swimchick.net » Tutorials » Create a Brush Stroked Graphic Image
- Start off by making a 800 (width) by 700 (height) document. Fill it with the color #ededed.
- Now take this image and paste it into your document. I scaled it down a bit (CTRL + T) by making it about 76.6% in width and height (to be quite specific). You can simply type in the numbers and it will do the scaling for you. Just press enter once you’re done.
- Put the entire picture in the center and then go to your selection tool. Now usually when we cut out pictures I would encourage everyone to use the pen tool because it just is more accurate, but the selection tool works just as well if you know how to work the settings. Of course, it is also wayyy faster and really if I were you I wouldn’t want to be cutting out flowers with the pen tool, it’s death.
- Select the outsides of the picture and go to Refine Edge.
- I like to select the red overlay so I can see clearly how the picture will be cut. It’s pretty precise and easy to see. Now match your settings to mine. Go ahead and delete the selection and you should be left with a nicely cut picture.
- Now we’re going to set this picture to grayscale. Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and set the saturation all the way back to -100.
- The picture looks quite flat as it is, so we’re going to add some contrast and depth by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast. Set the Brightness to +30 and the Contrast to +100.
- Last but not least, we are going to add some sharpness to the image. Go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask.
Amount: 50 – Radius: 1.0 – Threshold: 0
- Now, create a vector mask for the picture.
- Fill it with the color black. After you do this the picture should suddenly disappear, but it’s okay because that’s what we’re going for here. We are going to use BRUSHES to kind of MASK the image, if you will.
- Using this brush set, (by Craig Shields for this tutorial) select a brush and make sure the color of it is WHITE. We are going to now create the image based on our brushes. To be very specific, I’ll be using this brush first.
- Now begin to use the brush and get a nice texture going. I like to resize my brush to smaller sizes and switching back to black and deleting parts in the middle, then going over them again in white to get more of an erased type of texture. When you switch back to black, you are ERASING, when you are using a white brush, you are ADDING back the picture. So experiment.
- After you come up with something you like, make a new raster layer (CTRL + SHIFT + N).
- Using the same brush we began with, in the color #f40500 stamp the brush across the face of the model. I re-sized the brush a little so it’s not so huge, so whichever works for you. Set the layer to Multiply.
- Now using the eraser tool, take the SAME brush and erase parts of this.
- Make another new raster layer, but this time UNDERNEATH the picture. I used a nice and bright #12f8f0 color and added one of the bulkier stroked brushes.
- Make a layer on TOP of the graphic, and then using the same blue color (SET THE LAYER TO COLOR BURN), add another stroke and use the erasing method.
- Make a new raster layer on TOP of the graphic, then go back to the red color and add a stroke on top. Then erase.
- Next I added some floral brushes (new layer on TOP of the graphic) you can find in the brush section of the site. Set those to Color Burn in #f40500. Erase away with the stroke brush.
- Add some splatters in, any splatters will do. The ones I’ve used are from my site and can be found in the brush section. The layer setting I used for these brushes is Color Burn (using the same blue and red colors as above).
- Take some of my word brushes and using the color black (or a dark grey) stamp some across the face of the model. Then erase accordingly.
- Make a new raster layer, drag it to the top. Now select a circular round brush (0% hardness and 300 px size), set the layer to screen and put it in random places on the model.
- Make a new raster layer, drag it UNDER the graphic. Using a 1px round circle brush (100% hardness) draw a squiggly line across the graphic.
- Using the SMUDGE tool, go over some parts of the line to smudge it.
- To finish it all off, take this texture and paste it on top of the graphic. Make sure you turn it on it’s side first (rotate it by using CTRL + T and turning). Once you’re done go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Set the lightness to +68 and the Saturation to -100. Then set the layer to Multiply.
- Now add some fancy text of your own and you’re all done!
See the final version.
Posted 01/23/2010 - | 48 comments
Commenting is closed for this article.
Name's Jessica Kobeissi. I'm 22, Lebanese, Muslim, awesome & live in Detroit. I'm an artist - but I can't draw. I'm a Graphic Design major. 
WOW, I’M GONNA TRY IT! :)
roelinda posted this January 23 * #