Making custom brushes is really useful if you have an element that you want to use over and over in your design. Things like stars or reflective rays ... I can't begin to say what kind of things you might need in your designs, but there is often a need for brushes. This tutorial will walk you through the process of creating your own custom brushes for Photoshop.
1 First, you need to pick a picture. There are other ways of creating custom brushes - you can create your own shapes or load pictures you've drawn - but we're going to cover the "easy" way for now. The rules to picture-finding are pretty simple - 1) It should be a shape or clearly drawn, high-contrast image and 2) make sure that there is little to no background for removing.
If you want it easy, borrow the graphic we're using in this tutorial, it'll give you a very good start.
2 One of the best things about creating custom brushes is that it will create a brush that practically "stamps" the original image. So you can achieve amazing gradient values and shades of hue.
Because of this, I wanted to make this simple logo-type picture as graphically unique as possible. Adding a gradient was the easiest way of doing that. The next steps will cover how to create an even gradient throughout several pieces of a picture.
First, use the magic wand to highlight the first angle of the star.
3 Pick two colors, keeping in mind that the brush you create will use variations in shade and tone, not the actual colors. With this in mind, you can create a low-contrast gradient or a high-contrast one... I chose the middle road with these colors.
4 Once you've got your colors set, use the image above to find the correct gradient pattern and style.
5 Use the gradient wand to create a smooth pattern in the angle that you like. Try to find an angle that will work into the angles throughout your graphic.
6 Once again, use the magic wand to highlight the next section of your graphic. Click the gradient tool again, and use it in the angle. This is the step which will take a few minutes to figure out - you want to try and make the gradient shades "line up" from one section to the next so that your final product doesn't look choppy.
7 Repeat this process all the way around your graphic, trying with each step to keep the angles lining up- without stressing on perfection... :). My end result looked like this:
8 Now we're going to start the actual brush creation process. To begin with, use the marquee tool to surround the graphic. Click Edit - Copy.
9 You need to make sure that your background is transparent, or the brush you create will contain the same background. So now we're going to click File - New, and apply settings like those below.
10 Grab your magic wand and carefully select the background of your graphic. Click Edit - Cut and remove every piece of background visible, so that only the actual shape remains.
11 Now, we get to define our brush. Select Edit, Define Brushes.
12 What you see now is a window which asks you to name the brush, and shows a small preview of the finished brush. Name it and click OK.
13 Now to preview the brush you have just created. Create a new document and select your new brush from the paintbrush pallette - it will be in the pallette which is already opened, at the very bottom.
14 Try using a different color than the base color you used to create the brush. I chose red, and clicked the brush once on the new image ... this is what I ended up with.
15 Before you close the original image, try creating several sizes of the brush. To do this, simply click Image - Resize and create a smaller or larger version of your current image. Follow the Define Brush steps to finish, and preview the different sizes you create.
16 Now, to save your custom brushes, you need to take one final step. Click the right-arrow in your paintbrush pallette and choose Save Brushes.
17 The window that shows up should take you right to the Brushes folder in your program. (If not, the folder is located in your Program Files, Adobe, Adobe Photoshop [or Illustrator], Presets, Brushes). Name the brush set and save.
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