//PS CS2: Resource Tut: Icon Brushes
Here's a simple tutorial for making your own icon brushes... behind the cut, I have tutorials for a few of the easy-to-make, run of the mill brushes that you see all over. There are parts for making brushes from Custom Shapes, dingbats, text, grunge borders, and decorative boxes.
Just for the record, I'll be writing this tutorial as if it is intended for beginners.
First of all, let's go over how to define a brush, if you don't already know how. Your Photoshop program sees brushes in black and white (or various shades of gray). When you define a brush, any area on your canvas that is white will become transparent on your brush, and any area that is black/gray will become part of the brush. This is important to keep in mind if you want your brushes to be clean-cut. If a portion of your brush is black, it will be a solid color when used as a brush. If it is a shade of gray, it will be semi-transparent (the lighter the gray, the more transparent it will be).
Now, on to the actual act of "defining" a brush. To define a brush (make whatever shape/border/text/whatever you've created appear on your paintbrush menu), you simply go to: Edit---> Define Brush (or Define Brush Preset... same thing). The image you just defined will now appear on your brush menu. Yay, you just made a brush!
As for saving brush sets... there are numerous, numerous ways to do this, and it's simple enough, but takes a while to explain. Therefore, I'm going to let you go and find another tutorial for it, since it would be too far off tangent ;)
So, how do people make all those fun icon brushes? Here are a few different techniques for the easiest-to-make icon brushes. If you want to get more creative, you have to do that on your own ;D
----- Brushes from Shape Tools -----
Your Shape Tool and Custom Shape Tool are your friends. You probably have a wealth of shapes that you can use to make brushes that you didn't even realize you had right within Photoshop itself. For circle, square, diamond, heart, and whatever other shape... simple select your Shape Tool from your toolbar (if you haven't changed it, it should look like a gray rectangle).
Below are just a few of the shapes I found on my Custom Shapes menu. Simply select a shape, click your canvas, and drag until you have a size you're happy with. The first image I have here is of a flower shape I might make into a brush... the second is just a few examples of other shapes.
----- Brushes from Dingbats -----
A "dingbat" font is a font that uses pictographs instead of letters. You can find a plethora of dingbats all over the net, from dafont.com to privite sites. If you use dingbats to make brushes and you know who the owner/creator of the dingbat set is, you should credit them.
Using dingbats to make brushes is simple. Select the dingbat font, type until you find a character you like, and resize it until you're happy with the size. You can even sharpen (Filter ---> Sharpen ---> Sharpen) or rasterize (Layer ---> Rasterize ---> Text) and erase a part of it if you need to. Then simply define it as a brush.
From Dingbats Efon & Fleur Aux Dents (dafont.com) --->
----- Tiny Text Brushes -----
I personally like making new text that matches whatever icon I've just made, but sometimes it's nice to have a ready-made tiny text brush so that you don't have to type out and position text on your icon. They're simple enough to make... just select a readable text (the text I'm using here is Garamond) and type a general phrase that can relate to many different things (if it's too specific, you'll never use it). If you want, you can embellish it with extra X's, squares, or other decorations. Viola, instant tiny text with just a mouse click.
----- Border Brushes -----
Open a 100x100 canvas, and duplicate your base layer. Stroke 1-3 pixels black, inside. Now, select your Eraser tool and choose a small, jagged-edge brush, such as the "chalk" brushes. Simply run the jagged edge along the inside of the border to achieve a broken up, grungey look. Super easy, super fast.
For a slightly different look, select your Polygonal Lasso tool (find it by right-clicking on the normal Lasso tool). Use it to draw a funky, misshaped border. Once you've closed your border, right-click and "select inverse." Fill with black. Now, as above, use a small chalk brush to erase the outer edges. Viola!
----- Decorative Box Brushes -----
This is for simple decorative box brushes. First, create a 100x100 canvas. Make a new layer, then use the Rectangle Marquee tool to create a square or rectangle, and fill it with black. Use the Rectangle Marquee tool again to select a smaller portion inside your new black box, and delete it so some white shows through.
Create a new layer and use decorative Dingbats (I'm using Flower Ornaments) or the Custom Shape tool to make decorative flowers, swirls, or feathers on your brush. You can also hand draw something if you choose. If it overlaps the white portion of your box, don't worry. Go to the layer with your rectangle on it, and use the Magic Wand tool to select the white area inside your rectangle. Now, flatten the image (Layer ---> Flatten Image). The selected area should remain highlighted. Now hit clear, and everything covering the white area of your box should be erased.
