Teach Yourself Photoshop 4 in 14 Days

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- 3 -
Painting and Drawing Tools

You've made it through the first couple of days, and now it's time to have a little bit of fun. Photoshop, as I'm sure that you are coming to realize, is mainly an image editor. It was created for that purpose, and it accomplishes its purpose very elegantly. Yet, there is more to Photoshop than just editing. You can create artwork here from scratch.

Photoshop's art tools include the following:

Each tool is highly configurable. You can adjust such settings as diameter, hardness, roundness, angle, opacity, and so on. It's easy, too. You'll learn about this in just a few pages.

First, however, you need to learn how to select a color so that you'll have something to paint with. There are several ways of choosing colors, and Photoshop offers eight different color modes. I'll discuss all the modes tomorrow. Today, let's just find the colors you need and start painting.

Figure 3.1
Tools for painting and drawing.

Selecting Colors

The fastest and easiest way to select color is to use the foreground or background swatch in the toolbox (see Figure 3.2). The color swatch to the upper left is your foreground color, and the one to the lower left is the background color. You can set either color by clicking in its swatch.

Figure 3.2
Foreground and background color swatches.


NOTE: Swatches are the icons at the bottom of your toolbox that represent your currently selected color. Click one to select a new color. You can also view swatches by selecting Window+Show Swatches. This gives you a small palette that is full of color swatches, which you can then select and use for painting, drawing, filling, and so on. This saves you the time of using the Color Picker each time you need a different color.

The small icon to the lower left of the swatches, that looks like a miniature version of the swatches, resets to the default colors (black and white). You also can reset the default colors by typing "D." The little curved arrow to the upper right of the swatches toggles between background and foreground colors. Its keyboard equivalent is "X."


NOTE: If you forget the keyboard equivalent for a tool in the toolbox, just move your mouse cursor over the tool in question and wait a moment. When Photoshop realizes that you don't want to select the tool, a little banner will appear with the tool's name and a letter. The letter is the key.
You also can turn to Appendix A, "Keyboard Shortcuts," for a summary of all the tools in the toolbox.

Click the foreground swatch and the Color Picker dialog box appears (see Figure 3.3). Move your cursor over the color window, and it will become a circle. Click to select a color.

Figure 3.3
The Color Picker. The small circle on the left represents the current color. The circle on the right is the Color Picker cursor preparing to make a new selection.

To adjust your color options, you can do the following:

By default, the Color Picker opens in HSB model, which stands for Hue, Saturation, Brightness. Feel free to select RGB. This is the model that governs how your computer displays color (it uses Red, Green, and Blue, just like a projection television, for instance).


NOTE: When you select a color that cannot be accurately converted to CMYK for printing, a little alarm will appear (a triangle with an exclamation point, see Figure 3.4). If you click this alarm button, Photoshop will take you to the nearest color that can be reproduced in CMYK--as displayed in the small box beneath the triangle.
This is not a concern if you aren't going to print your work, but it is definitely something to keep in mind if you are. See Day 4, "Color Modes and Models," for more information.

Notice how the color window changes if you click in the RGB section. The color selection cursor moves, but the color stays the same (or very close). Try selecting a deep red with the "H" radio button of HSB selected. Then click the "R" radio button in the RGB section (see Figures 3.4 and 3.5). Notice that all of the numeric values on the right stay the same.

Figure 3.4
A color selected while in the HSB mode.

Figure 3.5
The same color in the RGB mode.


NOTE: Find a color you really like? Make a note of the values that appear on the right side of the Color Picker. You also can save those colors in customized palettes. Read on for more information.

The Photoshop Color Picker is a very intuitive tool. It lets you easily pick the color you need, and its interface can greatly expand your understanding of color, the color models, and how they affect display and output issues. You'll learn about this in greater detail tomorrow.

The Swatches and Color Palettes

Although the Color Picker is essential to understanding how Photoshop deals with color and is a great way to select a color, it is somewhat time-consuming, having to open the dialog box, move the sliders around, select a color, and then finally close the box.

Photoshop has, of course, an easier, faster way.

The Color Palette

Open the Color palette by selecting Window+Show Color (see Figure 3.6). The Color palette is a sort of miniature Color Picker. It can be set up in Grayscale, RGB, HSB, CMYK, and Lab via the menu on the right of the palette (see Figure 3.7).

