I use layers set to Normal, Softlight, and Overlay, creating multiple layers below, above, and clipped into my subject. When painting backlit hair, I like to use either white or a pale color that matches the overall lighting of the image. This brush is my personal favorite go-to when painting backlit hair, and I like to refine the painted hair with a soft round Eraser brush. Now, we can try our new hair paint brush in Photoshop! This brush is best used with a tablet, as it relies heavily on both pressure and opacity however, the upcoming brushes are much more mouse-friendly. Still, make sure to save the new brush’s settings by hitting the Square icon in the bottom right corner of the Brush Settings panel. Go to Window > Brushes Settings to open the Brush Settings panel, and for the single straight hair brush, all we need to do is set the Spacing to 1%. Let’s open a New Canvas with a subject already extracted and in need of some hair to set up and test our brush on.

Don’t worry about naming your brush just yet. Now, let’s go to Edit > Define Brush Preset. Hit the Crop tool to instantly crop the canvas to the exact size of the dots. Next, hold Control and click the layer icon of the painted dots to create a selection. It doesn’t have to be just like what you see here in fact, you can always make a few different dot patterns, turn them all into brushes, and have a variety of hair strand brushes to choose from. Use the keys to adjust the brush’s Size quickly.

Now, with a black semi-hard round Brush, paint five or six dots somewhat close to each other and in different sizes. The size doesn’t matter as we’re going to crop it when exporting our brush. This hair brush is ideal for straight hair and gives you the most control over what the hair strand might be painted like.Ĭreate a big empty white canvas.

Let’s start by creating the simplest of the three hairbrushes, the single hair brush Photoshop preset. How to Create a Hair Strand Brush in Photoshop Step 1 Find more resources on Envato Elements! 1.

How to create a brush in photoshop