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Photoshop Tips
Photoshop Fundamentals: Mastering the Art History Brush
By Roger Hunsicker
Dateline: April 7, 2005
Version: Photoshop 7
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Like its cousin the history brush, the art history brush targets any history state or snapshot as its source,
and because of the stylized strokes it lays down, you can simply source the original image and still get
surprisingly artistic results. The real trick to getting the most out of this tool is to choose the right brush for the
job. Get impressionistic with a flower photo and find out how well the art history brush takes to vibrant color.
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 Download the flowers.zip archive, extract and open flowers.jpg (shown at left) and apply
a filter; I chose Spatter. In the History
palette, create a new snapshot named Spatter, then click the flowers.jpg snapshot thumbnail. Click in the box to
the left of the Spatter snapshot to set
the brush’s source. Consequently, the
art history brush does not require an
extreme variation of the original to work
its magic. If you want to skip the filter, the
art history brush will automatically select
the Open state as its source and you’ll
still create interesting results.
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Select the art history brush (Y) from
the toolbox, then open the Brushes
palette (F5). Click Brush Presets, choose
Small List from the Brushes palette menu,
and scroll through the presets to select
the Oil Medium Wet Flow tip at 32 pixels.
When selecting a brush size, remember
the smaller the size, the more detail the
brush reveals. Here, 32 pixels is approximately
the size of one of the flower petals.
To set the brush to control the movement
of the strokes, click the Shape Dynamics
title, and choose Direction from the Angle
Jitter Control pull-down menu.
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Move to the Options bar at the top of
the screen, and choose Tight Short from
the Style pull-down menu. To specify
how much space the brush covers, set
Area to 40 pixels. (It’s a good idea to set
the Area larger than the brush size.) Set
Tolerance to 0% which will allow you to
paint anywhere. I left Mode set to Normal
and decreased Opacity to 50% so I could
build up my strokes.
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Add a new layer to serve as a canvas
for your future art. I filled the layer with
soft beige and applied the Add Noise,
Motion Blur, and Unsharp Mask filters respectively.
If you want to see the original
photo as you paint, temporarily lower the
canvas layer Opacity to 80%.
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Create a new layer above your canvas
and begin painting on the layer with the
art history brush. The brush’s automatic
dispersal of strokes may appear random,
but it’s actually influenced by the direction
of your stroke. If you aren’t getting enough
detail, decrease the size of your brush and
try again. When you’re done painting,
restore the canvas layer’s Opacity to 100%,
and change the art layer’s blending mode
to Linear Burn at 93% Opacity to allow it to
“soak” into the canvas.
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The final image is shown at left (click to enlarge).
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Roger Hunsicker is Advertising Coordinator
for Caterpillar, Inc., in Peoria,
Ill., and president of Proof Positive
Design Group, a Web hosting and
Web design firm.
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