Create and modify brushes

You can create brushes that apply paint to images in a variety of ways. You select an existing preset brush, a brush tip shape, or create a unique brush tip from part of an image. You choose options from the Brush Settings panel to specify how the paint is applied.

Note: Symmetry painting and Pattern Preview do not support Live Tip Brushes. Choose a normal brush for symmetry and pattern painting.

The Brush Settings panel lets you modify existing brushes and design new custom brushes. The Brush Settings panel contains the brush tip options that determine how paint is applied to an image. The brush stroke preview at the bottom of the panel shows how paint strokes look with the current brush options.

Display the Brush panel and brush options

Getting started with advanced custom brushes

Create a brush tip from an image

Create a brush and set painting options

Standard brush tip shape options

For standard brush tips, you can set the following options in the Brush Settings panel:

Controls the size of the brush. Enter a value in pixels or drag the slider.

Resets the brush to its original diameter. This option is available only if the brush tip shape was created by sampling pixels in an image.

Changes the direction of a brush tip on its x axis.

Changes the direction of a brush tip on its y axis.

Specifies the angle by which an elliptical or sampled brush’s long axis is rotated from horizontal. Type a value in degrees, or drag the horizontal axis in the preview box.

Specifies the ratio between the brush’s short and long axes. Enter a percentage value, or drag the points in the preview box. A value of 100% indicates a circular brush, a value of 0% indicates a linear brush, and intermediate values indicate elliptical brushes.

Controls the size of the brush’s hard center. Type a number, or use the slider to enter a value that is a percentage of the brush diameter. You can’t change the hardness of sampled brushes.

Controls the distance between the brush marks in a stroke. To change the spacing, type a number, or use the slider to enter a value that is a percentage of the brush diameter. When this option is deselected, the speed of the cursor determines the spacing.

Bristle tip shape options

Bristle tips let you specify precise bristle characteristics, creating highly realistic, natural-looking strokes. Set the following brush tip shape options in the Brush panel:

Determines the overall arrangement of bristles.

Controls overall bristle density.

Changes bristle length.

Controls the width of individual bristles.

Controls bristle flexibility. At low settings, brush shape deforms easily.

Controls the distance between the brush marks in a stroke. To change the spacing, type a number or use the slider to specify a percentage of the brush diameter. When this option is deselected, the speed of the cursor determines the spacing.

When painting with a mouse, determines the brush tip angle.

Shows brush tip that reflects changes to settings above, as well as current pressure and stroke angle. Click the preview window to see the brush from different sides. The brush preview window has been discontinued in Photoshop 21.0.3 (January 2020 release) and is no longer available.

Erodible tip options

Erodible tip brushes behave similar to pencils and crayons, and wear down naturally as you draw. You can see the amount of wear with the Live Brush Tip Preview to the upper left of the image.

Controls the size of the brush. Enter a value in pixels or drag the slider.

Controls the rate of wear. Enter a value in percentage or drag the slider.

Controls the shape of the tip. Choose from a variety of tip options.

Returns the tip to the original sharpness.

Controls the distance between the brush marks in a stroke. To change the spacing, type a number or use the slider to specify a percentage of the brush diameter. When this option is deselected, the speed of the cursor determines the spacing.

Shows brush tip that reflects changes to settings above, as well as current pressure and stroke angle. Click the preview window to see the brush from different sides. The brush preview window has been discontinued in Photoshop 21.0.3 (January 2020 release) and is no longer available.

Airbrush tip options

Airbrush tips replicate spray cans with a 3D conical spray. With a stylus, you can alter the spread of sprayed strokes by changing pen pressure.

Controls the size of the brush. Enter a value in pixels or drag the slider.

Controls the size of the brush’s hard center.

Controls the distortion to apply to the spray of paint.

Controls how grainy the paint drops look. 

Controls the size of the paint droplets.

Controls the number of paint droplets.

Controls the distance between the droplets. If this option is deselected, the speed of the cursor determines the spacing.

Shows brush tip that reflects changes to settings above, as well as current pressure and stroke angle. Click the preview window to see the brush from different sides. The brush preview window has been discontinued in Photoshop 21.0.3 (January 2020 release) and is no longer available.

Brush pose options

Brush pose options let you achieve stylus-like effects and let you control the angle and position of the brush.

Determines the tilt angle of the brush from left to right.

Determines the tilt angle of the brush from front to back.

Determines the rotation angle of the bristles.

Determines the pressure the brush applies on the canvas.

Enable Override options to maintain a static brush pose.

Other brush options

Adds additional randomness to individual brush tips. This option is most effective when applied to soft brush tips (brush tips that contain gray values).

Causes paint to build up along the edges of the brush stroke, creating a watercolor effect.

Applies gradual tones to an image, simulating traditional airbrush techniques. The Airbrush option in the Brush panel corresponds to the Airbrush option in the options bar.

Produces smoother curves in brush strokes. This option is most effective when you are painting quickly with a stylus; however, it may produce a slight lag time in stroke rendering.

Applies the same pattern and scale to all brush presets that have a texture. Select this option to simulate a consistent canvas texture when painting with multiple, textured brush tips.

Stroke smoothing

Photoshop performs intelligent smoothing on your brush strokes. Simply enter a value (0-100) for Smoothing in the Options bar when you're working with one of the following tools: Brush, Pencil, Mixer Brush, or Eraser. A value of 0 is the same as legacy smoothing in earlier versions of Photoshop. Higher values apply increasing amounts of intelligent smoothing to your strokes.

Stroke smoothing works in several modes. Clicking the gear icon () to enable one or more of the following modes:

Paints only when the string is taut. Cursor movements within the smoothing radius leave no mark.

Allows the paint to continue catching up with your cursor while you've paused the stroke. Disabling this mode stops paint application as soon as the cursor movement stops.

Completes the stroke from the last paint position to the point where you released the mouse/stylus control.

Prevents jittery strokes by adjusting smoothing. Decreases smoothing when you zoom in the document; increases smoothing when you zoom out.

Brush scattering

Brush scattering determines the number and placement of marks in a stroke.

Specifies how brush marks are distributed in a stroke. When Both Axes is selected, brush marks are distributed in a radial direction. When Both Axes is deselected, brush marks are distributed perpendicular to the stroke path.

To specify the maximum percentage of scattering, enter a value. To specify how you want to control the scattering variance of brush marks, choose an option from the Control pop‑up menu:

Specifies no control over the scattering variance of brush marks.

Fades the scattering of brush marks from maximum scattering to no scattering in the specified number of steps.

Varies the scattering of brush marks based on the pen pressure, pen tilt, position of the pen thumbwheel, or rotation of the pen.

Specifies the number of brush marks applied at each spacing interval.

Specifies how the number of brush marks varies for each spacing interval. To specify the maximum percentage of brush marks applied at each spacing interval, enter a value. To specify how you want to control the count variance of brush marks, choose an option from the Control pop‑up menu:

Specifies no control over the count variance of brush marks.

Fades the number of brush marks from the Count value to 1 in the specified number of steps.

Varies the number of brush marks based on the pen pressure, pen tilt, position of the pen thumbwheel, or rotation of the pen.

Clear brush options

You can clear all options that you changed for a brush preset (except brush shape settings) at once.