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Last updated 7/26/2011
Chapter 12: Painting
The painting tools change the color of pixels in an image. The Brush tool and the Pencil tool work like traditional
drawing tools by applying color with brush strokes. The Gradient tool, Fill command, and Paint Bucket tool apply
color to large areas. Tools like the Eraser tool, Blur tool, and Smudge tool modify the existing colors in an image.
The power of painting in Adobe® Photoshop® Elements is in the options that you can set to specify how a tool applies
or modifies color. You can apply color gradually, with soft edges, with large brush strokes, with various brush
dynamics, with different blending properties, and with brushes of different shapes. You can simulate spraying paint
with an airbrush.
Painting overview
About painting tools
The workspace in Photoshop Elements provides a variety of tools for applying and editing color. When you select a
painting tool, the option bar displays a variety of preset brush tips and settings for brush size, paint blending, opacity,
and airbrush effects. You can create new brush presets and save them in brush libraries. You can customize the brush
and settings for any of the painting and editing tools and manage them using the Preset Manager.
Brush options in the options bar
A. Brush pop-up panel and brush thumbnail B. Brush size pop-up slider and text box C. More menu
The Brush tool paints smooth, anti-aliased lines. Other painting tools include the Pencil tool for making hard-edged
lines and the Eraser tool for erasing color pixels from layers. The Paint Bucket tool and Fill command fill areas of your
image with color or patterns. The pattern Stamp tool paints with one of the predefined patterns or a pattern that you
design.
The Impressionist Brush tool affects existing color by applying stylized brush strokes. The Smudge tool also affects
existing image colors by simulating the action of dragging a finger through wet paint.
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