Figure 3.6
The Color palette.

Figure 3.7
The Color palette's menu options.

Select colors by adjusting the sliders or by clicking in the Color Bar. If you need to get back to the Color Picker, just click the foreground and background color swatches.

The last option in the menu is for Color Bar. The Color Bar represents the colors of the mode in which you happen to be working, such as Grayscale, RGB, or CMYK. This isn't important for you to know today. We will discuss these color modes on Day 4.


NOTE: The Swatches palette, Brushes palette, and Colors palette come bundled together in one palette. To select one, just click the tabs. If, however, you find that you are doing a lot of switching between the Brushes and Swatches palettes, click the tab and drag. This will tear that particular palette away and give it its own window. You can always drag a palette back onto another one to put them together again.

The Swatches Palette

Using the Swatches palette is an even faster way of selecting color. The colors are laid out in swatches, and all you have to do is click one to select it. You can also add colors and save your customized color palettes. To open it select Window+Show Swatches.

Figure 3.8
The Swatches palette.

If you move your cursor over the swatches, the cursor transforms into the Eyedropper tool, which you'll learn about in the next section. This tool enables you to select the color of your choice. Click and note the change in your foreground color. Press Alt (Option on the Mac) to select a background color.

To add new colors to your palette, use the following steps:

1. Click the foreground color swatch in the toolbox.

2. Use the Color Picker to select the desired color and click OK.

3. Open the Swatches palette (Window+Show Swatches).

4. Using the tab in the lower-right corner of the Swatches palette, drag the window out so that it resembles the one in Figure 3.9.

Figure 3.9
Adding a new color to the Swatches palette.

5. Move your cursor into the space below the existing swatches. It will change into the Paint Bucket tool.

6. Click and the new color is added.

7. If you press Shift, you can add the new color anywhere you like, replacing whatever swatch on which you click.

If you use a lot of the same colors over and over, and they are not represented in any of the palettes that ship with Photoshop, just elect to save a palette. Choose Save Swatches from the Swatches palette menu. This will save you time and the headache of having to reselect all your favorite colors each time you open Photoshop.


NOTE: I'll discuss the Eyedropper tool and the Paint Bucket tool later in this chapter. For now, it is enough to remember that the Eyedropper samples or "picks up" color, and the Paint Bucket pours color out, either onto the canvas or into a swatch.

To load a new palette (one that you have saved, or another provided by Photoshop), use the following steps:

1. Select Load Palettes from the Swatches palette's menu (the arrow in the upper- right corner (see Figure 3.10)).

Figure 3.10
Loading palettes into the Swatches palette.

2. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the folder that contains the Photoshop application. Open the Photoshop application folder.

3. There should be a folder within the application folder called Palettes. Open it.

4. Select one and click OK.

This process appends the palette to the swatches that are already open. If you want to replace the palette with a new one, simply choose the Replace Swatches command instead of Load Swatches.

I think that it is a good idea to keep the Swatches palette open while you are working. It saves time when you need to choose a color, and it also provides an immediate reference, enabling you to see how the colors you are working with work together.

And, remember, if you see a color in the swatches that is close, but not quite the color you are looking for, select it, open the Color Picker, adjust it, and then save it as a new swatch altogether.

Photoshop is nearly infinitely customizable, and as always, if something doesn't immediately suit your needs, it can probably be changed. So don't waste time, configure the software the way you want it.

The Brushes Palette

Before I discuss specific brushes, let's take a brief look at the Brushes palette (see Figure 3.11), which is available via the menu command Window+Show Brushes. Although each tool has its own set of options (available under Window+Show Options or by double-clicking the tool in question), the Brushes palette works with all the art tools, from the Airbrush down to the Dodge tool.

Figure 3.11
The Brushes palette.

Click to select one of the preset brushes. The size you see in the box is the size of the brush itself, except for the ones with numbers beneath. The numbers indicate the diameter of the brush in pixels. A brush can be up to 999 pixels wide, which translates to almost 14 inches.

Double-click a brush, and the Brush Options dialog box appears (see Figure 3.12). Here you can select the diameter, hardness, spacing, angle, and roundness of the brushes.

