How to create a signature brush
Introduction
If you are posting images onto the web you may wish to add a personal signature/watermark that you can add to all your images. The best way to achieve this is by making a specific signature brush in photoshop.
This article is written for Adobe Photoshop CS5 and the process is very similar in earlier versions.
- File – New. Enter the size as 2500px for both height and width and the resolution to 300. (Even if you don’t need a high resolution brush now you might need it later)! (Versions prior to CS2 will be a max size of 999px wide and high, if not less)
New file for a brush
- From the tool box select the brush tool and choose a size that suits you – I would recommend between 15 – 17. Ensure shape dynamics is not ticked and use the hardness at 100%
Brush settings icon
Brush settings panel
- Using your graphics tablet and pen write your signature in the white box
Signature
By all means try using the mouse if you don’t have a graphics tablet with pen but I’ve never been successful using mine! Alternatively simply write your signature on a piece of plain white paper then either scan or photograph it. Upload to your computer then using Image – Image size, re-size down to a maximum of 2500PX on the longest edge.
- Now select the crop tool in the Tool box. Press clear at the top and drag the cursor neatly around your signature. Press “Return”
Cropping your signature
- In Menu bar at top select Edit – Define Brush Preset
Edit Define Brush Preset
- A small box will appear. Give your brush a name and press OK
Brush name
- Now experiment using your new brush; you will find it at the bottom of your current brushes. I would strongly recommend at this stage that you also save your new brush into its current set. See diagram below for where to find this.
Saving your brush
- When the “Save” box appears save in a suitable location (I have mine in a folder titled Adobe Brushes)!( They will have a file ending *ABR) Your new brush will remain where it is until you change to a new set of brushes. If you then want to use your signature brush again you will need to load it from where ever you saved it previously.
Image with signature
- All done!
NOTES:
You can of course make brushes out of any images at all, including coloured ones. However remember that Photoshop always defines brushes as greyscale where the whites become transparent, so if you are going to use a coloured image then bear this in mind and use a combination of levels, curves, exposure, shadows/highlights and brightness/contrast to obtain a well-defined black and white image.