how to use photoshop to draw

Can you draw in Photoshop? Sure, if you know how! Using Photoshop to draw may sound like a weird idea, but many professional person artists use it on a daily ground.

In this tutorial, I'll teach you how to draw in Photoshop. I'll testify you all the basic tools and present a pace-by-footstep process of Photoshop drawing—from sketch to colour, shading, and special effects. In my opinion, this technique is the all-time manner to draw in Photoshop if you're a beginner, but you lot tin modify information technology later on to create your own personal way. So if y'all're interested in drawing in Photoshop for beginners, this volition be a perfect tutorial for yous!

What You lot're Going to Acquire in This Adobe Photoshop Drawing Tutorial

• How to draw using Photoshop
• What is the best way to describe in Photoshop
• What are the drawing tools in Photoshop
• The easy way to shade in Photoshop
• How to draw in Photoshop using Clipping Masks
• How to blend in Photoshop

Follow forth with us over on our Envato Tuts+ YouTube aqueduct:

What You'll Need

For this tutorial we're going to demand a reference photo. Using references is not cheating—information technology merely ways you draw something y'all meet instead of something y'all imagine. Y'all tin find adept, high-resolution references on Envato Elements. I used this 1:

• Cute Scene With a Leopard Family

Envato Elements is an awesome resource where you can download many Photoshop actions, add-ons, and brushes, like this creative and matte painting brush set up, perfect for adding texture and realistic traditional drawing textures to your Photoshop fine art.

1. What Are the Cartoon Tools in Photoshop?

In this section, I'm going to explain the bones drawing tools of Photoshop. If yous don't consider yourself a full beginner and yous're interested in the drawing technique simply, feel free to skip to department 2.

Step i

Open Photoshop and create a New File. Beginning, we accept to make up one's mind the size of our canvas. You can change information technology later, just it always comes at a loss of quality, so cull wisely. The bigger the size, the more details y'all can fit in, merely also the harder it is for your figurer to manage. Allow'south use the dimensions 5000 ten 3500 for now.

Step 2

The new file has been created, and nosotros're ready to depict! Simply start, have a look at the Layers panel. There's a single layer here for now—the background filled with white. To continue your lines separated from the background, you lot need to create a New Layer. Just click the plus icon to practise it.

Step 3

Press B to utilize the Brush Tool. If you depict something on the canvas now, it will be drawn on the layer that is currently selected. Click the eye icon next to the background layer to come across that it stays separated from the lines. Considering the lines are separated, you tin use the Movement Tool (V) to elevate them, or press Command-T to resize and rotate them.

This line is separated from the white background

Stride 4

Change the color now and draw something over the first line. Y'all'll notice that they're merged—you tin can only move them together. But if you create a New Layer and describe on information technology, then these lines volition stay separated. So always pay attention to what layer you're drawing on. If you lot want to brand sure you won't describe on a sure layer by accident, you can lock information technology.

You can remove these layers by pressing Delete to clean upwardly the canvass.

You tin lock the layer to avoid accidents

These lines overlap each other, but as long as they're on separate layers, you can move, edit, and delete them individually

Stride five

Correct-click on the canvas to open up the Brushes palette. It includes all the default brushes. You lot can as well open this console by clicking this icon on the correct.

Step half dozen

Exam a couple of brushes now. You'll notice that they're pretty small—it's because the canvas is so big! To change information technology, you can press Z to apply the Zoom Tool and "get closer" to the canvas. Then you tin can hold the Space key and drag the canvass to move beyond it. To zoom out, hold the Alt key when using the Zoom Tool, or press Command-0 to reset the view. If you accept a hard time remembering the shortcuts, just use the View menu.

You lot tin can also temporarily rotate the whole canvas by clicking R. Printing Escape to reset the rotation.

Using the Zoom Tool doesn't brand the sheet bigger—information technology just makes it appear and then

Footstep 7

You can too change the size of the brush. Yous tin do it by dragging the slider in the Brushes panel, but information technology's easier to simply use the square bracket keys: [ and ]. When drawing, I go along my fingers over them all the fourth dimension to change the size of the strokes dynamically.