Figure 3.12
Examples of the hardness setting.

The harder a brush is (nearer 100%), the more defined the edges of paint will be. A brush with a setting of around 20% will have a much more diaphanous or translucent appearance.

Spacing Options

The next option is for Spacing. If left unselected, the speed of your mouse movements will determine the spacing of discrete drops of paint. If you move more slowly, paint will appear in a continuous line. If you move the mouse more speedily, circles of paint will appear with spaces between them.

By selecting the Spacing checkbox, however, you are able to set a standard spacing of paint, no matter what the rate of the mouse movement is. Anything around 25% should give you a very smooth line of paint. As you move the percentage up (either by dragging the slider or entering a number into the box), the spaces increase (see Figure 3.13).

Figure 3.13
Spacing set at 50%, 100%, and 200%, respectively.

Angle and Roundness Options

Finally, you also can set the Angle and Roundness of your brushes. Play around with these settings some. With a little experimenting, you can end up with a brush that behaves just as a real brush does--painting thicker and thinner depending upon the angle of your stroke (see Figure 3.14).

Figure 3.14
Experiment with the settings until you find a brush type that you like.

To make adjustments, you can enter values into the boxes provided, or you can click and manipulate the graphic (on the lower left of the dialog box) with your mouse.

For instance, you can set the brushes in descending order:

When you find a brush that you are comfortable with, save it with the Save Brushes command found in the Brushes palette menu (the arrow in the upper-right corner). Give the grouping a name, and it will be there and available to you from then on.

To open a set of your customized brushes, choose either Load Brushes to append brushes to the current set, or Replace Brushes to, of course, replace the current set.

Now let's turn our attention to the painting tools themselves.


Quick Keys to Remember as You Go
Alt changes brush to Eyedropper.

Caps Lock changes the painting cursor to a precision cursor.

Ctrl changes the cursor to the Move tool.

Shift enables you to draw a straight line. Click to paint. Move the cursor and Shift-click again.

Press Tab to hide all the palettes and tools, so that you can take a good look at your work.


The Airbrush Tool

This tool, as its name suggests, sprays paint (or pixels) on the canvas. The Airbrush applies paint with diffused edges, and you can control how fast the paint is applied. You can adjust it to spray a constant stream or one that fades after a specified period. Also, the longer you hold the Airbrush tool in a single spot, the darker and more saturated a color becomes.

Type "A" to go to the Airbrush (see Figure 3.15). Double-click it to open the options palette, and let's take a look at some of the options.

Figure 3.15
The Airbrush tool.

Figure 3.16
The Airbrush Options palette.

The first thing to notice in the options palette is the slider that sets the Pressure. A low setting will apply a thin layer of paint--nearly transparent. The closer you come to 100%, the more concentrated the spray is.

Figure 3.17
Pressure set at 20% and 95%.

The next setting fades the spray of the paint. You can set the fade from 1 to 999 (999 taking the longest time to fade). It can fade into transparency or into the background. As a demonstration in Figure 3.18, I created an extremely large brush and set the fade to the background color in 50 steps. I filled the canvas with a blue so that you can get a sense of the transition between black and white.

Figure 3.18
Fading from the foreground color to the background color.


NOTE: For a really neat effect, try changing the blending mode (in the options palette) from Normal to Dissolve. You'll learn about blending modes on Day 7, "Digital Paint," but it can't hurt to experiment a little bit now (see Figure 3.19).

The Airbrush tool is especially useful for fixing images. It can give you a light touch that the other brushes don't have. Because the paint appears gradually, you get more time to visually inspect the image, stopping before too much paint is applied.

Figure 3.19
The Airbrush with the blending mode set to Dissolve for an interesting effect. For more information on blending modes, see Day 7.

Using Selections, Color Choices, and the Airbrush

Here is a little exercise that I devised to review what you have learned up until now, using selections, color choices, and the Airbrush tool. I hope that you find this an enjoyable break and a useful opportunity to start putting some of your knowledge to work.

1. Create a new file (File+New). Make it approximately five inches square with a white background.

2. Select the Lasso tool and draw a mountain range along the bottom half of the canvas. After you have reached the other side of the canvas, keep the mouse button depressed and drag outside of the active window. What you want to do is circle back around, still outside of the active window, until you can bring the Lasso back to its starting point. This will form a selection that you can fill.

