CREATING CUSTOM BRUSHES IN PSP 7

Created May 30, 2002 © Copyright Moon's Designs
Property of Moon's Designs
This is my creation, any similarity to other tutorials on the Internet is unintentional.
Please do not copy or place this tutorial or any graphics to any other place without written permission directly from me. Thank you.

 

After creating my own Custom Brushes, and offering them on Moon's Designs, I received a lot of e-mail requesting information on how to do this. In my desire to help others to be able to accomplish what I have learned, this tutorial is born.

Screenshots are resized and compressed for faster loading. Don't forget to SAVE your work often.

This tutorial is written in and for PSP Version 7.04 and assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP. I am sure this can easily be done in Version 6 with a few adjustments in paths but I have only used Version 7 so I can't make promises *S*

FOR THIS TUTORIAL YOU WILL NEED:
JASC's PSP (30 day free trial)- You can get it HERE
A Clipart, Font, Tube or Graphic ~~ For this tutorial, I used a Clipart that I found on Art Today. Art Today has a wonderful selection of graphics, clipart, and fonts. To learn more about Art Today, click on the link below.

Step 1:
Open the image or tube that you will be using. Your image needs to be no larger than 255 pixels on the longest side, when making a brush. It is also best if you have a solid background on your image, it makes it much easier for creating the brush. Here is clipart that I used.

This clipart was quite large to begin with. I went to Image-->Resize and applied the following:

I then went to Effects-->Sharpen-->Sharpen. This is something that I do anytime I resize a graphic.

Step 2:
Pick up your magic wand, tolerance set at 20, click on the solid background. With this particular graphic, I needed to also select the solid white between the balloons strings. To do this I held down the shift key and click on the additional areas.

Note: If you are using a tube, a background is not required. Just click on the transparent area, invert as shown below.

This is how my graphic looked after using the Magic Wand.

Step 3:
Go to Selections-->Invert. Your marching ants will now be around your image that you want to make into a brush. Keep selected.

Step 4:
Activate your paintbrush on your tool palette. In your tool options click on the paintbrush.

You will then get this pop up ~~ click on Custom.

Click Create.

Your tool options will now show your bottom custom brush. Click on the down arrow and the brush you want to create is at the bottom. Click OK. Your brush is now ready to be used.

PSP automatically names your new brushes "Ubrush.jbr". I will show you how to rename your brush in the next step.

Step 5:
I have an additional folder for my brushes in a folder called PSP1. I have my PSP directed to access that folder and also have it set to save any new brushes that I make to save to that folder. To have your PSP direct to additional folders, go to Files-->Preferences-->File Locations.

To rename your brush, open your Windows Explorer. I use Professional 2000 for my OS, this is where I find my Explorer.

Navigate to where you have your brushes saved, either in your separate Brushes folder or your PSP Brushes folder.

Hilight your UBrush.jbr. Right click and go to rename.

Rename your brush as you prefer. I always start with md- and then what it is. For this tutorial I renamed my brush md-hotair1.jbr. Remember to add the .jbr extension, or PSP will not be able to find your brush.

USING YOUR NEW BRUSH

Step 6:
Now it's time to use your brush. I have used brushes for making websets or when framing. After I announced that I had brushes on my site, I had a user thank me as she uses brushes for designing creative free machine embroidery. For this tutorial I will show you how to apply a brush on a new image. Open a new image 250x250, 16 million colors, transparent background. Set your foreground color to any color and flood fill.

Step 7:
Add a new layer, change your foreground to the color you want your brush or you could also use a gradient or a pattern. I used a gradient for this tutorial. Activate your paintbrush. In your tool options set your cursor to Use precise cursors. This will assist you by showing the size of your brush and exactly where it will be placed.

Click on your paintbrush, go to custom (as we did above when creating your brush), and click on the dropdown arrow, navigate to your newly made brush.

When you hover your brush over your image it will show you how large it is. You can resize your brush by going here.

Click OK. Left click on your mouse to apply your brush. The more times you click the darker your brush will be. I added a slight drop shadow and I was done.

Here is another example, with a plain background and metallic gradient.

 

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did creating it for you.