Paint with the Brush or Pencil tool

The Brush and Pencil tools let you add color to your images through natural painting gestures, giving you precise control over stroke characteristics, blending behavior, and application methods.

This procedure applies the currently selected foreground color to your image using brush strokes. The Brush creates soft, blended strokes with anti-aliasing, while the Pencil tool produces crisp, pixel-precise lines without anti-aliasing. Choose the tool based on whether you need smooth transitions or sharp edges in your painted areas.

In Photoshop 25.0 and later, painting on smart objects, text layers, shape layers, or adjustment layers automatically creates a new transparent layer, eliminating the need for manual rasterization prompts.

Before painting, select your foreground color and choose a brush preset that matches your creative intent. The Brush Settings panel provides extensive customization options for brush behavior, dynamics, and appearance.

Apply color with brush strokes

To paint straight lines between two points, select a starting location, press Shift, and select an ending location. Photoshop connects the points with a straight stroke using your current brush settings.

When using the Brush tool with Airbrush mode enabled, hold down the mouse button without dragging to gradually build up color in one area, simulating traditional airbrush behavior.

Paint tool options reference

The options bar provides controls that determine how paint is applied to your image. These settings work with both the Brush and Pencil tools, though some options are tool-specific.

Mode

Mode sets the blending modes for combining paint color with underlying pixels. Available modes vary with the selected tool and determine how the applied color interacts with existing colors.

Opacity

Opacity controls the transparency of the paint you apply. As you paint over an area, opacity does not exceed the set level, regardless of how many times you move the pointer over the area before releasing the mouse button. Stroking over the area again applies additional color equivalent to the set opacity. An opacity of 100% produces opaque paint.

Press a number key to set opacity in multiples of 10 percent (1 sets 10%, 0 sets 100%), or press two number keys quickly to set a specific value.

Flow

Flow determines the rate at which color is applied as you move the pointer. As you paint over an area while holding down the mouse button, color builds up based on the flow rate, up to the opacity setting. Lower flow values produce gradual color buildup, while higher values apply color more quickly.

Press Shift and a number key to set the flow as a percentage.

Airbrush mode

Airbrush mode simulates painting with a traditional airbrush by allowing paint to build up as you hold down the mouse button at a single location. Select the airbrush icon in the options bar to enable this mode for the Brush tool.

Auto Erase

Auto Erase is available for the Pencil tool only. It paints the background color over areas containing the foreground color when you drag. If you begin dragging on an area that doesn't contain the foreground color, the tool paints with the foreground color instead.

Tablet pressure controls

Tablet pressure controls how a graphics tablet's pressure affects brush characteristics. Select the pressure button for size to vary brush diameter with pen pressure, or select the pressure button for opacity to vary paint transparency. These controls integrate with the Brush Settings panel for more advanced pressure-sensitive options.

For comprehensive guidance on customizing brushes, create and modify brush tips and select and manage brush presets to refine brush behavior and keep your presets organized.