3. Your default foreground color as shown in the toolbox should be black. If it is not, click the default button (the small version of the swatches to their lower left) to reset.

4. Select Edit+Fill, using your foreground color at 100%. This will fill your mountain range with black. Now you need to reverse the selection so that you can fill the sky with blue.

5. With your original selection still active (the ants still marching), choose Select+Inverse. This will reverse your selection, enabling you to fill the sky with color.

6. Change your foreground color to a deep blue. Click the foreground swatch to open the Color Picker, or use the Swatches palette.

7. After you have a nice deep midnight blue, select Edit+Fill, again using the foreground color at 100% (see Figure 3.20).

Figure 3.20
The sky and mountains.

8. Click anywhere in the canvas to deselect everything. If you happen to move your hand, and by extension the canvas, when you click, just choose Edit+ Undo. That will put you back where you need to be.

9. Then select the Elliptical Marquee tool. Double-click it to open the options palette and set the Feather radius to 2.

10. Drag out a marquee in the upper-left corner of the canvas. This will be the moon when you are done.

11. Press Ctrl and drag a subtractive marquee into the original selection, creating a circle that cuts out a crescent from the first circle. This might take a few tries to get it just right, so don't get frustrated.

12. When you get the moon selected the way you want it, select Edit+Cut. Because of the Feather on the marquee, this should result in a nicely shaped moon with a bit of a glow about it (see Figure 3.21).

Figure 3.21
The crescent moon.

All that our little scene lacks now are some stars.

13. Select the Airbrush tool. Double-click it to bring up the Airbrush options palette (see Figure 3.22).

Figure 3.22
Brushes palette and Airbrush Options.

14. Set the Pressure to about 50% in the Airbrush options and select the smallest brush available--create your own if you want.

15. Then reverse your background and foreground colors by using the small toggle arrow just above and to the right of the swatches (see Figure 3.23). Also, you should make sure that your foreground color is set to white (click the small swatches icon to the lower left of the color swatches in the toolbox).

16. Last, add some stars to the scene. Make sure that you hold the mouse button down so that the airbrush has time to spray.


NOTE: If you would like to try an advanced option, select Filter+Sketch+Bas Relief (03file03). Also, press Tab to hide all the open menus so that you can get a good look at your scene.

The Paintbrush Tool

The Paintbrush tool is the workhorse of all the painting tools in Photoshop. It behaves very much like the Airbrush, only paint is applied more evenly. That is to say, that if you hold the mouse clicked in one area, paint does not continue to flow onto the canvas.

Double-click the Paintbrush tool so that you can take a look at the options available for it.

Figure 3.23
The Paintbrush tool.

Figure 3.24
The Paintbrush Options palette.

The options for the Paintbrush are almost all the same as the ones for the Airbrush tool, so I won't waste time or space repeating them. If you need to refresh your memory, please turn to the Airbrush section in this chapter.


NOTE: Although you can hit Caps Lock to get a precision painting cursor, there is, in my humble opinion, an even better option. Instead, select File+Preferences+ Display & Cursors. In the dialog box that appears, look into the Painting Cursors section. There is an option there that enables you to select from the following choices: Standard, Precise, and Brush Size. Choose Brush Size because this changes your painting cursor from a paintbrush or a crosshair to a circle that is the actual size of your brush.

The one difference in the options for the Paintbrush is the Wet Edges checkbox. This a wonderful feature that makes your pixel-paint behave just as a real-world watercolor would. Paint builds up at the edges of your brush, and as long as you are holding the mouse down and painting, the paint stays "wet." That is, you can paint over your previous strokes. If, however, you release the mouse button and begin to paint again, you will be adding a new layer of paint, and this creates an entirely new effect.

Let's try the following exercise to work a little with the Paintbrush tool. You'll create a neon sign by using the following steps:

1. First, create a new file. Set the width to 6 inches and the height to 2 inches. Also, make sure that you are working in RGB (the drop-down menu in the New File dialog box).

2. If you are not already using the default colors, click the small swatches to the lower left of the foreground and background color swatches. This will reset the colors to black and white.

3. Select Edit+Fill. Use the foreground color (black) at 100% opacity (see Figure 3.25).

Figure 3.25
Your setup so far.

