Drawing, Painting, and Filling with Color

How to Paint an Image

Painting an image in Photoshop involves selecting a brush and applying an effect to an image. This task outlines the basic procedure for working with any of Photoshop's painting tools, regardless of the effect you are applying or the kind of file to which you're applying it. Photoshop makes available the Airbrush, Paintbrush, Rubber Stamp, History/Art History Brush, Eraser, Pencil/Line, and Sharpen/Blur painting tools and the Dodge/Burn/Sponge tools.

1. Select the Brush Tool

   Open an image file. Click the Paintbrush tool in the Photoshop toolbox.
   

2. Choose a Blending Mode

   With the Paintbrush tool selected, choose Normal from the Mode menu in the Options bar.

3. Set the Opacity

   The Opacity slider controls the density of the brushstrokes applied by the tool. Click and drag the slider to a lower setting for more transparent effects; leave it at 100% to paint with a completely opaque stroke. The Flow slider controls the feather of the brush. Combine Flow and Opacity to create the proper balance of transparency and soft brush strokes.
   

4. Choose a Brush

   Click the small arrow next to the Brush icon in the Options bar to open the brush palette. Move the Master Diameter slider to set the brush size, or select a preset from the list. To avoid painting the image when you click, try clicking in an empty space in the Options bar.
   

5. Paint the Image

   To apply the paint effect, move the cursor into the image window and click and drag.

How to Use the Clone Stamp

The Clone Stamp tool (also called the Rubber Stamp tool) "clones" one area of an image, enabling you to paint it into another area. It can be useful for filling in an open area with a pattern or a color or for duplicating or repeating an object. The basic process for using the Clone Stamp tool requires you to set a source point (the point from which the pixel values come) in the image and then to paint that value into another area of the image.

1. Select the Clone Stamp Tool

   Open the image file you want to modify and select the Clone Stamp tool from the toolbox.
   

2. Set the Opacity

   In the Options bar for the Clone Stamp tool, click and drag the Opacity slider to set the transparency of the effect. For example, if you want to select a part of the image and apply it to another area on the image at the same intensity as the original, set the Opacity slider to 100. Set the slider to 50 if you want the copied area to appear more transparent (lighter) than the original area.
   

3. Set the Aligned Option

   Enable the Aligned check box if you want the reference point to move when you move the brush. For example, if you place the reference point to the left and down 50 pixels from the current brush position, the reference point will always be to the left and down 50 pixels as you paint with the brush. Leave this option disabled if you want the reference point to sample the same area every time you click the brush (the size of the area depends on the brush size you select).
   

4. Select a Brush

   Select a brush size and feather appropriate for the image. For the angel image example, you want to clone the entire face. A medium-sized brush with a slight feathered edge is your best choice for copying the face while blending it into the background. To set the feather, modify the Flow slider.
   

5. Set the Reference Point

   Move the brush into the image window and position it at the desired reference point. Press and hold the Option key (Mac users) or the Alt key (Windows users) and click to set the reference point. The reference point is the starting point for the area you will clone.
   

6. Stamp the Image

   With the reference point set, click and drag in a new location (away from the original area) in the image. Notice that a crosshair (the reference point) effectively paints a copy of the original area in the new location. If the Aligned check box was not enabled, the specific area you referenced in Step 5 is the starting point, regardless of where you click.

How to Fill with the Paint Bucket

The Paint Bucket tool follows the same basic principle as the Magic Eraser. The difference is that instead of erasing continuous pixels, the Paint Bucket tool changes the pixels to a single color. As with the Magic Eraser, you apply the Paint Bucket effect with a single mouse click. The Tolerance setting plays a big role in the final result.

1. Select the Foreground Color

   With the image file you want to modify open, click the Foreground color swatch in the toolbox. The Color Picker opens. Select the fill color you want to use with the Paint Bucket. (With the Color Picker open, you also can select the foreground color by clicking in the image window itself.)
   

2. Select the Paint Bucket Tool

   Select the Paint Bucket tool from the toolbox. If it is not visible, click and hold the Gradient tool and select the Paint Bucket tool from the pop-out menu that appears.
   

3. Set the Opacity and Fill Type

   In the Options bar, drag the Opacity slider to modify the transparency of the effect. Set the opacity to less than 100 to fill the area with a transparent color. Always set the Fill menu to Foreground unless you want to fill with a saved pattern. If no pattern is saved, the Pattern menu is grayed out.
   

4. Set Tolerance

   The Tolerance option determines how adjoining pixels are changed by the Paint Bucket tool. Type a high value in the Tolerance box to spread the fill color across a wider tonal area. Type a low value to change a narrow color range.
   

5. Fill the Area

   Click in the image window to fill an area with the specified color. By default, the effect is confined to an area on a single layer, based on the Tolerance setting. You can target the entire image by enabling the All Layers check box in the Options bar for the Paint Bucket tool.
   

6. Undo If Necessary

   If the effect is too broad or narrow, undo it by choosing Edit, Undo Paint Bucket or by using the History palette. Alternatively, adjust the Tolerance slider in the Options bar for the Paint Bucket tool and reapply the effect.