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I really like the effect that using texture brushes has on a layout or element. They can really give it a lot of character, and they are easy to use!
First let’s look at how the paintbrush tool works. If you haven’t already experimented with this tool, it’s located on the right-hand toolbar. In the graphic below, I’ve pointed out some of the options you will have with the brush tool; many are labeled so it’s easy to work with them.
As you can see, there are many different brushes and drawing tools to choose from, but I’m going to focus on the Paintbrush for this tutorial. Be sure and give some of the others a try. You’ll get all kinds of different effects!
The default texture is none. This way you get a even color while using the brush, but I like to experiment with the textures to get different looks. Below is what the texture option looks like when you choose the texture box and “select texture.” For this first sample, I’m going to choose the “Paper 25” texture as I’d like to give a tag a spattered look.
Using a brush size as 200 and the color black, make sure the object you want to paint is active, and run the brush around the edges, or wherever you’d like to add color. If the object you are trying to color is a path, you may have to change it to an image first. To do this, choose
Object/Convert Object Type/From Path to Image.
Just run the brush over the areas you want to give the texture to, several times to make it darker. See how easy it is? Now for something even more fun…add your own texture!
I’m going to use a seamless tile that I made from a kaleidoscope image, but you can use anything you like for this. You get the best results from seamless images and patterns, but if you size your graphic right, you could even use a photo or a drawing to “paint” onto your tag.
To load your custom pattern, choose the texture button then pick “add texture.” You can browse to where you have your pattern saved at and select it. It will add your texture to the list of the textures when you next open up the various textures to choose from.
Now to use the texture, choose the one you just added (it should be near the bottom of the list of textures and experiment with the color, transparency, soft edge, etc. to get the desired effect.
Another example with a different custom texture:
As you can see the possibilities are endless! If you combine several different brushes and colors, you can get a really grungy look.
The secret to using textured brushes is just to try them out. There’s always the undo command if you add something that you’re not happy with. Have fun experimenting!
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