4. Then click the foreground color swatch in the toolbox. Select a good neon color, such as blue or red.


NOTE: A good neon color will give you the Out of Gamut warning because CMYK has a hard time reproducing neon. So, if you get the little warning triangle, you are on the right track.
5. Double-click the Paintbrush tool to bring up the options palette. Click in the Wet Edges checkbox.

6. Open the Brushes palette (Window+Show Brushes). Choose, or if you like, define, a brush with soft edges.

7. Now, with a steady hand, print a word, such as "NEON" (see Figure 3.26).

Figure 3.26
Simple neon lettering.


NOTE: Often when you paint, you can cheat by using the Shift key. If you hold the Shift key down, you can click once, move to another area without holding the mouse button, and click again. This solves the problem of how to draw straight lines for those of us with unsteady mouse hands.

Using a Paintbrush with Wet Edges, however, renders this somewhat useless. If you try to write a word, or in any way cross over previous lines, the edges show through.


And that should look pretty good. You can, however, if you are interested take it a few steps farther.

8. Select the Magic Wand tool, and with the Shift key held down, click within each letter. Because of the pixel tolerance, it should select only those pixels at the center of the letter, leaving the feathering alone.

9. From the Select menu, choose Modify+Contract. In the dialog box, enter 3 and click OK. We haven't looked into this yet. We will on Day 8, "Layers." For now, just understand that it contracts your selection, and that is enough.

10. Then click your background swatch in the toolbox. Set the color to black.

11. Select Edit+Fill with background color. You should end up with something that looks like Figure 3.27.

Figure 3.27
A different version of neon.


NOTE: If you enjoyed the last tutorial and are looking for more advanced techniques of this nature, you should look for Photoshop Magic titles also published by Hayden Books.

Eraser

The next tool in the toolbox that we'll investigate is one that I, unfortunately, have to use far too often--the Eraser tool.

Figure 3.28
The Eraser tool.

The one nice thing about the Eraser is that it too can be undone, so if you happen to rid the canvas of an essential element that you wanted to keep, just select Edit+Undo.

The Eraser shortcut key is one that I recommend committing to memory--just "E." This key stroke will take you there from any tool. Double-click the Eraser to open the options palette (see Figure 3.29).

Figure 3.29
The Eraser Options palette.

You can set the Eraser to erase as a Paintbrush, Airbrush, Pencil, or Block. The first three options are controlled via the Brushes palette--size, hardness, and so on.

The Opacity slider controls how much is erased. This is useful for blending parts of images, and it also can create a nice watercolor effect (see Day 7 for more information).

The Fade option works just as the Fade option in the Airbrush tool. After a certain amount of steps, which you specify, the Eraser no longer erases. This is useful to create feathering around irregularly shaped images. Set the opacity to around 75% and the Fade to about 8 steps and then drag away from the image you want to feather.

The Erase Image button is a great option for when you totally mess up and need to start over. Press it and then when Photoshop prompts you to make sure that you want to erase the image, select OK, hit Enter, or just hit the Spacebar.

In the following steps, you will use the Eraser along with a few well-placed selections to create a perfect ocean sunset.

1. Open file 03file04 from the CD-ROM.

2. Select the Magic Wand.

3. Click to select the person.

This action selects not only the person but the rock upon which he is sitting. Let's say that you want to keep the rock. You just need to get rid of the bather.

Figure 3.30
Bather and rock selected.

4. Now, with the selection active and white as your background color, erase with broad strokes. Notice that nothing outside of the selection is disturbed.

Figure 3.31
Bather erased.

There are, of course, other ways that you could have gotten rid of the bather, but for this lesson the Eraser worked just fine.

To clean up and erase those last few pixels, you might want to enlarge the image so that you have a better view of what you are doing. Also, don't forget, editing on a pixel-by-pixel basis is possible in Photoshop. Magnify the scene with the Zoom tool. Select the Eraser and then in the Brushes palette, define for yourself a brush (or in this case, an eraser) that is only a few pixels wide (see Figure 3.32).

Figure 3.32
Editing on a pixel-by-pixel basis.

If you want, save your image. You will learn how to fill up the empty area left by the bather's departure on Day 10, "Photo Repair and Special Effects."

