TECHNIQUE 35: USING THE MIXER BRUSH AND BRISTLE TIPS STEP 1 Start by opening an image in your workspace that has some areas you would like to paint on, like the winterberries image shown in Figure 35-1. The berries look a bit weathered from the cold, so you will plump them back up using the Mixer Brush with Bristle Tips.
Figure 35-1
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STEP 2 Duplicate the background layer by pressing Ctrl+J/Ô+J, and with your copied layer selected, select Window > Brush to open the Brush panel. This is where you preview and select the new Bristle Tips available for your brushes. Select the 25 px Round Point brush and notice the new Bristle Brush Preview window at the left of your screen. Use the preview and the various brush settings to create a brush that has the precise bristle characteristics you need. For instance, you may want to adjust the bristle density by setting bristles to 45%, and set the brush thickness to 23%. STEP 3 Click and hold on the regular Brush tool until you see the pop-up menu, and then select the Mixer Brush from the bottom of the list. Unfortunately, you can’t use the Mixer Brush on a Smart Object for non-destructive editing, so before you proceed create a new layer (Shift+Ctrl+N/Shift+Ô+N) to work on and select Sample All Layers from the brush Options bar. For your paint color, you can either click the Color swatch on the Options bar to mix a custom color or sample a color from your image, or load “paint” into the brush reservoir by Alt+clicking/Option+clicking on the canvas, much like you would sample the source with the Clone Stamp. In this example, sample the berries to load a berry red color into the brush. STEP 4 To paint, simply drag your brush across the canvas in a series of strokes, as you would with a normal paintbrush. You can control the amount of paint in your brush using the Wet, Load, Mix, and Flow menus on the Options bar, or by choosing one of the presets, such as Moist, Light Mix, from the Blending Brush Combo pop-up menu.
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