How to Blend Colors and Paint in Photoshop

[Elciled]

Why don't they make Photoshop blending like SAI? I can't use Photoshop after trying SAI brushes now, it's a pain! Isn't there a way to make it blend more like that, like "color blending" (from SAI description: "how much color the brush picks up and blend with it's own")?

[digitalArtform]

@Elciled CS5 has the new 'mixer brush.' Have you tried that? It's pretty good.

[Elciled]

@digitalArtform It's useless to me, it works like a clone tool. If you're ever curious for whatever reason google 'conceptart . org photoshop cs 5 review'... the first thing that shows up is a thread that explains it in great detail, with a few illustrated comparisons to Painter and SAI.

[digitalArtform]

@Elciled I'll check it out. I'm on that site now and then.

[madamschie]

isn't there somehow a easier way? it just looks so difficult....

[digitalArtform]

@madamschie The only way I do it is with a pen with pressure-sensitive opacity, I just listed some other methods for the benefit of some who may like them. If you want the paint to look more like paint, try Painter, or ArtRage. Of those two I actually prefer ArtRage. It's the better and cheaper option.

[hajar9911]

@madamschie there is a way actually search for " blending in photoshop " and you'll see how there are brushes that simulate the blender they're actually pretty easy

all you have to do is pick the smudge tool then press F5 and turn the scattering on you will then have an actual blender search for it for more detail

[wattable123]

i like your voice :)



[bigsexc123]

could some1 plz tell me how he turned the layer mask black?

[digitalArtform]

@bigsexc123 Select it and enter control-i (PC) command-i (mac)

[saveroftheday]

Thanks, very helpful.

[terraco]

can i do this if i have a genius pen? =O

[technologylover100]

hey umm my colors only go to gray whenever i just want the color like purple or something, i don't know why that is??

[digitalArtform]

@technologylover100 The problem is Photoshop color mixing is mainly weighted averaging, and the average of complementary colors is gray. I think when using Photoshop the best thing to do is pick colors pretty close to what you actually need, and use blending to ease the transitions to other, also carefully chosen colors.

[jjoploo]

@technologylover100 When starting a new canvas, there should be a window with different options (like name, height, background contents, etc) Try selecting RBG Color on the Color Mode option. If it's not RBG, try selecting a different mode. I hope that helps. Mine would only paint black/white for like 4 months, but when I finally realized it was on Grayscale! Ugh, I was sooo angry, but sooo relieved! Good luck!

[clincher09]

Can someone explain how he gets the brush to trail like that? I can't figure out how to do that in the settings

[digitalArtform]

@clincher09 If you only have a mouse you may not be able to. You need a pressure-sensitive pen like a Wacom. The in CS5 in the brush controls (F5) fins TRANSFER and set opacity jitter to pen pressure.

[clincher09]

@digitalArtform I'm using a Wacom tablet and CS4. When I adjust the opacity jitter it isn't a smooth transition like the one shown in the video but rather a group of circles in varying opacities

[digitalArtform]

@clincher09 You need to find 'spacing' (it's in the brush controls under 'roundness' and 'hardness') and slide it to the left, to a lower number.

[digitalArtform]

@clincher09 Wait, are the circles random? Then also set the opacity jitter to 0 and in the pulldown, set the value to 'pen pressure'

[clincher09]

@digitalArtform Messing with those two settings got it to work. Thank you!

[jolt998]

@digitalArtform i have a genius G-pen 4500 graphics tablet would that work

[Rickygt07]

Thats like a fake blending but it works well.

[R3K0D4]

I'm having some trouble with my brush presets. Whenever I try to blend like you show in this tutorial, I turn off my shape dynamics. But as soon as I lay down a single stroke, it immediately turns on again and applies itself to my brush stroke. No matter how many times I turn it off, it just turns itself on again. Is there any way to fix this?

[digitalArtform]

@R3K0D4 My guess is you have clicked the padlock symbol for the shape dynamics thing. When you padlock a setting it turns that setting on for all brushes. (if I recall correctly) -- and if that's not it I have no idea.

[R3K0D4]

@digitalArtform Hm, no, that doesn't seem to have fixed it. I even tried locking it when it was off.

I guess I'll cruise around the internet for a bit. Thank you for your help though! =)

[PhilosophersCreed]

Thanks man this is helpful

[JamieJWSmith]

Cool! This works great. Espicially when you are blending colours between three layers. I am grateful for this tutorial.

