How to Make Amazing Wallpapers Just using Photoshop Paint Brushes Quickly

In this guest post Korin Iverson from Antique-hq.com writes about how anyone can easily make nice, shiny and eye catchy high resolution wallpapers by just using Photoshop paint brushes.

Photoshop paint brushes are a cool thing if you know how to use them. In this photoshop tutorial I have provided a step by step guide on how to make amazing wallpapers by just using Photoshop paint brushes. I have included the paint brushes and the photoshop file (psd) that I used in this Photoshop tutorial in the download section below if you wish to download them.

You can look at some examples of wallpapers that you can make by just using photoshop brushes on the Wallpapers page of this blog. In this tutorial we are going to look at creating the following wallpaper:

So open your Photoshop application and let’s get started.

Step One: Creating a New Canvas

First Create a new canvas. There are two ways you can do this

1. Go to File -> New and a window will pop up. Enter in the dimensions that you want to use.

2. You can use the Photoshop shortcut “ctrl + N” this will also bring up the window to select your dimensions.  I use 1920 x 1200 pixels with 72 pixels per inch, (This is widescreen and high resolution) translucent background.  Hit ok to get your new canvas.

Step Two: Picking Your Background Colour

The best colour for this wallpaper is black. You may choose any colour to use. For this guide I will use black. To choose a colour click on the colour swatches in the tools side bar (usually on the left hand side) they are black and white by default. You can reset the default by using the Photoshop shortcut “D” and toggle between them with “X”. Once you have clicked on the swatch it will bring up a colour palette for the swatch you clicked. Pick the colour you would like to use for your background.

Step Three: Applying the Background Colour

You will need to apply the background colour to your new canvas. Select the paint bucket/gradient tool (Photoshop short cut “G”) if it is set to the gradient tool right click the gradient button and select the paint bucket (unless you are using a gradient). Now click the canvas and apply the background colour.

Step Four: Creating New Layers

You will need to create a few new layers. I suggest using four. For this guide I did each section on a different layer so you can see what I did easier.

1. Main objects
2. Secondary objects
3. Sparkle and Glitter
4. Flower layer

You can create these layers by clicking the new layer button on the layer panel.

Step Fiver: Choosing a Paint Brush

Now you need to pick the brush sets that you want to use for the image. You can download Photoshop brush sets from the net. There are thousands of really good free brushes out there. I have included the brush sets that I used for this wallpaper in the download section below. They are Photoshop 7 brushes.

To use the Photoshop brushes I have included download them from the Download section below, unzip the file then load them. You will need to load them using the preset manager. Click on Edit -> Preset Manager, a window will pop up, in the top drop down menu select brushes. On the right hand side of the window select load. This will bring up another window. In this window you will need to find the Photoshop brush set and open it. This will load it into your brush menu.

Use the Photoshop shortcut “B” to select the paint brush. A toolbar will appear under the Main tool bar at the top. There is a drop down menu use this to select your brush.

Step Six: Choosing the Main Colour

Choose the main colour you would like your main objects to be. I am going to use colour #1B2679

Step Seven: Painting

Use your brushes and place some main objects on the layer for main objects.

Step Eight: Secondary objects

Put in some highlights that are of a lighter colour on this layer. I used colour # 6C729A; I then used some of the same brushes and overlaid highlights.

Step Nine: Adding the Flowers

On the layer called Flowers add some flowers. Use a lighter colour I used colour # A2A7CC. I also added some embellishments to the flowers. These are included in the brush sets.

Step Ten: Adding the Sparkle

On the Sparkle layer we are going to add the sparkles and glitters. I used the following colours
#1B2679
#6C729A
#A2A7CC

Now save the image as jpeg and this image is ready to be used as your computer’s desktop background. You might want to save the psd file too in case you want to do future modification to the image.

Download

Brushset and Pthoshop source file

Be creative and experiment with other Photoshop paint brushes. If you have any question please leave a comment below.