Yous can alter the size here, simply in drawing information technology's faster to use the shortcuts

Pace 8

We're almost ready to start drawing, but commencement cull a sketching brush. You can pick any of the default ones, but if you feel none of them fits your sketching mode, yous tin can create your own brush. Select the brush that seems to exist the closest to your thought of a perfect sketching castor and open the Brush Settings panel—it'southward correct over the Brushes panel.

Step 9

You tin now experiment with the settings to see how they bear upon the strokes of your castor. Y'all don't take to know what these settings practise—just alter them and see what happens. Yous can likewise alter the settings in the upper bar.

I've started with the "Difficult Round Pressure Size" brush and modified information technology this mode

Step 10

When y'all're washed, click the plus icon to save these settings every bit a new brush. You tin at present create your own castor grouping and drag your new castor to it.

Step eleven

Alternatively, you lot tin can install brushes made by other artists—you just demand to download the brush set up, like this pencil brush gear up from Envato Elements, and elevate it into the Brushes console.

1 more matter: remember to Salve (Control-S) your artwork every time you do something of import.

2. How to Prepare Your Reference for Photoshop Drawing

Step 1

Earlier we commencement drawing, open your reference in Photoshop, then get to Image > Paradigm Size. Brand information technology 500 px wide. If you lot want, you can become to Prototype > Image Rotation > Flip Sail Horizontal—I recollect my reference looks better this manner.

Personally, I similar my characters facing the left side!

Step two

Go to Filter > Filter Gallery > Artistic > Cutout. Adjust the settings to plow the scene into a set of geometrical shapes. Remove as much particular as possible while keeping the full general outline of the elements.

3. How to Draw Line Art in Photoshop

Step 1

Now we can start drawing! Remove all the test layers and create a new one. Keep your reference photo in sight—you tin use the PureRef app for this purpose. Start by blocking out the main shapes, focusing on the proportions. Cheers to what nosotros did to the reference a moment ago, it's easier to copy the geometrical shapes without getting lost in the details. Angles are likewise easier to copy than round shapes. Go along your brush big, and don't zoom in too much. Focus on the big moving picture for now.

Don't try to make it perfect all at once. Retrieve that you tin utilize Control-Z to undo a mistake, or employ the Eraser Tool (E) to erase it. You tin can likewise use the Lasso Tool (L) to select a part of the drawing and move it to another place. Press Control-D to deselect when you exercise information technology.

Because my brush gets thicker when I press harder, I can draw the offset lines more than subtly, and make them darker and thicker when I desire to accentuate their final position. The thick lines cover the sparse, exploratory lines.

Step 2

When you're done, lower the Opacity of this layer by dragging the slider in the Layers panel. This will let usa to employ the sketch as a support for the next phase of cartoon, without creating a jungle of lines. Switch your reference to the original photograph.

Footstep 3

Now create a New Layer, make your castor smaller, and keep cartoon, this time adding all the details and fixing the proportions if necessary. Don't attempt to continue it clean—it's still a sketch, merely a more detailed one. It's good to analyze the elements in the scene to copy their 3D course, not just the outlines. Understanding what you're drawing will help y'all with shading later, and information technology'southward also a necessary step to be able to draw from imagination in the futurity.

This doesn't apply to Photoshop drawing simply, just to drawing in general—all the same, since digital fine art is ofttimes considered to be easier than normal drawing, your expectations for your first attempts may be college. Whenever you feel frustrated, keep reminding yourself that at that place's nothing wrong with you—information technology'south just harder than it looks. Control-Z may assist you remove your mistakes, but there's no shortcut to draw something the right way.

Flipping the image horizontally from time to time will help you see the whole image with fresh optics and make certain mistakes more noticeable. You lot can assign a keyboard shortcut to information technology to get in more convenient.

