KylieM Designs

I have had some requests for tutorials on the Photomasks, so here goes! Be gentle as I haven't written Tutorials before, so I hope it meets your needs. This tutorial follows the creation of my newest Photomask.

So here goes, sorry the tutorial is only for Photoshop, and I use CS4 so I hope that you are able to translate if you have a different program.

First thing to do is to open a new document, I always start mine with 12inx12in document at 300dpi.

 I then go to the Custom Shapes Tool, and using the default shapes select the square

Then I select the Custom Shape Options and define the size at 5 in x 7 in

And then put your shape in the middle of the page, placement doesn't really matter, although you do need space around your rectangle to place your brushes.

Now it is time to select your brushes, there is a myriad to choose from depending on what you what to achieve. If you check out the Digital Tools link page I have given you the links to some of my favourite Brush sites. I have chosen a Spatters Brush Set from Obsidian Dawn, and in fact I change the actual brushes I use during the process.

 Then before you start 'brushing' create a new layer above your rectangle layer. There are short cuts for doing this, but I have shown you how to do it via the menu selection.

Select this new layer, you can make sure you have right layer selected by checking the layers palette. Then use your brush in alternating sizes, rotate your image etc until you get the look that you like. This might take a little playing, you may delete some bits or backstep your history. It is really a bit of trial and error, just make sure that you paint your brushes on the top layer.

Depending on the brush I may remove the bottom layer, it is really only there to guide your shape, but for the purposes of this mask I have kept it.

This next step is to remove all empty space, I just quickly do this through TRIM on the image menu.

After this you are left with your Photomask that is almost ready to use.

All you need to do is save it as a PNG and then you are ready to go!

I hope that has given you some hints on how to create this simple and easy tool that adds a bit of something to your photos.

Download my finished Photomask here.

Next Tutorial is then how to use these Photomasks!