Top 10 Photoshop Tips

By Kelly | December 7, 2008

I’ve got to confess- I’m a Photoshop addict. After so many years of using the software, there’s just some tricks I can’t live without. Here, I’ll share with you my favorites.

1. Actions

Actions are custom scripts that run within Photoshop. Almost anything Photoshop can do, you can program into an action. Scanned a bunch of sketches? Set up an action to scale them down and save them as web-ready JPG files. I use actions to remove blue construction lines (see inking with pencil) and to resize my comic pages. Actions can be applied to all images currently open, or all images in a certain folder as well. Use actions when you find a boring series of tasks that require repetition, or when you want to edit a lot of files at once.
To view the Action panel, go to Window > Actions, or hit ALT-F9.

For an example of how to use Actions to create thumbnail images, check this tutorial.

2. HSB Sliders

Photoshop doesn’t have the nifty triangular color palette that Painter has, but you don’t have to rely on Photoshop’s color picker palette. Instead, use the sliders (Window > Color or F6). Click on the arrow in the Color menu to see your slider options. I prefer the HSB (Hue/Saturation/Black) because it’s closer to how artists mix paints. You can also set colors for CMYK if you’re working on a print project.

3. Color Balance

Use Image > Adjustments > Color Balance or CTRL-B to access the Color Balance controls. Use Color Balance to tweak washed-out or bland images.

This image has an overall warmer hue because it was drawn on yellowish paper.

By adjusting the shadows to be cooler by adding more blue and cyan, the warmer highlights ‘pop’ against the cool shadows.

4. Adjustment Layers

Adjustment layers work differently in Photoshop CS4. If you’re using an earlier version, you’ll find them immensely handy. Adjustment layers allow you to do all the usual color tweaking without committing the changes to your art. The layer sits above any art you want to affect. You can also adjust the layer mode and opacity or edit the mask of these layers. To create a new one, go to Layers > New Adjustment Layer and select the adjustment you want.
That color balance thing from tip #3? Try doing it as an adjustment layer!

5. Layer Styles

Layer styles are another great way to tweak art or text without permanent changes. They work best on layers with transparency – I use them for text and special effects mostly. Bevel and Emboss can add depth to details, and quick shading for simple shapes. Favorite style settings can be saved by selecting the layer, then clicking on the Styles palette when your cursor appears as a paint bucket. To apply saved styles, select the layer you like and then click the icon for the saved style. For an example of layer styles in action, see the How to Draw Word Balloons for Comics tutorial.

6. Layer Blend Modes

Blend modes are another way to adjust color and add effects without doing any irreversible damage to your art (noticing a trend here?)
Set layers to ‘Multiply’ to darken the layers beneath – great for coloring scanned drawings. An example of this in action can be found in the Inking with Pencil tutorial. Experiment with other layer modes to add interesting effects to your art.

Some applications for layer modes : ‘Multiply’ for lineart with color layer underneath; orange layer above set to ‘Linear Dodge’ adds a warm glow

7. Magnetic Lasso Tool

You may be familiar with the freehand or the polygonal lasso. They’re handy tools, but my new favorite is magnetic lasso. It detects contrast and snaps to edges to create quick, organic selections. Select the magnetic lasso, and move the mouse along the lineart you want to color. Points are added automatically to the selection edges, you can also add them yourself by click the mouse. Fill your selection, and set the lineart layer mode to multiply.

Coloring weird fire shapes? Piece of cake!

8. Dodge for Sketch Cleanup

Ever scan in a pencil sketch, only to notice it’s covered with eraser doodles, smudges, and other random gunk? There’s a quick Photoshop trick to clean all that up.
Select the Dodge tool, set your paint color to black, and then lightly airbrush out the smudgy stuff. Using dodge gets rid of the lighter gunk, without lightening your lines too much. It can be hard to see depending on the lighting in your work area and your monitor settings. To double-check for gunk, invert the colors of the sketch (CTRL-I) and look for light grain and edges.

9. Layer Masks

Layer Masks are yet another way to edit your art without doing anything irreversible. Masks affect layer transparency- ‘masked’ areas are hidden. The mask itself can be edited at any time. You can even use masks to create animations!
To mask a bird out of this sketch, I create a selection around it, and then use that selection as the basis for a new mask.

My sketch now appears, minus bird. The mask appears next to the layer it affects in the layers palette. By holding ALT and clicking the mask icon, I can see and edit the mask itself. Masks also work on adjustment layers (tip #4).

10. Desaturate and Flip

And now, my final tip. This one isn’t as Photoshop-specific, but it’s a great way to double-check your work as you progress.
First, create a black-and-white version of your art- you can use an hue/saturation adjustment layer with saturation set to 0. That should show you the value range of your work. Is the focal point obvious? Does the character stand out from the background? You may want to adjust the levels of your layers with the desaturate layer still on to check your work. The second check is flipping. If you horizontally flip the image, does everything still look ok? Do characters or trees tilt or seem off-balance? Are facial features symmetrical?
Try these tricks a couple times as you progress on your art to nip problems early.

That’s all the tips for now!
Feel free to try these in other digital art software- the names may be different but they often have similar features to Photoshop.

Good luck and happy arting!

16 Responses to “Top 10 Photoshop Tips”

Pages: [2] 1 » Show All

16
Felix the cat Says:
August 11th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I didn’t know about the magnetic lasso thing, that’s pretty helpful. I didn’t now I could just right click and fill it like pen tool. I guess I just never put two and two together :) thanks!
15
Furrylicious Says:
May 26th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
I am also a Photoshop addict. This website has helped me a lot with drawing furries, and I will try to apply it to PS. Unfortunately, though, these PS tips didn’t help me [already knew about them], but they are great things to let people know about.
14
Bruja Says:
February 10th, 2010 at 5:54 am
Thanks for the AWESOME tutorial, but I would also like to have a gimp-tutorial too, for some people not really believing in commercial programs. :)
13
Lele Says:
September 6th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Alright stop being silly :|
It’s *awesome
With an e
look it up.

But, besides that; wonderful tutorials ?
12
Kiwiattack Says:
September 5th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Actually, it is spelled awesome. :> With two Es.
11
Rachael Says:
August 27th, 2009 at 3:15 am
Lol, actually it is spelled Awesome.