{"id":576,"date":"2014-11-03T06:52:03","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T03:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sweetmonia.com\/Sweet-Drawing-Blog\/?p=576"},"modified":"2019-02-24T15:43:12","modified_gmt":"2019-02-24T12:43:12","slug":"learning-photoshop-the-sweetest-way-blending-modes-of-the-brush-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sweetmonia.com\/Sweet-Drawing-Blog\/learning-photoshop-the-sweetest-way-blending-modes-of-the-brush-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning Photoshop The Sweetest Way:- Blending modes of the brush tool"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Get The Book<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"Learn<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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“Blending modes of the brush tool” is part of my Photoshop book “Learn Photoshop CC With Pictures”<\/strong><\/strong>, which is more revised and covers more concepts than the online tutorials,\u00a0feel free to check out the book by visiting my Learn Photoshop CC With Pictures Book Page.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Now you have a nice basic idea on how to use the brush tool. I am going to add to the knowledge you learned by explaining\u00a0a very useful feature in drawing and creating effects. Which is the blending modes of the brush tool (it applies to other tools as well). Photoshop Blending modes are one of the most useful ways of mixing colours in Photoshop<\/a>. They are an easy way to create many effects as you will see in this lesson and the next few ones. This lesson is a bit long because there are many blending modes I need to explain, so bear with me a little bit please~<\/div>\n
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\"Blend-Modes\"
Here is where you can change the blend mode of the brush tool<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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I will explain only the general idea how each blending mode\u00a0work. Which will makes it easier to understand them. The best way to understand how they really work is to experiment with them, just like almost anything in Photoshop~<\/div>\n
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Using Photoshop blending modes is easy, you just select the mode you want to use from the drop-down list and you paint away with the brush tool. As long you know the general difference between the \u00a0various blending modes and how the colours\u00a0get mixed you will be fine. Don\u2019t worry about the math behind these modes right now. Just think of them as specially effects used in painting and you will be fine<\/div>\n
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\"Modes-Groups
Photoshop\u00a0blending modes of the brush tool. Divided into 6 modes for the sake of simplification.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0There are many Photoshop blending modes to choose from. About 29 of them to be precise. We will take a look at each of them. And as I said,\u00a0I won\u2019t explain everything about them in full details. But I will make sure you will be able to be able to use them effectively. Because while it is certainly useful to understand the precise difference between all these modes. It is better that you get an idea on how to use\u00a0them first. The goal of learning blending\u00a0modes is to get to create the effect that you want to. Which in many cases can be done using more than one mode.<\/div>\n
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In short, I want you to spend\u00a0less time learning how the blending modes work and more on how to apply these modes on your pictures. Because that\u2019s what you are learning Photoshop to do, ne? ;D<\/div>\n
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\"Note\"<\/div>\n
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If you found yourself confused during this tutorial, don\u2019t worry much about it. The concepts I am explaining are confusing to anyone new to them. You will find yourself familiar with blending modes\u00a0after you play with them for some time.\u00a0These blending modes are not straight-forward to understand mathematically. So try to understand the close as possible how the end result usually is<\/div>\n
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The Normal\u00a0Blending Modes<\/h2>\n

This group of blending modes are the most basic ones, and what they do is quite straightforward, which is why I called it the normal group.<\/p>\n

Normal Mode<\/h3>\n
The normal mode if the default blending mode when you select the brush. When you paint with this mode, the colour you paint will cover any colour below it. Assuming all the other settings like flow & opacity are set to %100.<\/div>\n
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\"Normal
Paining green on red with the normal mode<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Dissolve<\/h3>\n
Another straightforward\u00a0mode. When you use this mode, the\u00a0edge of your strokes will become\u00a0\u201cfuzzy\u201d. And just like the normal mode. Your strokes will cover the ones below them.<\/div>\n
\"Dissolve<\/div>\n

Behind<\/h3>\n

One of two blending modes that’s special to the brush tool only. And not applicable to the other modes that has blending modes as well. Usually, when you paint with the brush tool (like in the normal mode). The colour you add cover the strokes that are already there, but with the behind mode. The new strokes appears behind the ones that are already there, like this:-\u00a0\"Behind\u00a0Simply speaking, the behind mode only covers the pixels that are already transparent and ignores the ones that are not.<\/p>\n

Clear<\/h3>\n
Another mode that is special to the brush tool. That mode simply turn your brush into an eraser:-<\/div>\n
\"Clear<\/div>\n

The Darken\u00a0Blending Modes<\/h2>\n
Think of these\u00a0blending modes as the group that mixes two colours and always produce a darker colour than the two colors we mix. The results are subtly different with each mode, but as long you embrace the \u201cit produce a darker colour\u201d idea. Everything about these modes can be understood later.<\/div>\n

