Halftone Brush

A few weeks ago, my friend Michael Ricca told me of a challenge he once had to build a brush that painted in a halftone screen. Unable to help myself, I immediately began to try and construct a solution in my head. The result isn't a brush exactly, it's more of a layer setup. But it works pretty well, and is fast and fun to play with.

I have built an Action that automatically sets up the layers so you can jump right in and draw. I recommend starting with a big, soft edged brush to get an idea of what it does, but it will work with any brush. Just create a new document, run the action, pick a brush and start painting (if nothing appears, see the clipping mask note below).

The halftone effect itself is an effect on a Smart Layer, so if the screen size isn't to your liking you can open the filter and modify the parameters.

Some things to note: The drawing area is actually a layer mask of a halftone screen, not a layer unto itself. so if you are switching around layers and want to get back to drawing, remember to activate the layer mask.

Also, if you are drawing and don't see anything, it is probably because there are two adjustment layers above the halftone layer that, depending upon your Photoshop settings, may set themselves up as clipping masks (CS4 and below I think). If they appear clipped to the halftone layer, like in this image, release the clipping mask on them via the Layers menu pulldown. I *think* this should not be an issue in CS5 which includes a parameter to override the clipping mask preference.


Now, here is a challenge to you: Currently this method only works when creating a single color (in this case Black) screen. I would *love* to be able to have this work on a 4 color process, so that one could paint on each color channel individually. But because of the way this particular method works, it effects all layers below, so it doesn't composite nicely. The only way I can figure is to move this entire setup into smart layers, but then one has to open the smart layer, paint, save and close before seeing the results, which isn't immediate enough to be practical. If anyone can figure out a way to do more than 1 color screen, please post a solution. ((Just changing the current halftone screen angles isn't the solution. One has to be able to paint 4 separate halftone screens that blend into one full color image).

Download the action here: Halftone Brush.zip

Stumpy Pencil, V2

I started this blog a year or two ago with a Photoshop brush for a stumpy pencil, my favorite drawing tool. Flat, soft and dark, crudely sharpened with a knife, a stumpy pencil lays down such an effortless line that it is a great tool for thinking on paper. My Photoshop effort became quite popular, and even in the long interval when I was not posting, I would still get feedback from people who had found it while searching for Photoshop tools.

Well it's still one of my most used brushes. I go to it first when I am sketching out ideas in Photoshop. I even use it for finishing when I want the final output to have a rougher look. I like it's speed and responsiveness. It's texture is convincing enough that I have actually used it to make revisions to actual scanned pencil drawings.

But, as with any digital tool that emulates a analog tool, it's never perfect. So I continue to tweak and refine and expand on it, evolving it and making it more effective with time. I present this new revised version to you today.

The tool has been expanded and refined. Let me break down the Tool set for you. It includes:

- Brush Tool: "Pencil: Stumpy 6 pt." - The original tool, slightly modified but otherwise as it was. It's fast, textured, with a chiseled shape. It goes dark easily. It's fun to draw with.








- Brush Tool: "Pencil: Round 3 pt." - A similar pencil, but with a different shaped Brush. Good for tightening up, or when the chiseled head of the Stumpy Pencil isn't working.







- Brush Tool: "Pencil: Graphite 30 pt." - This one has a gray color included to emulate the look of a soft graphite pencil.








- Eraser Tool: "Pencil: Stumpy 6 pt. Eraser" - an eraser which duplicates the feel and texture of the Stumpy Pencil, so you can erase an retain the textured quality of the line.







- Eraser Tool: "Pencil: Pink Tip Eraser" - Emulates the feel of an attached pencil eraser, with a slight grainy texture and medium flow. I wish I could make it so that it left little pink eraser shavings behind, but there's only so much Photoshop can do.









You can download the whole set here: Stumpy Pencil v.2

Edit 1/30/2020: If you use Procreate on the iPad, I have translated the brush to use in the app. See this post for details.

If you like the tool and use it, please send me some of your artwork to post on the blog! Make sure to include how you want to be credited. Enjoy!