PAINTING WITH GLITTER - a Photoshop layer style tutorial

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS TUTORIAL?

you will learn how to paint glitter just with your random square (or round) brush by adjusting a few settings in brush and layer style.

Time required: 20-30 minutes for the first try

Tools: Photoshop (any version will do)

Layer Styles, preferably glitter styles - I used 'Antebellum Styles' from the Sentimental Journey series

you can find them here

I worked with a digital pen on my Wacom tablet - but it can as well be done with a mouse

all parts, screenshots and the result of this tutorial are

you are welcome to share the link to this tutorial if you wish to translate it into another language

please contact me at support@art-for-design.com and let me know about it, so I can link your blog

START TUTORIAL

open a new canvas

I worked on a 12x12 background, as it is common in scrap design

flood fill with a neutral background color in a medium value

and open the style package of your choice

(pull the style file from the folder in your photoshop workspace or open them via Style Menu)

add a new layer and leave it blank (don't flood fill it)

click on the style of your choice to add it to the empty layer

click on the brush tool and load 'SQUARE BRUSHES'

a default Photoshop set which comes with the program

open the brush menu (WINDOW - BRUSHES)

and adjust the settings as recommended in the screenshots

(when you work for your own projects, the settings can be different to mine, the values below work great

on the image size in this tutorial)

ADJUST 'BRUSH TIP SHAPE'

in order to make glitter, we must enlarge the spacing between the single brush strokes

I also enlarged the size of the brush itself to 35 px

ADJUST 'SHAPE DYNAMICS'

Shape dynamics is all about how the brush moves and angles while you paint the glitter

by adjusting the dynamics, you can add some variety and randomness to the glitter, otherwise it would be just a straight line of little glitter squares (which could be a desired outcome, depending on your project.)

ADJUST 'SCATTERING'

These settings determine, how your glitter spreads over the object or page you are working on

adjust the settings as I did - or set your own values

hint:

watch the 'count' setting- it has a direct influence on how often the brush hits with one stroke

(with the settings from the screenshot - it will make a cluster of 3 squares at a time)

Now all is set for the brush part - lets take a look at the layer you're working on

and disable 'stroke' from the style (uncheck the box)

if you don't do that - you will have a gold frame around each of your glitter bits

PLAY TIME!

take your brush and sprinkle some glitter over your canvas - it is fun, I promise

you already reached the end of this tutorial, but I have some more samples on glitter painted elements, below are the screenshots :)

just some freehand doodles

and a heart to spread the love :)

last but not least - a screenshot of a page layout I did yesterday

today I added some glitter, working directly on a layer above the layout, this allows me to place the glitter where it is needed.

thanks for reading/following/sharing this tutorial directly from my blog, I truly appreciate that.

happy glittering

Angelica S.

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Art for Design