Brush paths in PSE 7?

by Michelle
(Florida)

Q: I have been trying to follow this tutorial http://www.easyphotoshop.info/2009/11/05/create-your-own-social-networking-stitched-fabric-icons/, BUT i can not find in PSE 7 how to do a brush path. any ideas?


A: Great Question Michelle! Photoshop Elements lacks some of the features of the full version of Photoshop but often there are workarounds for achieving the same results.

You can pretty much follow the tutorial up to and including the part where you create and size your black rounded rectangle.

Some of the missing parts of Elements for this tutorial are no paths and no ability to stroke your selection with your brush settings.

Here's how I got around those barriers:

1. Download and install a "Stitch" brush set. I Googled "sewing brush for photoshop" and found a great site for brushes at http://myphotoshopbrushes.com/brushes/id/140 and downloaded the stitch sewing brushes. The stitch is at more of an angle than the one used in the original tutorial. You could probably find one more similar to the original if you look around the internet some more. I loaded the set into Elements.

   To install the brushes into Elements put the .abr file into:
   Program Files>Adobe>Photoshop Elements 7\Presets\Brushes.
   On a Mac put the .abr file into:
   Applications>Adobe Photoshop Elements 7\Presets\Brushes.

   To load the new brush set select the Brush tool in the Toolbox. Go up to the Options bar and click on the tiny arrow in the Show brush presets field. That will show you the currently loaded brushes. From there click on the tiny double arrows near the top/right to display the drop-down menu and choose "load brushes…" Navigate to your new set of Stitch brushes and click on them and then press "Load". Now your new brush set should be at the bottom of the currently loaded brushes when you click on the tiny arrow in the Options bar.

   You'll notice each brush has a white number under it. That is the diameter of the brush size in pixels. From your new brush set click on the 2nd one with number 45 under it to make that the active brush. Up in the Options bar change the diameter from 45px to 7 px. Also in the Options bar you can click on the brush icon on the right side and play around with different spacing percentages.

2. Create a new layer above the black rectangle layer. Control (Mac:Command) + Plus sign to enlarge your view to 200%

   Change your Foreground color to the color recommended in the tutorial for the stitch color. Make sure the new layer is active and then paint with your brush using the black rectangle as your guide. Try to keep your brush right on the edge of the black rectangle so that the stitch is half inside and half outside of the rectangle.

   Now hide the view of the black rectangle by clicking on the eye icon for that layer in the Layers palette.

3. At this point you can go back to the original tutorial and pick up where it says "Adding text and finishing up"

   When you paint your stitch around the letter "t" you might want to increase your spacing from where it was set for the stitch around the rectangle.

I hope you can use this information to complete the tutorial to your satisfaction.

Be sure to come back to this page and post a new comment to let us know if it worked for you or to ask further questions.

Thank you for your question and good luck!