**Winners Announced** Challenge 2 - Brushwork Borders | Summer School 2021: Week 2 Art Class

Week 2 ART CLASS

HOMEWORK CHALLENGE: BRUSHWORK BORDERS
Due Date: 11:59 EST, 18 July 2021
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Thank you all for participating in the Brushwork Borders Challenge! You all ROCKED your assignment and received an A+!!!

The lucky winners of the challenge are:

$10 - @bjthomas
$5 - @G.J.
$3 - @honeyandcheese

Coupon codes are sent out so please check your inbox!

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Welcome to week two of Summer School! This week, we explore Art Journaling, Mixed Media, Ephemera, Mask and … drum roll …

BRUSHES!
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One of the challenges this week is to create your very own borders using brushes (.abr or .png files).

To qualify for this challenge, you MUST:

1. Start with a solid background paper. You are welcome to use any color paper. You can use a light to moderately textured paper.

Amy Wolff’s Mega Solids Vol. 6 is a perfect example of light to moderately textured solids (you are not required to use this pack for this challenge). Your starting paper must be free of paint marks, masks, patterns, gesso, glitter, or brushes. Ideally, your starting paper looks like a blank canvas. Examples of light to moderate textures include, but are not limited to, linen, canvas, card-stock, the look of crumpled up paper, and cardboard.

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2. Use a minimum of THREE (3) brushes (no maximum) to create 2 - 4 borders on your background paper. Examples include left-side and right-side borders; top and bottom borders; or all four sides. You MUST list the three (or more) brushes you used in your credits! A border means just that – on the edge of your layout!

You are highly encouraged to use .abr brush files. However, if your software platform does not recognize .abr brush files, you are more than welcome to use the .png rendition of the brush. Many TLP designers include both .abr and .png files in their kits. You may want to do a search in your computer's search engine for ".abr" as many kits have brushes in them. Should you be lacking in brushes, they are on sale this week!

Please avoid the temptation to use premade transfers. The goal of this week's challenge is to make your own! "Paint" and "stamps" are permissible as long as they are not pre-clustered.

Inspiration and examples of borders on designer papers:


3. Finish off your layout with your choice of ephemera, elements, word art, photos, and journaling. There is no minimum or maximum amount of these items; however, be sure your custom-made brushwork borders are visible in the finished piece!

4. Upload your layout by 11:59 EST (New York Time Zone) Sunday, 18 July 2021 and post in this thread in order to qualify for:

1st Prize: 10$
2nd Prize: 5$
3rd Prize: 3$ random drawing!

5. Normal challenge rules apply:
- Your page must be a new page for this challenge.
- Your page must contain at least 75% Lilypad product.
- Your page must be posted to the Lilypad Gallery and then posted in this thread so I can track entries and comment on your page.

Recap: Use a minimum of three (3) brushes (.abr or .png files) to create 2—4 borders on a plain to moderately textured background paper.

Due date: 11:59 EST, 18 July 2021.

List the three brushes (or more) in your credits.

Note: If art journal style is not your thing, that is okay! Many designers include .abr files in their digital kits.

Example of clean and simple brushes:
Tourist by Elif Sahin Designs


Work in progress, border progression:


Finished layout:

**STOP***You Are Not Required to Read Below this line.***STOP***​

Photoshop Tips for Brushes

1. Use Blending Options - This allows the background texture to come through.


Before:


After:

What changed? Look in the box labeled "Blend if: Gray." I moved the black slider adjustments to 53/67. If the background paper was white, I would have moved the white sliders.

2. Keep each brush on its own layer. This allows you to recolor and resize each brush independently, as if it is its own element. You can also run additional blend modes or layer styles (fx) on the brush. A layer style I commonly use is "emboss."

3. Resizing a brush is easy...use the left and right bracket keys on your keyboard.

***That is all I have for you! Happy scrapping and creating!***​

 

This spot is reserved for questions. Don't be shy, ask away!

Q. Can I run the blending options in PSE?
A. From my understanding, no. This is not available in Photoshop Elements. However, our wonderful Pollywog Christa (@cfile) developed a style that may work for you: No Font Float This is an .asl file.

Q. Do I have to list every brush used?
A. No - at a minimum list THREE brushes you used. This way I know you met the challenge intent which is to use a minimum of three unique brushes. If you used three different brush sets - it is perfectly okay to list just the sets (as it indicates you used three different brushes).

 

How about a compromise - list THREE of the brushes used. This way I know you met the challenge intent. IF you use three different brush sets it is okay to list just as the brush sets - as logic would have it, at least three different brushes were used.

 

I hope I am answering your question. I don't have PSE, thus it is difficult to understand the context of PSE questions at times.

For this challenge there is no need to modify brushes used (e.g. simplify the layer after a style is used). If you want to use a style on your brush that results in the brush looking dimensional, that is perfectly okay! The key to this challenge is two things: use at least three brushes and make at least two borders using brushes. Anything else is free game.