[JamesBobbyDReed]

how do you get your brush like that in the very beginning?

[digitalArtform]

@JamesBobbyDReed In CS5 -- Window > Brush [or hit F5] then Brush Tip Shape > Transfer; Opacity Jitter control: set to Pen Pressure. ... and you'll need a pen, not a mouse

[JamesBobbyDReed]

@digitalArtform But I have CS4, will the same principals apply?

[digitalArtform]

@JamesBobbyDReed It's almost the same, except the opacity jitter control: pen pressure is not under 'Tansfer,' it's under something else. Might even be labeled 'Other' -- I forget exactly.

[digitalArtform]

@JamesBobbyDReed It's almost the same, except the opacity jitter control: pen pressure is not under 'Transfer,' it's under something else. Might even be labeled 'Other' -- I forget exactly.

[zarathustara]

You've helped me out A LOT.  Thank you very much.

[DeadFishFactory]

Really helpful tutorial. Thanks, dude.

[Kristy1463]

My paint IS very different can it still work on any paints?

[Kristy1463]

@Kristy1463 NVM I GOT PHOTO SHOP

[0Artist0]

I'm having trouble just getting the colors to actually show on top of each other.

I had yellow on a bird. i switched my color to red and on the same layer tried to paint some red over parts of the yellow but it did not show anything. To be sure everything else was working fine I put red on a layer above the yellow and it appeared. For some reason CS5 will not let my colors blend. My layer setting is on normal not multiply or anything like that. Opacity is at 100%. Not sure why it does this...

[digitalArtform]

@0Artist0 Does your brush have a blend mode other than 'normal?' Not the layer -- the brush itself

[0Artist0]

@digitalArtform

Wow I discovered the problem, thanks. I always disregard the little buttons at the top of the page. If I could only remember to tinker with those options, I'd have less problems. While my layer was fine on normal. The brush mode for some reason was on lighten. Yet I dont ever remember playing with that setting. I've only been working with this thing for a month. Thanks. You reminded me of those tiny options at the top. It shows now.

[hacker1011000]

what is this and where can i download it?

[iPodGaming]

Thanks you've helped me alot!

[MARTIN5KB]

CamtasiaStudio 6/7

[digitalArtform]

@MARTIN5KB good suggestion

[ILoveMellophone]

I'm on PS7 and when you get to the CTRL+I thing it inverts for me instead of adds a layer mask. Now, I added a layer mask but the mask is white, unlike yours is black in the video(like the mask on the top layer that is black, mine is white), how do I change this? o3o' I like the first method of blending you show the most and I really wanna try it xD

[digitalArtform]

@ILoveMellophone I got the layer mask by hitting the tiny little 'circle in a rectangle' button at the bottom of the layers palette. ctl-I also inverted for me, but since I already had a layer mask and since I clicked on it to select it the invert command turned my mask from white to black.

[ILoveMellophone]

@digitalArtform Ahh sweet, thanks! Great tutorial, I really enjoyed it :D

[bassivity]

Nice stuff, when is CS5 coming out?

[digitalArtform]

@bassivity You can download the free 30-day trial from Adobe now. They will ship CDs soon. The software is the same; it just lacks a key.

[digitalArtform]

The new mixer brush in Photoshop CS5 seems quite nice. I'm in my 30-day trial with it now.

[Sakumiku]

It seems like a lot of trouble to go through just to blend colours. I'll never understand why Adobe don't include a blender brush like Painter does. This would save so much time. As it stands I find photoshop tedious because of this and I don't understand why most artists prefer using Photoshop when Painter is much more user friendly and yields similiar (if not better) results.

[digitalArtform]

@Sakumiku If you can blend colors differently in Painter I'd like to see it. If you can just point me to a link where someone blends colors in Painter I'd like to see it. Robert Chang uses the bleed/resaturation trick, but I don't really like it. There's the 'Just add water' blenders, but that's more of a blur trick. To be honest I prefer ArtRage. The fact that in 2010 Painter's color is still RGB and not a more sophisticated multispectral pigment mixing model amazes me. And not in a good way.

[deceptant]

Thanks for making this tutorial, very helpful. I always wanted to use hard round brush but somehow mine is not automatically set to pen pressure, so it's very opaque and solid. Do I have to tweak it's brush settings everytime? I really hate using the softer brushes.

