> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ JUNE 2017[ 72 ]
Brushes & Layer Styles Are Always
There When You Need Them!
Before we get into the techniques, let’s talk
about a couple of key features you should get
familiar with if you want to get the most out
of custom finishing effects: brushes and layer
styles. You may be saying to yourself that you
already know how to use brushes and layer
styles, but do you really? Have you exhausted all
that’s possible with these two facets of Photo-
shop? I’ve been using both features since they
first arrived in Photoshop, and I’m still discover-
ing amazing things to this day.
The trick is to look beyond what they’re
called and concentrate on what they do. This
always reminds me of one my favorite quotes
from the movie Apollo 13 in which Ed Harris’s
character says, “I don’t care what anything was
designed to do; I care about what it can do.”
So look beyond what something was designed
to do and play with all the settings to see what
it can do. You’ll be amazed at what you can
achieve with just layer styles when you com-
bine, mix, blend, and vary the settings. Yes,
many of these features were designed by engi-
neers for a very specific function, but you have
to look at these features as an artist. They go
way beyond what they were engineered for. It’s
up to you to discover those possibilities. I hope
these tricks give you a good start.