama...no problem.

I will make a few more tonight I guess it should be OK to upload a RAR file here......can, you open RAR's?

RAR's are no problem- thank you for your trouble :)

Cheers,
Pajama.

I have made you some stuff.....I am just figuring on how to get them to you.
The attachment feature does not take RAR's....

OK, Pajama.............I have uploaded them to FREE STUFF, they will have to be approved first before you can download them.

Quote - OK, Pajama.............I have uploaded them to FREE STUFF, they will have to be approved first before you can download them.

Thank you - I can't wait to get them :) I will let you know how I get on with the 'mastering of the brush' campaign ;)

Cheers,
Pajama.

I agree with retrocity. playing with the presets are a must when you are trying to get the most out of the grass brushes.  If you download one make sure it comes with some kind of guide that shows you how you can use it.  Here is an image I made using the two grass brushes that come with photoshop CS.

When I use the grass brush I use a similar method that retrocity described.  After you get a feel of how to use the brush then you'll be able to have an easier time when trying to create different affects.

Quote - > Quote - OK, Pajama.............I have uploaded them to FREE STUFF, they will have to be approved first before you can download them.

Thank you - I can't wait to get them :) I will let you know how I get on with the 'mastering of the brush' campaign ;)

Cheers,
Pajama.

We could be waiting forever for these things so, I have made some alternative arrangements, lol.
Check your mail, Pajama buddy.

FightingWolf;
Thanks for the advice, I am beginning to play with the presets but am still having difficulty in achieving what I want to achieve. Unfortunately the brush that I am using (wings) does not have any guide, so it is a matter of trial and error. Things are looking better but I still have a way to go to get them to look like what I want, iyswim? :)
I noticed in the write up on the picture you linked to that you "offer free online lessons covering Poser, DazStudio, and Photoshop". Do you still do this? If so, where? :)

kylumi;
I've got the brushes and as said am looking forward to using them. Many thanks for your generosity :)

Cheers,
Pajama.

Quote -
I noticed in the write up on the picture you linked to that you "offer free online lessons covering Poser, DazStudio, and Photoshop". Do you still do this? If so, where? :)

Yes I still offer online lessons and you can get the free lessons at Poser By Design (www.poserbydesign.com)

There is a big poser workshop coming up this month the information is on the front page of Poser By Design. 

Quote -

Yes I still offer online lessons and you can get the free lessons at Poser By Design (www.poserbydesign.com)

There is a big poser workshop coming up this month the information is on the front page of Poser By Design. 

Thanks, I will check it out :)

Brushes are very powerful and quite excellent if you have a good understanding of Photoshop. The first thing I would recommend HIGHLY is you first learn Photoshop because there is much that you must know to use it properly. The better you are, the better everything will look and there are a lot of ways to do something.

I strongly recommend reading EVERY chapter in Photoshop The Missing Manual. Once you do, it will be like night and day and help a great deal.

Jeff

Development on: Mac Pro 2008, Duel-Boot OS - Snow Leopard 10.6.6 & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon , 10GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT.

Quote - Hi,

I am new at using (downloaded) brushes and am not really sure how to use them correctly. The problem is not in loading them (I can do that OK) but I can't seem to get them to look realistic.

For example, I have downloaded some grass brushes. When loaded they take on the foreground colour, in this case I have made it green, but they look transparent and lifeless. It is the same with water/waves brushes. There is no way that I could use them like this in any artwork. Now I know I am doing something wrong but I don't know what.

Any help would be appreciated - thank you :)

Cheers,
Pajama.

I'm also new to study PS for the work ! The problem is very sample!

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