The Pencil Tool

The Pencil tool, in large measure, works like the Paintbrush tool, except that it can only create hard-edged lines, whereas the other art tools, such as the Paintbrush and the Airbrush, can have brushes with soft edges. Click the Pencil tool in the toolbox (see Figure 3.33). Double-click it to bring up the options palette (see Figure 3.34).

You can set the diameter of your Pencil in the Brushes option palette (Window+Show Brushes), but remember, hardness is not an option. You can, however, set all the other options just as I have with all the other tools up to now--I won't bore you with a recap. Please refer to the discussion of the Airbrush tool for a summary of general options.

The Pencil tool does have one option, though, that you haven't seen before. In the lower-left corner of the Pencil options palette, there is a checkbox for Auto Erase.

Figure 3.33
The Pencil tool.

Figure 3.34
The Pencil Options palette.


NOTE: Can't draw a straight line? Remember to use the Shift key. It will automatically connect two points. Simply hold Shift, click, move the mouse to where you want the line to end, and click again.

Auto Erase enables you to paint with the background color over sections that contain the foreground color. In Figure 3.35, I filled the image with the background color and then drew the zigzag. Then I returned and dropped in the circles, reversing the color.

Figure 3.35
An example of using Auto Erase.

The Line Tool

The Line tool is definitely the answer for creating perfectly straight lines. All you have to do is click and drag. When you release the mouse, a perfectly straight line appears.

But if that was all the Line tool did, it wouldn't be that much different from the Pencil tool (with the Shift key depressed). Photoshop offers a number of other ways of drawing straight lines.

Double-click the tool to open the options palette, and let's take a look at what the Line tool offers.

Figure 3.36
The Line Tool Options palette.

The first thing you'll notice is that there is an opacity setting, just as with all the tools you've seen so far, that enables you to create a darker or lighter line.

Beneath that you can specify in pixels the line width and choose to select anti-aliased. If you are going to draw straight lines, anti-aliasing won't change the appearance of your lines that much. But if you are creating lines at angles, anti-aliasing will make them look much smoother (see Figure 3.37).

Figure 3.37
Anti-aliased lines and non anti-aliased lines.

The other great feature that the Line tool offers is arrows to cap off the lines. These can be set at either the starting point of a line, at the end point, or both. You also can define the length, width, and concavity of the arrows by clicking the Arrowheads button in the Line options palette.

Let's use the Line tool to create a logo.

Working with the Line Tool

1. Open a new file. Make it about five inches square with a white background.

2. Select View+Show Grid. Also, select View+Snap to Grid.

3. Click the Elliptical Marquee tool and drag out a circle in the middle of your canvas. Holding Alt will enable you to drag a circle from the center out, and the Snap to Grid setting will help, too.

4. Now we need to stroke the marquee. So, select Edit+Stroke with a width of 2 pixels. If your marquee appears with a feathered edge, double-click the Marquee tool and set the Feather radius to 0 in the options palette. (See Day 2, "Selections: Editing and Manipulating Images," for more information on making selections.)

5. Select View+Snap to Grid to turn off this feature. It was useful for creating the circle, but will hinder you when you try to draw the lines as though they were coming out of the circle itself (see Figure 3.38).

Figure 3.38
Your image should look something like this.

6. Select the Line tool. Double-click it so the options palette appears.

7. Set the width to 2 pixels and click the Arrowheads checkbox labeled End.

8. Click the Arrow button in the Line tool options palette; set the width and length to 1000% and the concavity to 50%.

9. Click on the left perimeter of the circle and drag to the right across the circle. Repeat twice.

10. When you are finished, select View+Hide Grid.

Experiment with different size arrowheads. Try different line widths. Explore your own ideas and build on our simple logo.


NOTE: If you want to try something a little different with the logo, select the circle with one of the Marquee tools--either Elliptical or Rectangular. Select Filters+ Distort+Spherize. This should provide an interesting effect. Remember, if you don't like it, just choose Edit+Undo.

The Gradient Tool

The Gradient tool offers a method for creating interesting fills that transition from one color to another (see Figure 3.39). This tool is great for creating backgrounds and textures.

There are a number of gradients from which to choose, and you are free to define your own. Double-click the Gradient tool to bring up the options palette (see Figure 3.40).

