Modern graphic programs provide very great opportunities for both professional artists and amateur artists. One of these programs is included in the Adobe package and is called "Photoshop." It is intended primarily for processing and retouching photographs, but it contains a rich set of tools for drawing. The program has an intuitive interface, and to master it if desired is not difficult.
The question of how to draw in “Photoshop” involves at least two clarifiers. Which device do you plan to use? Mouse or graphics tablet? What type of files do you plan to create? Vector or raster?
Question about mouse drawing
In general, you can learn how to draw in Photoshop with the mouse in the full sense of the word in only one case. The mouse is suitable only for vector drawings. For raster painting, it can only be truly used unless in order to create works in the spirit of abstractionism or cubism. To draw clear, precise, complex and beautiful lines with the mouse, few succeed.
In case you want to create vector images, you need to use the Pen tool.
Using the options of this tool, you need to create points and lines, and then control them so that they bend in the right direction, creating geometrically correct shapes. Then these figures are filled with the desired color. The advantages of this method of drawing are that the drawing can be easily changed, corrected at any time (therefore, vector graphics are so popular with animators), and also that it has almost no relation to the ability to draw “by hand”.
It is using the tools of vector graphics, in the full sense, you can draw in Photoshop from scratch with the mouse.
Using a graphics tablet
However, the possibilities of the program are far from exhausted; it offers many possibilities of how to draw. In "Photoshop" there is a whole range of tools for raster graphics and painting. A graphics tablet allows you to use them in their entirety. Very many beginners and professional artists purchase this device instead of looking for some ingenious ways of how to draw in Photoshop with the mouse.
The tablet will allow you to draw clear lines, simulating drawing with different tools. Mastering the drawing technique will take some time, but it will pay off. You can adjust the degree of pressing a pencil or felt-tip pen, as well as a variety of other tools simulated by the program.
Brush
The basic drawing tool in Photoshop is numerous brushes with a huge number of fine-tuning. In addition to the built-in brushes, you can create them yourself. In addition, in the network you can find huge brush bases for every taste.
Beginning of work
Before drawing lines in Photoshop, you need to create a new document and - preferably - a new layer. This always provides special benefits. Working with different layers will allow you to edit fragments of your drawing independently from each other, change composition, delete failed lines without affecting the successful ones, and also without distorting the background.
So, in the “File” menu, click on the “New” line, in the window that opens, set the document parameters (size, background color , color environment, etc.). Canvas created. Save the document.
In the "Layers" menu, click on the line "New" - "Layer". Set its parameters. By default, you will create a transparent layer located on top of the background. You can delete, rotate, move or edit it at any time without affecting other layers.
Now select the Brush tool. In the drop-down list, select its shape, adjust the value, rigidity. Set the color of future lines.
Now you can draw lines or spots. When working, do not forget to save the document regularly.
If you are satisfied with the drawn fragment of the image and you would not want it to be damaged during further manipulations, create a new layer and work in it. Then you can merge both layers for further processing.
Fine brush settings
Before drawing in Photoshop, it’s appropriate to study the settings of the brushes, because the capabilities of the tool are in many respects a decisive moment for the artist.
The Brushes palette allows you to control the line, make it more lively.
You might like the following settings.
"The dynamics of form." It allows you to make the line thicker or thinner, depending, for example, on rotation or pressure.
"Texture". This parameter is designed to simulate drawing on canvas of a certain structure, and it can also be customized.
"The dynamics of color." You can adjust the brush so that the hue of the line changes, and the picture looks more natural.
"Wet edges." This option allows you to simulate painting with wet paint. True, he has no adjustments, but works on the principle of "on / off." (you can only remove or tick the option).
There are other settings that bring drawing in the program closer to natural.
Image editing
One of the reasons to ask how to learn how to draw in Photoshop is the ability to quickly edit and “finish” work, quickly transforming a draft into a clean draft.
The advantages of drawing on a computer are well felt if you need to edit something that is rarely amenable to editing on paper or canvas in the finished work.
- Relatively easy editing of small and basic lines of the image. Suppose it’s quite easy to correct an already finished portrait without compromising the quality of the picture.
- Creating multiple copies of the work, the ability to return to a specific stage of work.
- Correction and radical change in composition. Often, a compositional solution is found only after the work is ready. In this case, you must either come to terms with the mistakes made, or redo the work again and again. In Photoshop, when working in layers, you can always not only change the composition, but also boldly experiment without wasting time or precious time.
- Correction and replacement of background and texture.
- Color gamut correction.
The capabilities of the program are so great that, as a rule, everyone finds his own way of how to draw in Photoshop. Most often, an artist or designer uses a limited number of functions, which are enough to achieve the main goals of the work.