So, there you have it... a few super quick and easy tutorials for making your own icon brushes. Now, obviously, these are all very simple brushes... to make something original, you have to put in a little more effort and creativity. But this is a start :)
Just for the record, I'll be writing this tutorial as if it is intended for beginners.
First of all, let's go over how to define a brush, if you don't already know how. Your Photoshop program sees brushes in black and white (or various shades of gray). When you define a brush, any area on your canvas that is white will become transparent on your brush, and any area that is black/gray will become part of the brush. This is important to keep in mind if you want your brushes to be clean-cut. If a portion of your brush is black, it will be a solid color when used as a brush. If it is a shade of gray, it will be semi-transparent (the lighter the gray, the more transparent it will be).
Now, on to the actual act of "defining" a brush. To define a brush (make whatever shape/border/text/whatever you've created appear on your paintbrush menu), you simply go to: Edit---> Define Brush (or Define Brush Preset... same thing). The image you just defined will now appear on your brush menu. Yay, you just made a brush!
As for saving brush sets... there are numerous, numerous ways to do this, and it's simple enough, but takes a while to explain. Therefore, I'm going to let you go and find another tutorial for it, since it would be too far off tangent ;)
So, how do people make all those fun icon brushes? Here are a few different techniques for the easiest-to-make icon brushes. If you want to get more creative, you have to do that on your own ;D
----- Brushes from Shape Tools -----
Your Shape Tool and Custom Shape Tool are your friends. You probably have a wealth of shapes that you can use to make brushes that you didn't even realize you had right within Photoshop itself. For circle, square, diamond, heart, and whatever other shape... simple select your Shape Tool from your toolbar (if you haven't changed it, it should look like a gray rectangle).
Below are just a few of the shapes I found on my Custom Shapes menu. Simply select a shape, click your canvas, and drag until you have a size you're happy with. The first image I have here is of a flower shape I might make into a brush... the second is just a few examples of other shapes.
----- Brushes from Dingbats -----
A "dingbat" font is a font that uses pictographs instead of letters. You can find a plethora of dingbats all over the net, from dafont.com to privite sites. If you use dingbats to make brushes and you know who the owner/creator of the dingbat set is, you should credit them.
Using dingbats to make brushes is simple. Select the dingbat font, type until you find a character you like, and resize it until you're happy with the size. You can even sharpen (Filter ---> Sharpen ---> Sharpen) or rasterize (Layer ---> Rasterize ---> Text) and erase a part of it if you need to. Then simply define it as a brush.
From Dingbats Efon & Fleur Aux Dents (dafont.com) --->
----- Tiny Text Brushes -----
I personally like making new text that matches whatever icon I've just made, but sometimes it's nice to have a ready-made tiny text brush so that you don't have to type out and position text on your icon. They're simple enough to make... just select a readable text (the text I'm using here is Garamond) and type a general phrase that can relate to many different things (if it's too specific, you'll never use it). If you want, you can embellish it with extra X's, squares, or other decorations. Viola, instant tiny text with just a mouse click.
----- Border Brushes -----
Open a 100x100 canvas, and duplicate your base layer. Stroke 1-3 pixels black, inside. Now, select your Eraser tool and choose a small, jagged-edge brush, such as the "chalk" brushes. Simply run the jagged edge along the inside of the border to achieve a broken up, grungey look. Super easy, super fast.
For a slightly different look, select your Polygonal Lasso tool (find it by right-clicking on the normal Lasso tool). Use it to draw a funky, misshaped border. Once you've closed your border, right-click and "select inverse." Fill with black. Now, as above, use a small chalk brush to erase the outer edges. Viola!
----- Decorative Box Brushes -----
This is for simple decorative box brushes. First, create a 100x100 canvas. Make a new layer, then use the Rectangle Marquee tool to create a square or rectangle, and fill it with black. Use the Rectangle Marquee tool again to select a smaller portion inside your new black box, and delete it so some white shows through.
Create a new layer and use decorative Dingbats (I'm using Flower Ornaments) or the Custom Shape tool to make decorative flowers, swirls, or feathers on your brush. You can also hand draw something if you choose. If it overlaps the white portion of your box, don't worry. Go to the layer with your rectangle on it, and use the Magic Wand tool to select the white area inside your rectangle. Now, flatten the image (Layer ---> Flatten Image). The selected area should remain highlighted. Now hit clear, and everything covering the white area of your box should be erased.
So, there you have it... a few super quick and easy tutorials for making your own icon brushes. Now, obviously, these are all very simple brushes... to make something original, you have to put in a little more effort and creativity. But this is a start :)