PSP painting with Brushes by CJ

Paint Shop Brushes as an aid to painting images.

From Scratch painting created in PSP using Brushes and PSP painting tools........by cj

I especially enjoy creating water-color-like pictures with Paint Shop Pro V7, they aren't great paintings by any means, but they are challenging and fun to do. My friends have been urging me to set down some hints/suggestions on how to get them started painting from 'scratch', so here are a few simple, easy techniques I use. You too may find them fun as well as addictive!

This is not a tutorial and it is presupposed you have a good working knowledge of PSP tools and working with layers. Please note that the samples below are set down exactly as the brush is in the brush file, you then have to use the RETOUCH TOOL to blend the colors and mold your image, plus other tools to achieve your desired effect. The brushes can be used in many ways other than the few noted here. Nothing here is difficult, you just need the willingness to explore possibilities.

The idea of creating these 'painting brushes' is to help speed up the repetitious areas of an image. You will note that by themselves these brushes are nothing much to look at, but as you mold them with a variety of PSP tools they take on new meaning. Expirement with all off the drawing tools available and you will be amazed what you can do with a few squiggly lines.

Create a brush and place it in the Brushes folder. (Instructions on creating and saving brushes at bottom of page.) Now let's see what can be done with them. Selecting my Paint Brush tool and clicking on Custom brings up the brushes file and I find -------------->
Figure 1, a typical grey scale brush.
Figure 1a, by layering various colors of green you can create shrubbery, try some autumn colors too, or add bits of red for a blooming rose shrub. Sample of Fig 1a after using the Retouch tool on smudge and soften.
Figure 1b, here is a (sort of) formal potted tree, but you could add branches and create a flowering tree too. Sample of Fig 1b using the Retouch tool on Push and Smudge, adding some texture then over painting with brush component #3 in a very reduced size.

Figure 2 Brush 2.
Figure 2a. create an evergreen tree by building up layer on layer, merge, erase wayward edges, mix lighter and darker greens or maybe add a bit of texture.
Figure 2b. a misty, foggy, snowy, grove of evergreens by simply sweeping your brush across the page. great for creating depth.

Figure 3Brush 3
Figure 3a. Out of these squiggly lines comes a Mum flower. Place each color change on a new layer then use the deformation tool to change the angle and placement. Sample of Fig 3a using retouch tool on Push and Darken RGB.
Figure 3b. The same component brush set at a smaller scale and used in a circular motion gives the effect of a frontal view of flower head..This brush at an even smaller scale helps create the effect of blooms within a garden space. Use the retouch tool to smudge out little tufts of color for a shaggy flower. Sample of Fig 3b using retouch tool on Push and Burn.

Figure 4. Brush 4
Figure 4a.Among other things I found this curly component makes great HAIR! I left the example just as it was put down, but you would want to blend this by using the Retouch tool on smudge. Set the size and density to whatever achieves your desired look. Use the Erase tool to mold the hair style by erasing unneeded areas.
Figure 4b.These flowers and grass were created with this component too, set at a smaller scale then blended and softened. After the flower was color blended the Geometric tool>Twirl was applied.

Figure 5.Brush 5 (will these never end?)
Figure 5a.Here is a Delphinium type flower made by dragging a dark color component top to bottom, then on a new layer dragging a light color component. Merge and erase any excess areas. Many tall type plants etc. can be achieved with this component brush using the deformation tool to change perspective.
Figure 5b.Ever see a Blue Shrub? Well, why not! imagination is everything in PSP! the grass was created with the same component also.

OK, by now (if you got this far) your either interested or plain bored with the whole thing! I'll give one more example and leave you be......

Figure 6 and last! Brush 6, a bit different than the previous and very much used.
Figure 6a This example shows the placement done on various layers. Put a dark green as your foreground color, and a lighter green as you background color. The darker areas were laid down first, then a lighter area on top, double click on the darker green to get more depth of color. Make as many layers as needed, using the deformation tool to change perspective and size and the eraser tool to form the outline you desire. Merge all and begin to blend as in the next figure.
Figure 6b This is the completed tree branch after smudging and blending with the retouch tool.

Now that I have made my friends happy, I hope this spurs your interest to try some of your own ideas. I have some qwick tips below, and if you want to try any of the components shown above feel free to take them and place them in your brushes folder. Happy Painting!.............CJ

Creating and Saving Brushes in PSP7 -------On a white background, about 200x200 (but no larger than 255x255) create your component image. Click Color/Grey Scale/ok, then click Color/16mil/ok. ---- To SAVE the component brush you just created choose the Magic wand and click on your white background then Selections/invert/ok. Now open your Paintbrush/Custom and click Create.

NOTE...Several people have told me they do not do the next step of deleting the brush cache and their brushes show up just fine, I, however, seem to have a problem with my brushes and find the following step works for me. You can make the decision whether to do this or not.
To view and use your new brush you can do this:delete your Brushes Cache (within the PSP program) and restart your computer.
Did someone ask how to delete the brush cache? Open Explorer to see all of the files on your hard drive and look for your Jasc PSP file, expand the PaintShopPro7 folder and you will see a long list of folders..... you will see listed: Anims - Brushes - Cache -Frames - Gradients etc etc etc......Open the folder labeled CACHEnow you will see listed: Brushes, Patterns, Textures, Tubes, Shapes, Lines etccc....Right Click on BRUSHES.jpc and click DELETE! -- The next time you open your custom brush file PSP will build a new brushes cache and you will see your new component brush listed.

Qwik Tips
1...To attain a water-color effect try painting using the chalk or charcoal brush tips. Lower the density and use a stroking sweep with the mouse.
2...Using the Retouch Tool push and smudge, blend one color into another. You can lighten or darken the RGB, soften the edges or sharpen small sections to enhance depth.
3...Don't forget the Eraser Tool, bits and pieces of your component can be erased to form your desired effect.
4...By putting every element on it's own layer you will have the choice of moving it about with the Deformation tool, or moving entire layers. Also the layer opacity slider comes in handy for creating delicately colored areas.
5...Work Large! mouse is easier to manage and when image is reduced in size many errors are forgiven!!
6 SAVE OFTEN!
7...The Birdhouse in the above image was created with the Vector Tool, another great tool to work with. (the bird, created with my little old mouse! LOL) Both were then converted to Tubes.

If you would like to see a bit of my 'paintings' you can see them here:
Images created with brushes

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