[digitalArtform]

I think you can save a brush once you are happy with it. But here is something interesting: Do you see those padlock symbols? If you lock a padlock on one brush, every other brush you have will also inherit that feature. (and you can turn it off from globally from any brush, as well, you don't need to remember which one was the 'original' one)

[deceptant]

Thanks for responding so quickly. I see what you mean about the padlocks. I will try that!

[Tokechan]

I couldn't find anything about using the smudge tool effectively anywhere else on the whole bloody internet, thanks for mentioning that!

[egl]

Thank you so much for this video! I *kind* of knew how to do this, but it wasn't really coming out the way I was hoping. This has really cleared it up for me :). I like the additional tips for making things softer or harder too.

[vickstahs]

awesome tut, cheers<3

[OneindigLaagland]

Lol, you voice sounds a little like Donnie Hoyle.

[Zookerman1232]

I've just downloaded the trial of CS4 and I cant find the brush opacity/tilt settings. (pressure based opacity,pen tilt detection)

Help!

[deviantjiro]

press f5

[Zingam]

Are these videos as choppy as they play on my system. They seem quite interesting but are barely watchable - I don't see what's going on. I can only hear the voice.

[digitalArtform]

This particular one is pretty bad. I blame the interaction between my screencasting software and CS4. Before CS4 I never had the choppiness problem, and after CS4 and this video, I haven't made another one. I won't make another one until I solve the problem, which probably means dropping these free or very cheap screencasting programs and buying Camtasia. In the meantime I leave this one up for whatever value it has.

[Zingam]

Is your CS4 OpenGL hardware accelerated? Try without hardware acceleration enabled.

[digitalArtform]

Yes; good idea. I'll try that.

[shaggun]

It's the first I manage to blend colors with success!! The mask method and the scatter mudge finally I could see the results I was looking for!  Thanks sir!

[JuicyWubby]

I had a art test and they tested me on colour wheels and colour blending, I think i'll fail on colour blending but ty for the tutorial though! It rocks my socks!

[digitalArtform]

The color wheels are surprisingly controversial at times. Historically artists used to say the complement of yellow was purple. Some people still swear by this. Others argue that the complement of yellow is blue. I'm in the second group. But I think whichever you believe, a good artist will make unconscious corrections while mixing and get good results.

[digitalArtform]

Hit F5 or go to Window > Brushes to bring up the 'Brushes' window. Find 'Other Dynamics' in the list below and click on it. Under 'Opacity Jitter' set Conytrol to 'Pen Pressure.' One last thing - you will need a pressure-sensitive stylus, like a Wacom pen. A mouse alone won't allow you this ability.

[jawadeelibox]

at 0:o7 second you said trail with pen presure....how is that option selected ?..

[Danza3443]

A quick question, for some reason both the blur and smudge on my CS2 are greyed out and do not allow me to set opacity jitter on ? D:

[Danza3443]

Very good advice my friend !

I often find painting in photoshop monotonous and bland and I think especially the trick of the scatter smudge may be a great way to go about it !

Thanks :3

[GrieverX14]

What is the specific name of the brush you are using that's blurred on both ends? I've tried countless times to attain this brush on photoshop but to no avail. Is this part of a set you have to download somewhere?

[digitalArtform]

Hit F5 or go to Window > Brushes. Click the 'Other Dynamics' box and then click on the words 'Other Dynamics.' Find 'Opacity Jitter' and set it to 'Pen Pressure.' (You'll need to have a pressure sensitive pen, not a mouse, for this to work) -- as a bonus, click the padlock next to 'Other Dynamics' to lock the lock, and every other brush in Photoshop will also be pen pressure sensitive, as well.

[GrieverX14]

Ah thank you! This tutorial as well as your comment has been very helpful!

[RouteMask]

Very helpful video thanks for the upload.

[shamieharvey]

Very helpful, thanks!

[xAnimeLovuhx]

Before I got my tablet, I actually did a lot of painting with my mouse... it's difficult, but it is doable.

[digitalArtform]

How did you blend? Low opacity and lots of strokes? The smudge tool? Masked blurs? What was your usual work method?

[digitalArtform]

I think that annoying skipping in the video is from the interaction between CS4 and my screencasting software. I need to investigate further.