Photoshop Painting Tool: Brush, Pencil & History Brush

The Photoshop Painting Tools is group of tool that we can use to apply strokes of color to your image, which we will discuss in this post, include Brush Tool , Pencil Tool , History Brush Tool and Art History Brush . You can apply colors gradually, with soft edges and transitions, and manipulate individual pixels using powerful filter effects. In most cases, you’ll be painting with the foreground color, though you can also create multicolored brush-strokes using the Color Dynamics options in the Brushes palette.

Painting Tool Option:

• A. Tool Preset: Show tool that currently in use. You can also click at down arrow to select tool preset that currently loaded (see Using Photoshop Tool Presets)
• B. Brush size and shape: Show brush preset that currently select, use down arrow to select other brush preset. ( see Using Photoshop Brush Palette and Photoshop Brush Dynamic)
• C. Blending Mode: Specify how painted color effect with the current color (See also Photoshop Blending Mode)
• D. Opacity: Specifies the maximum amount of paint coverage applied by the tool. For more detail about opacity option please visit Brush Dynamic – Opacity.
• E. Flow: Specifies how quickly paint is applied by the Brush tool. A low setting produces a lighter stroke. For more detail about flow option please visit Brush Dynamic – Flow.
• F. Air Brush Button : Toggle Airbrush function. See Airbrush function below.
• G. Auto Erase: (pencil tool only) This option lets you paint the background color over areas containing the foreground color.

Tip: To quickly sample color in your image, while using brush tool, press and hold Alt(Option) key. You cursor will turn to eyedropper , now (while pressing Alt(option) key), you can click to any part of your image to quickly sample the color to foreground color by use current Eyedropper setting.

To quickly change brush size, use “[" and "]” key to increase or decrease brush size while working with any painting tool. Or press “,” key to select previous brush preset and “.” key to select next brush preset that list in Brush Palette.

Press any number to set Opacity(D) or Flow (E), for example press 5 for 50%, 0 for 100% or 01 for 1%. For most painting tool or other tool that use brush press number when Airbrush (F) turn off will change Opacity and Shift + Number to change Flow value. But if Airbrush is turn on press number key will change Flow value and Shift + Number for Opacity. (See Photoshop Brush Dynamic for more detail)

Right Click (Windows) or Control + Click (MacOS) anywhere in your image, while painting tool selected, to show Brush Shape Preset pop-up allow you to select brush size, brush hardness or even other brush shape preset without accessing Brush Palette.

To draw straight line, Press and hold Shift key and click mouse button to define start point and end point of the line (not dragging), Photoshop will draw straight line between each points you define. You can keep on pressing Shift and Click key to draw straight line to other point. At example below I change foreground color every time I make a click.

You can also change cursor to preview current working brush size in Photoshop preference, by using menu Edit » Preferences » Display & Cursors (for Windows) or Photoshop » Preferences » Display & Cursors (for MacOS). And select Brush Size radio button in Painting Cursors section.

Press Caps Lock key to switch between Brush Size Cursor to Precise Cursor . When Caps Lock is on cursor will change to Precise.

Brush Tool and Pencil Tool

The Brush tool and the Pencil tool to let you paint with the current foreground color. Both tool paints a line of any thickness that you specify via the Options bar.

By default, the Brush tool creates soft strokes of color and the Pencil tool creates hard-edged, freehand lines. However, you can change these default characteristics by resetting the tool’s brush options. You can also use the Brush tool as an airbrush to apply sprays of color to an image.

Note: For Soft brush the edges of the brush-stroke will blend to some extent with the background. Known as anti-aliasing, this softness produces halftone dots when printing, ensuring smooth transitions between a brush-stroke and its surroundings.

Airbrush Function

Normally, the Brush tool applies a continuous stream of color and stops applying paint whenever you stop dragging. However, if you activate the airbrush function by clicking the airbrush icon in the Options bar, the color continues to build up as long as you press the mouse button, even when you hold the cursor still.

From example above, all stroke using same brush size and shape but decrease Flow option for airbrush by 50%. When turn on Airbrush function you will get darker color at the corner and end of the stoke due to slower speed when drawing.

History Brush and Art History Brush tool

In general History Brush and Art History Brush tool allow you to paint from specified history state or snapshot as the source data. The History Brush tool paints by recreating the specified source data, while the Art History Brush tool uses that data along with the options you set to create different colors and artistic styles. (See also Photoshop History Palette)

The History Brush tool is often used by for retouching by applying a heavy filter such as Dust and Scratches or Gaussian Blur, or when using the healing brush or patch tool. After applying those effects, you can restore parts of the picture that you don�t want to be filtered, healed or patched by painting from a state prior to the changes thus blending the old with the new.

The Art History Brush tool lets you paint with stylized strokes, using the source data from a specified history state or snapshot. By experimenting with different paint style, size, and tolerance options, you can simulate the texture of painting with different colors and artistic styles.

Art History Brush Option

The Art History Brush tool don’t have Flow option but include additional options other than regular paint tool as listed below.

A. Style: Option to control the shape of the paint stroke.

B. Area: Specify the area covered by the paint strokes. The greater the size, the larger the covered area and the more numerous the strokes.

C. Tolerance: Specify the value to limit the regions where paint strokes can be applied. A low tolerance lets you paint unlimited strokes anywhere in the image. A high tolerance limits paint strokes to areas that differ considerably from the color in the source state or snapshot.

Tip: For a variety of visual effects, experiment with applying filters or filling an image with a solid color before painting with the Art History Brush tool. Also try increasing the size of the image by a factor of 4 to soften the details.

To Use History Brush and Art History Brush:

1. In the History palette, click the left column of the state or snapshot to use as the source for the tool. A brush icon appears next to the source history state.
2. Select the History Brush tool or Art History Brush tool .
3. Select Brush and set the options at the option bar as needed.
4. Drag in the image to paint.

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