A is for…Art History brush

To use the Art History brush successfully, there are a few rules you need to be aware of. Follow the points below and you’ll find that painting from History is easier than you might at first have thought.

01 Don’t get in a state!
It’s important throughout this process that you select the correct History state to paint from, by clicking in the History Source box to the right of the correct snapshot in the History palette.

02 Less is more
The Art History brush is most effective when used at low to medium opacity. Set the Opacity Control to Pen Pressure in the Other Dynamics section of the Brushes palette (F5).

03 Finishing touches
Use the Brush tool on a final layer in the finishing stages of painting to add some highlight strokes
to the hair.

04 Snap happy!
The Snapshot button takes a snapshot of the way your painting appears on the screen at the moment you click it. You’ll see this new snapshot appear in the History palette.

05 Putting on the style
Try using the Smudge tool on a flattened version of the finished image to gently blur any hard areas within the face.

Tip: Vanishing history
History is a very volatile thing in Photoshop terms, and the same applies to snapshots. The current history and snapshots are only available in the current work session. As soon as you exit Photoshop, all your history and snapshots are lost forever. With this in mind, it’s advisable to complete your project in one sitting, or at the very least finish any painting from a particular snapshot before you close your document or exit Photoshop.

Check out the full tutorial in Issue 44 of Photoshop Creative available here: http://www.imagineshop.co.uk/item_show.php?itemID=1128&action=maglist