Happy Valentine's Day! // Photoshop Brush Tutorial

Mwah!  You guys are the best!

Do you have Photoshop and want to make your own lip art?

Click "Read more" for a Basic Photoshop Brush Tutorial

First, download the love and kisses brush set by creature comforts to your computer.

BTW, creature comforts is one of the first blogs that I started following and is one of my all time favorites. EZ is a rockstar!

If you know how to use Brushes in Photoshop, then go ahead and do your thing!

However, if you're new to using Brushes, here are the basics... 

How to use Brushes in Photoshop

There are tons of ways to use brushes in Photoshop, some more complex than others. This is the quick and not-so-complicated way to use them.

Using the top menu bar, create a New Blank File.

My file is sized to 5x7, but pick the size that'll work for you.

In the left tool bar, click on the "brush tool" icon, it looks like a paint brush. If you can't see it, click on the little black arrow at the bottom of the icon and the menu will pop up.

Now it's time to load the Brushes. See that black squiggle right under the menu? Click on it, then click on those tiny white arrows that point to the right and select the "love and kisses brush set". It'll be an "abr" file. Click the "Load" button.

On the bottom right side of the screen, you'll see the "layers"  box. If you're even just a little familiar with Photoshop, you probably have figured out that Layers are the building blocks of photo editing... You can't create without them. See that tiny little square at the bottom left of the layers box? Click it to create a new layer.

In fact, you'll want to create a new layer for each "brush" or color that you use. That way if you later need to resize or erase, you won't have to resize or erase all of them. It truly acts like a stamp and you can't resize or erase just one... UNLESS they are in separate layers.

Before you start using the brushes, choose a color with the "Color Picker" icon. See the two squares? The color on top indicates the color of the Brush.

Go back to the black squiggle line at the top of the screen and select the brush that you would like to use.  Size the brush before you "stamp" it (the size scroll is right next to the black squiggle line).  You can resize the brush image once it's stamped, but the image will get blurry if you enlarge it too much.

Then "stamp" the brush on your "paper". It'll show an outline so you'll know where to place it and how big it'll be. You can then rotate the image to your liking using the "Move Tool" (arrow icon at top of sidebar menu).

Repeat until you're happy with the results! Remember to create a new layer for each brush or color that you use. Trust me, it'll make editing easier.

Save as a .jpg file and you're done.

Any plans for the day of love? Typically the hubs and I don't do anything special on the actual day... We wait a day or two until the madness dies down, then we enjoy our romantic dinner in a less crowded, less stressed-out restaurant. Dang, we're practical! This year though, we have Lakers tickets. So we'll enjoy a nice, early dinner at one the restaurants near the Staples Center before heading over to watch some ball. Should be fun and I'm sure that "kiss cam" will be getting a workout.  :)

Whatever your plans, have a great Valentine's Day!

xoxo,