(clicking on an image will take you to a full view of it, websites of creators are underneath their images)

Eby-Paidrick Designs

Bert Monroy

I-Evermind

*Although this is by no means an exhaustive list, it is intended to give a brief idea of what is possible, if you want a more complete overview, I suggest you try a google search like this: Photorealistic Illustrator

Unless you already have a leaked version of the Beta Entitled ‘Stonehenge’ then you probably don’t know what to expect.

The biggest boast made about the upcoming release is that it will have increased support for monster graphics card accelleration

But I don’t have a monster GPU

you might say, and of course, this new feature most likely won’t benefit the majority of users. I think it’s important to note that this is just an attention grabbing feature – as of yet, nobody really knows what to expect! But we’re pretty excited anyway!

But don’t take my word for it, you can see Photoshop Stonehenge in action for yourself

*notice the build date of November 2007, meaning that this is such an early release it’s probably more like a fixed version of CS3 than a real build of CS4*

This new release is expected anytime between October and April, but there’s no official release yet.

1. So, start with the image you want.

*It’s important to have as big an image as possible, the bigger the image, the bigger the brush!*

2. Make sure you get the image on to an editable layer, the easiest way to do this is to go to the layer box (usually on the bottom right of your screen, depending on if you’ve moved it)
Click and hold on the ‘Background’ Layer and drag it onto this icon. This will create a new, editable layer, called ‘Background Copy’

3. To get best results, you should cut out the image using the pen tool. However, you could also use the magic wand or lasso for a slightly rougher finish. If you don’t know how to use the ‘pen’ tool, then try out this tutorial: What is the pen tool anyway? (coming soon)
Here’s my elephant after cutting it out with the pen tool.

4. Now, here comes the secret part. You could just save that as a brush, but the trouble is, it still looks just like a photo. That’s fine if that’s what you want. But I’m going to show you what I do to convert it to a more simple image that I think works better as a brush.

5. Firstly I like to desaturate the image, just hit Ctrl+Shift+U

6. Then click on the Fill/Adjustment layer icon, this will open up a menu, and we want to select ‘Threshold…’

7. In the threshold box, we can move the slider left and right to gain the effect we want.

Now it’s just a case of saving the brush!

8. Simply hit ‘Edit’ on the menu bar, then ‘Define Brush Preset…’

9. Then enter a name for the brush (the name isn’t important really, CS3 displays all your brushes as images anyway)

Congratulations, your new brush is now ready to use!

10. Select the brush tool

11. On the Brush toolbar, click the small downwards arrow, just to the right of the current brush. This will open the Brush menu.

*Note your brush menu may appear slightly differently, it’s been changed in the latest update to Photoshop CS3 to the one I have displayed*

12. If you click the arrow in the top right of this menu, it will open a drop-down menu, the option we’re looking for is ‘Preset Manager…’

13. Select all of the Brushes you don’t want, and hit press delete on your keyboard, then click ‘Done’


9. Now, to save your new Brush. Just like in step 6. We want to click the little arrow on the brush toolbar, just next to your new brush.

10. Then, again, click the arrow in the top right of the brush menu.

11. In the drop down menu, select ‘Save Brushes’

Technorati Tags: make, brush, photoshop, cs3, tutorial, guide, how to, free, brushes, easy

*Note, this guide is for images like the one below, which you’ve either made yourself, or you don’t wish to edit.*
For making brushes from a photo, or other image which needs altering first, then please read the tutorial on The Secret to Making Brushes from Photographs

1. Firstly, we need something which you want to turn into a Brush. Here’s a tentacle I made in Illustrator and copied into Photoshop.

When it comes to Brushes, the bigger, the better! – This gives you more flexibilty later when you come to using them.

2. Either get the image in it’s own document in Photoshop, or select it with the rectangle tool.

3. Simply hit ‘Edit’ on the menu bar, then ‘Define Brush Preset…’

4. Then enter a name for the brush (the name isn’t important really, CS3 displays all your brushes as images anyway)

Congratulations, your new brush is now ready to use!

*If you wish to save your brush to a file, say if you wanted to submit it to a site like Brusheezy then continue!*


5. Now select the brush tool

6. On the Brush toolbar, click the small downwards arrow, just to the right of the current brush. This will open the Brush menu.

*Note your brush menu may appear slightly differently, it’s been changed in the latest update to Photoshop CS3 to the one I have displayed*

7. If you click the arrow in the top right of this menu, it will open a drop-down menu, the option we’re looking for is ‘Preset Manager…’

8. Select all of the Brushes you don’t want, and hit press delete on your keyboard, then click ‘Done’

9. Now, to save your new Brush. Just like in step 6. We want to click the little arrow on the brush toolbar, just next to your new brush.

10. Then, again, click the arrow in the top right of the brush menu.

11. In the drop down menu, select ‘Save Brushes’

12. Pick a name, and where you want to save it, and you’re all set!



Technorati Tags: make, brush, photoshop, cs3, tutorial, guide, how to, free, brushes, easy

Here is a set of 2 Car brushes that I had left over from another project, they’re simple, yet effective! Also feel free to make requests for any other freebies you might want.

This Brush pack is entirely free for non-commercial use, however, if you intend to use it for commercial purposes, then feel free to contact me.

Anyway, enjoy the free wood Photoshop brushes!

This Brush pack is entirely free for non-commercial use, however, if you intend to use it for commercial purposes, then feel free to contact me.

Anyway, enjoy the free wood Photoshop brushes!

Technorati Tags: free, wood, photoshop, brushes, grain, pack, brush, download

2. Use the rectangle select tool to select any area of the document.

3. Hit Shift + F5, this will open up the fill box, if you click on the drop down box that says ‘Use’ you can select a number of options, however, we’re only interested in the one that says ‘Color…’

4. Pick any color you like and hit ‘OK’


5. Now rinse and repeat options 2 through 4 until you have the pattern you want, here’s a couple I did:

6. Turning this, or anything else you want into a pattern is very simple. Select the image with the rectangle tool again, or by hitting Ctrl + A. Now go to ‘Edit’ and ‘Define Pattern…’

7. Choose a name for your file and you’ve officially just made a pattern!

Now of course, you want to be able to use this pattern!

1. Make a new document (larger than the one before) mine is 1000 pixels by 800 pixels.

2. Hit Shift + F5 again, but this time, in the drop down box, hit ‘Pattern…’ Then click on the box just below that says ‘Custom Pattern:’

Select your new pattern and click ‘OK’

3. Congratulations, you’re all done!
Technorati Tags: Pattern, stipes, photoshop