Photoshop Tutorial: Abstract Brushing Techniques

[zorlen 0]

Alright, For my first tutorial I'm going to show you how to make the background of my sig:

 

 

The brushing techniques shown here can also be used for all kinds of brushing, not just abstract. So if you don't like abstract as much as say grunge then you simply use grunge brushes instead of abstract ones But anyways, On to the Tutorial!

 

Step One: This is the easiest step in the tutorial. Open Photoshop and create a new document of a sig size, I used 400 by 125, and have the background transparent. You don't have to set the background transparent but it's easier to manipulate it, for example you can't use layer styles on the "background" layer which setting it as transparent bypasses that. Now then, take you paintbucket tool and fill it in with black. Here's what you should have:

 

Image1

 

Step Two: Now here's the fun part, Time to get brushing! Grab your brush tool, set the foreground color to white and ready your favorite abstract brush set. If you don't have any, Deviant ART is a great place to find some. Now, create a new layer by pressing Ctrl+Shift+N and make a few brush strokes. Don't do too much! 2 or 3 will sufice if the brushes are between 200-400 pixels big. This is where what I do and what you do will start to diverge, so don't try to get exactly what I get. Here's what I have so far:

 

Image2

 

Step Three: Continue Brushing! After using a brush about 2 to 3 times, create a new layer, Ctrl+Shift+N remember, and grab a new one. Here's a series of images to show the developement of my sig:

 

Image2

 

Image3

 

Image4

 

Image5

 

Image6

 

Ok! I'm not done brushing yet, but it's getting a little bright, don't you think? Go to Layers->New Adjustment Layers->Brightness/Contrast to create a layer that will alter the, you guessed it! (I hope), brightness and contrast. After darkening the image it now looks like this:

 

Image7

 

I'm still not done brushing, but I'm really close. After 2 more layers of brushing and another Brightness/Contrast layer, I now have this:

 

Image8

 

Kinda cool, huh? but it's missing something... I know! On to the Next Step!

 

Step Four: Time for some color! For this we will be using a different adjustment layer, Color Balance. To find them, go to Layers -> New Adjustment Layers -> Color Balance. Here you can adjust the colors using 3 different sliders. There are also 3 different tone ranges that you can adjust here, Shadow for the darker tones, Midrange for the midrange tones, and Highlights for the lighter tones. Experiment with different settings for the different tones to get your image just right. Here is how mine's looking so far:

 

Image9

 

Much better! but it doesn't seem quite finished yet... It needs some more definition... Time for the next step!

 

Step Five: It needs a border! This is a really really easy step. Underneath your color balance layer(s), which should be on top to color the whole document, make a new layer and set it's blending mode to Darken or Multiply, and then fill it with white. You shouldn't notice a difference because darken/multiply doesn't show White because they make the darker features of the layer show on top of the layers below, so white doesn't get shown. Now, go to Edit -> Stroke... and use the following settings(you will do the stroke 3 times on this layer by the way):

 

First Stroke: 3px, Black(#000000), Inside

Second Stroke: 2px, something lighter than black, Inside

Third Stroke: 1px, Black(#000000), Inside

 

Here is how those settings dressed up my image:

 

Image10

 

Dosn't that look more complete? Now, for the final step!

 

Step Six: Add any text/images that you feel like adding. Your text will want to be placed above the border layer(the one with the strokes from the previous step) While images tend to blend better after lowering the saturation and placing under the top-most layer of brushing(The reason you haven't had to merge anything down). After you get an image that suits your fancy, Instead of using "Save As..." Were going to use "Save For Web..." because the quality control is much better. And now your Done! Here's my finished product from earlier:

 

Final Image

 

Before I finish, here are some extra tips that can really help out:

 

1. Play around with all of the adjustment layers to get a feel for them and what they do. This will greatly enhance the quality of your work.

2. Be sure to save a PSD of your image with all the layers intact so you can update it and make changes easily. If you forget, your stuck with that image for good. This is especially true if you make graphics, like sig banners, for others.

3. Try not to completely desaturate the image you add. 75% desaturation can allow for great image blending and enough of the original color to maintain the integrity of it's original detail.

 

Alright, sorry about the length but it's easier to learn from a detailed tutorial with images than a vague one without. I hope that this helps you with your own graphics projects, large and small!

[szupie 0]

Wow, really nice tutorial... Where did you learn to do that? It looks really good, not noob-like (I can't find a better description ). Your tutorial would look much nicer if you put the images on the page, instead of linking to them.

[zorlen 0]

Yeah, sorry about that, but there were so many images there that it wouldn't let me post it without linking to them instead of simply showing them. But I'm glad that you like it :(As to where I learned it, I simply folowed a simple tutorial about using brushes, but it was one that didn't elaborate on the steps so I had to learn through a lot of trial and error. Eventually I came up with a method that worked better than the tutorial and I continued building on that. What I just posted is the compilation of about 6 months of experimenting. I made sure to provide as much detail as possible to help you really get a grasp of what I did so you could try to replicate, master, and then build on what I've just shown because that is the learning process right there.

[Maybe Skate Team 0]

Really nice and detailed tutorial you made there zorlen, it is really appreaciated. Now if you know this well you can move on to brushing 3d abstract pieces that were rendered from any 3d program. I think you would create some really cool abstract art, not just signitures!Thanks again for the tutorial!

[ChronicLoser 0]

hmm, you know what people really need? A tutorial on making their own brushes instead of using other's works lol. I know, i know, they distribute it for public use, but wouldn't it be cooler if a person actually made the brushes themselves and created their signatures that way?Nevertheless I don't know whether or not you made those brushes or not, but the effect is nice either way. Good job on it...

[zorlen 0]

hmmm.... I haven't tried making my own brushes quite yet. But you are right, it would be nice to be able to create an image wholly of your creation, brushes inculded. When I get around to learning decent techniques I'll write another tutorial. If I do and there's too many images for a single post, I'll break it up into two posts so you don't have to click a link to see the images(I'm really sorry about that but the board apparently restricts the amount of images in a single post.).

[Redemptionx 0]

Could u give the direct link of the brush? (s)

[zorlen 0]

I'm sorry, but I don't remember the direct link(s) to the brushe(s) I used. Sorry about that. I do know that you will find them and a lot more at Deviant Art. I found them before I had signed up to be a deviant so I couldn't favorite them I wish I could help.By the way, I remember someone asking about asking someone to make a tutorial on making your own brushes. Well, I'm experimenting with that right now, but it could be a while before I get anything on par with this tutorial. I'm going to try to keep the quality of my future tutorial submissions on par with this one or better, raising the bar as I go.

[DanielSchneid 0]

hey im really interested in this tutorial, i had one question though... When ur using your brush, it looks like it is already transparent, is that so? Mine isn't transparent, it looks terrrible! i got it from the link u posted* should i change it to overlay?? thanks

[ninjamunky 0]

Some brushes just have certain parts transparent and certain parts opaque. All you can do to make them stronger is click again in the same spot, click 2 or 3 times even. And, I haven't done a sig with brushes in ages, but what I always did was add a layer, scroll through the blend modes and see which one it looked best with.