In the options palette, you have the standard blending modes and opacity, as well as a drop-down menu that gives you a number of choices. Gradients can be transformed between color and transparency, foreground and background color, a spectrum, chrome, and up to four colors, which you can edit. Although you can't see the colors, you can discern between the different hues in the Figure 3.41.

Figure 3.39
The Gradient tool.

Figure 3.40
The Gradient Tool Options palette.

Figure 3.41
An example of a gradient.

A linear gradient's colors appear in the direction that you drag your mouse. That is, say you have a gradient that is to go from red to green and you click in the left side of your canvas and drag to the right and release, the red will appear on the right and be transformed into green. If, on the other hand, you click on the right side of your canvas and drag to the left and release, the gradient appears just the opposite--green on the left and red on the right.

The longer you drag out, the more gradual the transition will be (see Figure 3.42). The shorter the distance you drag before releasing the mouse, the more abrupt the transition will be.

Figure 3.42
A gradual transition.

You can always tell what your starting color is by looking at the color Gradient Preview in the Gradient Tool Options palette. The color on the left will always be your starting color--the color on the right will be your ending color.

Also, for smoother blends without bands of color, click the Dither checkbox. And to create circular gradients, select Radial in the drop-down menu (see Figure 3.43).

Figure 3.43
A radial gradient.

You can create your own gradients by using the Edit button in the Gradient tool's options palette. Here, I will create a new gradient and then edit its transparency mask, which is how you can create varying levels of opacity across the gradient. The general Opacity slider at the top of the options palette enables you adjust the overall opacity of the gradient. With the transparency mask, you can edit and adjust the transparency at particular points in a gradient.

Creating a New Gradient

1. Select the Gradient tool in the toolbox. Double-click it to bring up the options palette.

2. Make sure that the opacity is set to 100% and that both Mask and Dither checkboxes are selected.

3. Open file 03file04 from the CD-ROM.

4. Click the Edit button in the options palette.

5. Click the New button to create a new gradient (see Figure 3.44). (I will be creating a new gradient for this exercise, but if you merely want to edit an existing gradient, click Rename.)

Figure 3.44
Defining a new gradient.

6. Click the beginning color tab. There are a couple of ways in which you can define the colors for your gradient. You can define a color by clicking the color swatch and selecting one, or, as you'll learn in the next few steps, you can sample color from images that are already open.


NOTE: Sampling means, among other things, to take a sample of the color. You do this via the Eyedropper tool, which is discussed in the following section.
7. Move your cursor over the image. It should turn into the Eyedropper icon. The Eyedropper enables you to sample the color from wherever you click.

8. Click on a red section of the woman's garment (see Figure 3.45). Note the color in the Gradient Preview and the color swatch. It should have turned red.

Figure 3.45
Sampling a color.

9. Then click the ending color tab and select a green from her garment the same way you did in steps 7 and 8.

You now have a gradient that you can apply, but you're not quite finished yet. You need to adjust the transparency of the gradient.

10. Click the Transparency radio button in the Gradient Editor (see Figure 3.46).

Figure 3.46
Adjusting the transparency of the gradient.

11. Click the beginning tab.

12. Set the Opacity percentage to 75. You should see a change in the preview bar. Drag the tab to the right to see a change in the blend. (This is the same as entering a number into the Location box.)

13. I suggest that you leave the ending color at 100%, but if you want to change it, feel free. Click the ending tab and set a percentage.

For the final part of your lesson, let's create a new file, use the new gradient for a backdrop, and move the dancing woman into it.

14. First, you need to select the woman (see Figure 3.47). Use the Lasso tool. Double-click it to open the options palette and set the Feather radius to 5--more or less, depending on your own preference. Refer to Day 2 for more information on making selections.

Figure 3.47
Selecting the woman.

15. Select Edit+Cut.

16. Create a new file (File+New) about five inches square and double-click the Gradient tool.

17. In the Gradient options palette, select Radial from the drop-down menu.

18. Drag out a radial gradient in your new file (see Figure 3.48).

Figure 3.48
A radial gradient.

19. Select Edit+Paste. The dancing woman should appear in the new file (see Figure 3.49).

Figure 3.49
The woman who is now pasted into the new image.