Step 4

At present, time for the final lines! Hide the kickoff sketch and lower the Opacity of the 2nd one. And then create a New Layer, zoom in, and describe the final, clean drawing. Keep your brush small and your strokes smooth. It's adept if these strokes are dark and pretty hard-edged—this volition arrive easier to create the Clipping Mask later.

Take your time—creating skillful line art is a skill on its own, and you shouldn't rush information technology merely considering yous've spent so much time on this cartoon already. Brand certain to include a diversity of lines in your line fine art—thick and thin, tapered and rounded. Accentuate certain parts strongly, and others subtly. You tin can hide your sketch from time to time to see how yous're doing and what else needs to exist accentuated.

Footstep v

Create dissever line art for the branch, or whatever other objects you have in your scene that overlap the previous elements.

Step 6

Hide the sketch layer and name the line fine art layers then that you can instantly recognize them.

Information technology'south good to brand a addiction of naming the layers—the more of them you have, the easier it is to get lost!

iv. How to Colour a Cartoon in Photoshop

Stride i

Accept the Magic Wand Tool (Due west) and click the area outside of the line art. If it doesn't select the whole element, modify the Tolerance. And then become to Select > Inverse to select the within of the outline.

Make sure your outline is continuous, without any gaps—otherwise the automatic selection will not work

Step 2

Create a New Layer under this layer, and apply the Pigment Saucepan Tool (G) to fill it with any colour. Deselect with Control-D. Requite this layer a name, something including "mask".

Step 3

Do the same with the other object or objects in your scene.

Stride four

Let's add the colors now. Select the background layer and click the circle icon on the bottom. Select Gradient and create a bluish-white gradient to create the effect of a cloudy sky.

Footstep v

Select the first mask and create a New Layer. Concur the Alt key and click the line between these ii layers. This will create a Clipping Mask—now you lot can draw all over this new layer without risking going exterior of the lines.

Step six

Use this method to fill the objects with a single color.

Step 7

A single, uniform color is pretty boring, so allow's add another, similar color using a difficult castor.

Pace 8

Now we need to blend these ii colors. Find the Brush Tool in the toolbar, and so concur its icon to reveal a menu. Select the Mixer Brush Tool. Adjust the settings to create a blender brush that works but the fashion you lot expect it to—a soft round brush can exist a good base for the default blender, but textured brushes create nice effects as well.

When you find the perfect settings, save them as a new brush, just like before.

Experiment with these settings—there are many methods of blending!

Footstep 9

Employ this method to add equally many colors as y'all need, simply for now focus only on the big areas of colour.

Pace 10

Now add together another layer and color the details. Coloring the details separately can be useful in case you want to modify anything important later. Withal, the blender brush may not piece of work if yous want to alloy things from 2 different layers.

Step 11

Let's add 1 more than layer for the spots. This pattern, although very fourth dimension-consuming, will brand the leopards await more detailed even without intricate shading.

Recall to "wrap" the body with the spots—don't only depict them ane past i

five. How to Shade in Photoshop

Step 1

Let's shade our drawing now! Create a New Layer on top of the previously clipped layers, clip it, and fill it with white. Then click the Normal push button to reveal the listing of Alloy Modes. Select Multiply. When you paint on a layer in Multiply manner, the colors become transparent—instead of roofing the colors beneath, they darken them, as a colored drinking glass would. That'southward why it's perfect for cartoon shadows!

Step two

Draw the shadows on the lower part of the body using a hard castor. Utilize greenish yellow rather than black—this volition brand the shadows look more than natural, as if filled with lite reflected from the environs. Y'all tin proceed the shadows sharp or blend them, depending on the style you're going for.

Step iii

For a more realistic effect, use a few levels of darkness—brand the biggest area of shadows quite vivid, and then find the areas that need more shadow and darken them. The darker the shadow, the smaller the area it should cover. Yous don't have to copy the shading in the reference directly—sometimes it's improve to use simpler, more predictable shading in your drawing.

