Purpose: The Brush tool in Photoshop, in my opinion, is the most important and most used tool. Therefore, to make the best use of it, this tutorial will simplify and show you all the power of Brush tool.

Difficulty: Beginner

In Short: Learn keyboard shortcut, B, D, X, [, ], 1-0, Shift + [, Shift + ], Shift 1-0, Hold Shift, Hold Alt, Hold Space bar.

---

Basic Usage (Round shape brush):
By default, Photoshop uses the Round shaped brush. We will use this shape at first because you can do almost anything with this shape alone. The Brush tool is located on your Tool palette, see image to the right. The shorcut key to use it is simply B, just make sure you are not in any typing field. Once the Tool brush is selected, press the left click mouse button once to draw one round shape. Holding left click on the mouse button and dragging it will draw an area with the round shape.

Keyboard shortcuts:

Now to really get the most out of your brush and control it, learning to use the keyboard shortcut will help you speed your process and make your brushing experience much more enjoyable.
Here's the list:

• B - Pressing B will select the brush tool
• Hold Alt key - Color selector, if you are working on a photograph or colored image, this can help you select a color that you may want to use or replicate
• [ ] - Pressing [ or ] on the keyboard will change the size of your brush
• Shift + [ or] - Hold Shift and press [ or ] will make your shape's hardness, this is how hard or soft the edges will be
• 1 thru 0 - Press any number will change the brush's opacity, in increments of 10. Press 3 for 30% opacity, Press 0 for 100% opacity. Press 2 numbers quickly for a specific opacity. Press 2 and 5 quickly will give you 25% opacity.
• Shift + 1 thru 0 - Hold shift and press 1 thru 0 will change your Flow amount
• Shift + - or + - This is the minus (-) and plus (+) key, this will change your brush blending option. If you are unsure, leave it as Normal
• F5 - Press F5 will open your Brush window palette
• Holding Shift key - Press to create a straight light from first click to second click. Drag to create straight verticals or horizontals.

Other standard Photoshop shortcuts:

• Hold Space bar - if your canvas is bigger than your working space, holding space bar on your working space to move around the canvas
• D - Pressing the D key will reset your colors to Black and White
• X - Pressing the X key will switch between the foreground and background colors

Photoshop Brush Window Palette:
Press F5 to open the Brush window palette. The purpose of the options provided at this window will help randomize and create more cooler effect with your brush. .This is a much more advanced function that I will need to explain on another tutorial.