Darken<\/h3>\n
Just like the name implies. The darken mode darken the colour you paint on. But how does it do that? It simply selects the darker colour of the one your are painting and the one you are painting on (covering). It does that on the Red, green and blue separately, so the results may not be exactly what you expect.<\/div>\n
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Think of it as \u201ctaking the dark value of each of the colors to produce a darker value”<\/div>\n
\"Darken-2\"<\/div>\n

Multiply<\/h3>\n
Multiply works in a similar way to Darken, in that it also produces a darker colour of the two, except that it multiply the values of the two colours instead of selecting the darker values of the green, red and blue.<\/div>\n
It is tricky to differentiate the difference between Multiply and darken, as you can see in the picture below this section<\/div>\n
The Multiply blending mode always produces a darker colour.<\/div>\n
\"Muliply<\/div>\n

Color burn<\/h3>\n
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  • Think of it as a way to produce a darker colour with more contrast, and as the name implies, this mode literally burn the colours by increasing the contrast in them.<\/li>\n
  • Color burn works by increasing the contrast between the components of the two colours. Which is why the end result is usually so contrasted<\/li>\n
  • Using white with this mode produces no changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
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    \"Color-Burn
    A picture that explains how I think the burn colour got its name from. It makes you think that the colours got literally burned. And only the remnants of the colours are left.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

    Linear Burn<\/span><\/h3>\n
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    • Similar to colour burn, in that it seems like it burn the colours. But it is much nicer than its predecessor.<\/li>\n
    • And again, the way Linear burn works similar to colour burn. Except that it decrease the brightness of the darker colour to achieve the end result. Which is why it has a \u201cnicer\u201d effect than colour burn.<\/li>\n
    • Using white with this mode produces no changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
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      \"Linear-Burn
      Color burn (At the left) VS Linear Burn (At the right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

      Darker color<\/h3>\n
      Works similar to the darken blending mode.\u00a0But instead of using the red, green and blue components of each colour. It simply choose the darker colour of the two. This is one of the easiest blending modes to understand<\/div>\n
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      Here is a couple of strokes created using the darker colour. It doesn\u2019t matter which stroke is made first. As the darker colour will always choose the darker colour of the two all the time. Notice how black always wins. While the bright green to the right is always below all the other colours.<\/div>\n
      \"Darker<\/div>\n
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      Here is the darken group blending modes\u00a0side-by-side<\/span><\/div>\n
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      \"The
      The darken group side by side. the darken and multiply work very similar to each other. It is easy to see how the colour burn burn the colour with a lot of contrast. Linear burn do the same but in a gentle way. Because the red I used to paint in this picture is darker than almost all the colours of the picture. It almost dominated all the colours of the pictures when I used it with Darker Color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

      The Lightening\u00a0Blending Modes<\/h2>\n
      These blending modes are\u00a0the opposite of the ones in the darken group.\u00a0these blending modes\u00a0mix twee colours to produce a lighter colour. If you understood how one group work, the other group works in the opposite way.<\/div>\n

      Lighten<\/h3>\n
      The equivalent of the Darken mode. It choose the lighter colour of each of red, green and blue of the two mixed colours. Which results in a lighter colour of them<\/div>\n
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      \"The
      The lighten mode using light green, red, and blue colours, The translucent effect is obvious here<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

      Screen<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
      While I am not sure why this mode was called by this name. Its name is a good way to understand what it does. Think of this mode as you are looking through a glassy screen that makes coloers lighters Black has no effect on the picture on this mode. The brighter the colour you use is, the better the lightening effect.<\/div>\n
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      \"The
      The screen mode using the red, green and cyan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

      Color Dodge<\/h3>\n
      The lighten group equivalent of the colour burn mode. It lighten the colours of the picture by \u201cburning\u201d the colour of the underlying picture. The result is a \u201cburned\u201d colour with a lot of contrast<\/div>\n
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      \"The
      The colour dodge after applying multiple colours on it. It is easy to see the contrasting this mode produces<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

      Linear dodge<\/h3>\n
      Similar to colour dodge in that it burns the colours. But it produces a more gentle result. This is the lighten group equivalent of the Linear Burn mode.<\/div>\n
      Using black with this mode doesn\u2019t change any colour of the picture.<\/div>\n
      \"Linear-Dodge<\/div>\n

      Lighter Color<\/h3>\n
      One of the easiest modes to understand, this mode simply chooses the lighter colour of the one you are applying and the one on the picture.<\/div>\n
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      \"Applying
      Applying green on the picture using lighter colour covers almost all of it. But a little of the yellow and pink colours escape the change because they are lighter. Applying a dark red on the lower side on the picture doesn\u2019t change much of the colours because many colours are lighter than it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n