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Brushes, styles etc

littlekiwi

littlekiwi

I charge by the hour for anything before noon
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
Messages
10,794
I find that apart from shadow styles I forget to use them particularly brushes. Does anyone have any tips for making them more user friendly, in the sense if I see them I will use them? I know how to use them, but I just dont cause I dont see them all the time.I have PSCS4 on a Windows machine.
 
littlekiwi said:
I find that apart from shadow styles I forget to use them particularly brushes. Does anyone have any tips for making them more user friendly, in the sense if I see them I will use them? I know how to use them, but I just dont cause I dont see them all the time.I have PSCS4 on a Windows machine.
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omg!! brushes are awesome!!!
Here are my favorites:
--is-bb.jpg

underwateralldayWEB.jpg

_alb_paintedrounders2_preview.jpg

loveanddreamweb.jpg

justjaimee-watercolorpagedrips-prev.jpg

xctmpl3GXsv.png


There are so many more in my stash!! Brushes are my essentials … lol!!!
 
I copy all of my brushes into one folder, called well, "brushes" :giggle. (i do a search for .abr files every once in a while if i haven't done it as i download) that way, when i go to load brushes they are all there - reminds me of what i have and i tend to use them more. (also, if they are not named with the designer name i add that so i can see whose are whose and also so i know what to jot down for credits if need be)

I also have an "actions" folder, since both my pc and my mac have decided on several occasions to unload brushes and actions.
 
I HAVE A HUGE FOLDER OF BRUSHES , UPLOAD IT ON CS5 THE ONES I WANNA USE!!
 
I also have a folder of brushes that I reference. I love to use paint and brush-y stuff though. Other than shadow actions, I rarely use actions though.
 
I LOVE styles - I have all the previews of mine loaded into a folder in Lightroom so when I'm searching my stash I see my styles stash too, it really helps to keep them fresh in my mind :) Also, I like to make sure I have image files of the brushes I have too, that way I search them when I search everything!
 
love brushes and styles ... i still keep all my brushes in the Designer's folder ... free brushes go into a Brush folder, but it hardly ever gets used unfortunately.

for styles ... i keep a small panel open above my layers palette at all times. it is loaded with all my fave styles, even ones i only use rarely. i use preset mgr to save them all ... and keep them open whenever you open photoshop.
 
I keep a panel of styles open beside my layers palette and have organized the styles in the manager (where I can drag them to reorganize). The shadow styles are at the top of the styles palette. I keep all of Jaimee's styles at the bottom (she provides lots of styles with her storyteller kits). I do the same reorganization of brushes in the manager. I have them sorted into background shapes, geometric shapes, textures, edgers, etc. I select the large view so when I am scrolling through them it is easier to see what the brush looks.
 
sushimommy said:
I copy all of my brushes into one folder, called well, "brushes" :giggle. (i do a search for .abr files every once in a while if i haven't done it as i download) that way, when i go to load brushes they are all there - reminds me of what i have and i tend to use them more. (also, if they are not named with the designer name i add that so i can see whose are whose and also so i know what to jot down for credits if need be)

I also have an "actions" folder, since both my pc and my mac have decided on several occasions to unload brushes and actions.
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Me too! I also just try to hit up my "elements" folder and take a look at brushes, paint, stitches and confetti/beads before I decide I'm "done".
 
The way that I know my brushes are easy accessible and I can always reload new ones to replace the ones that are already loaded (since having so many brushes loaded REALLY slows down PS... I take that brush file and copy it to the actual photoshop preset's brushes folder... once you do that you have to restart photoshop, then they'll end up under your default brush list that come with PS. I even make designer's folders in there so I can organize them. :D
 
I tend to forget about my brushes sometimes too- which is sad because I really do love using them- I keep them in a folder because like Brandi said- if I load to many PSE slows to a crawl. I do love using Actions & use them on every layout- usually for my photos, but also the Paislee Press -sharpen & resize - freebie right here if you don't have it yet!
 
Jennifer, I have my BRUSH PALETTE open ALL THE TIME. It makes my CS5 really slow though. I also save my brushes PER DESIGNER. Maybe I should do a video one of these days for it.
 
I don't keep many brushes (or styles, for that matter) loaded in PS because it slows my PS down and takes forever for them to load. I keep my favorites and the ones I use more frequently than others loaded (Amy's Perfect Amount of Mess paint brushes and some of Jaimee's styles), but all the others stay in the designer's folder... usually alongside the PNG files.
 
I half wonder if I should start making some kind of contact sheets for my brush sets. Then at least I would have a paper book to refer to on my desk :)
 
I love to use styles and actions, but I feel like I'm missing something with brushes. Why not just use a PNG? Unless I'm actually *brushing* with it, like I would do with a real paintbrush, or putting it on a path, I don't really understand the point.
 
I just load a brush set as I want to use it. I don't seem to have any troubles remembering to use brushes, though.
Actions and styles, on theother hand... I NEVER use them. I think PSE is just not user friendly when it comes to actions.
 
lorryfach said:
I love to use styles and actions, but I feel like I'm missing something with brushes. Why not just use a PNG? Unless I'm actually *brushing* with it, like I would do with a real paintbrush, or putting it on a path, I don't really understand the point.
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The only time I use them as brushes, instead of using the PNG file, is if I want to change the color. It's easier to pick my color and use the brush than it is to recolor the PNG.
 
I find myself only using pre-colored ones... I'm often too lazy to color them, and in Gimp, I can't use styles. Sometimes, I clip papers to brushes... but mostly, I use ones that are already colored, like the ones Lili suggested.
 
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