20. Use the Magic Wand tool to remove the blue halo around her. Refer to Day 2 for more information on using the Magic Wand tool.

Gradients are great for fills and backgrounds. You'll revisit some of the skills you learned here when you learn about creating backgrounds for the World Wide Web on Day 14, "Photoshop for the Web."

The Eyedropper and Paint Bucket Tools

Let's take a look at these two tools in the same section because they are opposites--sort of (see Figure 3.50). The Eyedropper tool enables you to sample color from a specific spot in an image, whereas the Paint Bucket enables you to fill selections and areas with paint.

Figure 3.50
The Eyedropper and the Paint Bucket.

Let's turn our attention first to the Eyedropper.

The Eyedropper Tool

The first thing to know about the Eyedropper tool is that it will come to be an invaluable aid to you as you work with Photoshop. Say, for instance, you are working on a photograph and you need to fix a stain or a tear. You can search all day for a color that exactly matches the surrounding area in your image, or you can use the Eyedropper tool to sample precisely a nearby color (see Figure 3.51).

Figure 3.51
Sampling color from a flower.

The Eyedropper is so useful that, when you have any of the painting tools selected, all you have to do is press Alt and your cursor changes to the Eyedropper. This enables you to take a quick sample and get back to work.

In the Eyedropper tool options palette you can specify if you want to select color on a point-by-point basis, or if you would prefer to average the color found over a 3 by 3 or 5 by 5 pixel square range. For precision work, choose the former option. For more general work, I would suggest the 5 by 5 option.

Let's try using the Eyedropper tool with an image to see what it can do. Follow these steps:

1. Open file 03file06 from the CD-ROM.

2. Select the Eyedropper tool from the Toolbox.

3. Click in one of the petals.

4. Notice the change in your foreground color swatch. Try selecting other areas.

5. Open file 03file07 from the CD and go on to the next section.

The Paint Bucket Tool

The Paint Bucket is a time-saver. When you have a large area of the same or similar color that you need to change, this is your tool. Of course, you could use the Paintbrush, but with that one you run the risk of accidentally painting into the image. Also, it takes longer.

After you have a color you like, chosen from the Color Picker or sampled via the Eyedropper, you should double-click the Paint Bucket to open its options palette (see Figure 3.52).

Figure 3.52
The Paint Bucket Options palette.

The tolerance in the Paint Bucket options can be set anywhere from 0 to 255. The lower the tolerance, the pickier the Paint Bucket is about replacing pixels. The higher the tolerance, the greater the number of pixels (of varying tonal values) the Paint Bucket will fill.

Let's take this tool for a test drive:

1. If you don't still have file 03file06 open, open it now along with 03file07.

2. Click in the file 03file06 to make it active.

3. Click the Eyedropper tool and try selecting some of the pink from the flowers.

4. Make the other image 03file07 the active window.

5. Select the Paint Bucket tool (or type "K").

6. Position the Paint Bucket over the dandelion and click.

7. Open the Paint Bucket Options palette and set the opacity at about 60% and the tolerance to about 75 (see Figure 3.53).


NOTE: When you need to change the opacity setting in any of the options palettes, you can type 0 through 9. The numbers correspond to percentages--2 = 20%, 7 = 70%, and 0 = 100%.

Figure 3.53
Filling the dandelion with color.

You need to develop an eye for using the Paint Bucket and how you should set the tolerance. If you don't like the result, select Edit+Undo and try a different tolerance. It is not always the perfect tool, but if you have a fairly large area of similar colors, you can usually adjust the tolerance to fill the area to your liking.

Another technique you might want to try, if the Paint Bucket is changing pixels that you don't want it to, is to create a selection around the area you want to change. This will curtail its activity.

Remember, if you need to do it, Photoshop probably has a way.

Summary

I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and learned a little bit about Photoshop and its painting tools. We have barely scraped the surface of all that this application has to offer. I urge you to supplement what you learn in this guide with some experimentation. Try painting, try creating your own swatch palette containing your favorite colors, try creating images, using both your knowledge of the painting tools, as well as the selections.

As I say, this guide can get you started and on the right track, but the best learning comes when you suddenly discover a technique that clarifies two others and solidifies your expertise with Photoshop.

See you tomorrow.


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