If you lot switch back to Normal mode, you'll be able to meet the shadows separately from the colors

Step iv

Add one more white Multiply layer. This time, paint some sky-colored shadows on the summit and left side of the body—this will make them wait more iii-dimensional.

Step 5

Practice a similar affair with the branch.

6. How to Terminate a Photoshop Drawing

Footstep 1

Let's stop the background at present. Adjust the gradient if necessary to brand it fit the colors you've called afterward. Then create a New Layer and become to Filter > Return > Tree. You tin pick any tree yous want, but I think Shrub will work best here.

When information technology comes to colors, you don't have to stick to your first choice—feel costless to change your artwork to the very end!

Step ii

Utilize the Move Tool (V) to place the tree in the bottom-left corner. Then hold the Alt primal and drag to create more than trees in this area.

Step 3

Hold the Shift fundamental to select all the tree layers, and so printing Control-E to merge them. Lower the Opacity to simulate some atmospheric perspective.

Step four

Now merge the trees with the sky, and go to Filter > Mistiness > Lens Blur. Adjust the settings to create the effect you like, and then press OK.

Experiment with these settings

Step 5

Now it'south time to terminate looking at the reference and focus entirely on your work. Have a good look at information technology—is there anything you'd like to change? Considering every effect has been applied to a separate layer, you won't have any trouble adjusting them.

You tin duplicate the layer by pressing Control-J to make the effect stronger, and lower its Opacity to brand information technology subtler. Yous tin can create a New Layer on tiptop and paint on information technology to add together more details. You can blend the shadows some more, or add new ones. Experience free to spend as much time as yous demand at this stage to make your paradigm every bit good as it can possibly be!

Step vi

When you're washed, select the whole cartoon by pressing Control-A, and then get to Edit > Copy Merged and paste the copy into a New File. Go to Paradigm > Image Size and give your drawing a more than sensible size—something around 1000 px wide. Now your file is ready to exist saved equally a PNG and shared on social media!

If yous prefer a more than painterly style, you tin too remove the lines and/or paint over them. However, continue in mind that finishing the artwork this way may take as much fourth dimension as you've already spent on it, or more!

Adept Chore!

Now you know how to draw using Photoshop! You know how to describe the get-go sketch, how to create the line art, how to add the colors, how to shade, and how to cease the artwork. At present, using Photoshop to draw doesn't audio like a crazy idea anymore!

Photoshop Painting Brushes

Creating custom brushes in Photoshop is possible, just it takes some time and skill. Instead, you can use brushes created past other artists! Here are a couple of propositions from Envato Elements.

Artistic & Matte Painting Photoshop Castor Ready (ABR)

If you need a bones, universal brush set, endeavor this one—it contains 22 brushes designed to simulate diverse traditional tools. It may expect uncomplicated, merely the truth is you don't demand anything else to create wonderful artwork!

Pencil Brushes Photoshop (ABR)

Whether you lot need a pencil just for the commencement stage of cartoon, or you desire to create an artwork that looks as if information technology was drawn with real pencils, this castor set up is a great choice. It contains 31 brushes, and some of them will salvage you lot a lot of time during shading!

Shader Brushes for Photoshop (ABR, EPS, PNG)

This professional brush set will allow you to attain a unique style of shading. Information technology's perfect for minimalistic illustrations, but these textured brushes will be keen for photorealistic artworks as well!

Stipple Castor Set for Photoshop and Illustrator (ABR, AI, EPS)

Stipple shading is a method of shading using a series of tiny dots grouped together. If y'all like this way, thanks to this brush set yous won't have to depict all these dots by hand—these brushes come in unlike sizes and densities to create a realistic and natural effect.

Photoshop Ink Brushes (ABR)

Ink drawings look really cool, but ink is not very forgiving. Nonetheless, if you use digital ink, you lot get the same effect without all the force per unit area! This castor set contains 12 ink washes brushes, 12 sketching ink brushes, and ink stain brushes—combine them all for a fantastic end outcome!

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