Pencil Tool

The “Pencil” Tool can be found under the “Brush” Tool in the Tool Box.
We use the “Pencil” Tool in Photoshop to draw a line with a hard edge.
There is not much more to say about this tool.
The only thing is that you have the “Auto Erase” option. When this is checked, it will remove the color.

Eraser Tool

We use the “Eraser” Tool to erase parts of the selected layer.
When you choose the Brush mode in the options menu, you can set a Brush Tip that you want to erase with.

Magic Eraser Tool

We use the “Magic Eraser” Tool to remove all pixels of the same color automatically.
You could compare this tool with the “Magic Wand” Tool, you can even set the tolerance for this tool in the Options bar.
You can confine the effect of the “Magic Eraser” Tool to the merely adjacent pixels or you can effect all the corresponding pixels in the selected layer.

• Enter a tolerance value to determine the range of colors that can be erased.
• Select “Anti-alias” when you want the edges of the erased area to be smooth.
• Select “Contiguous” if you only want to erase the pixels adjacent to the pixel you click. If you want to apply this effect to all corresponding pixels in the image, check this option.
• Select “Sample All Layers” if you want to erase color that is determined based on all visible layers.
• Give an “Opacity” to determine how strong the effect of the erasure is. An “opacity” of 100% erases pixels completely. A lower “opacity” erases pixels partially.

Background Eraser Tool

With the “Background Eraser” Tool, we make the pixels in a layer transparent by clicking and dragging. you can see the background around the edges of an object in the foreground. With the aid of the various options, we determine the range of the transparency and the sharpness of the edges.

Select the “Background Eraser” tool in the Toolbox.
Click the downward-pointing black arrow to set the options for the Brush.
Besides the Brush Options we have three buttons:

1. Continuous (Ongoing): while you drag, always take samples of the colors.
2. Once (once): to only erase parts containing the color that you first clicked.
3. Background Swatch (Background Language): erase only parts of the current background color.

In the “Limits” section, you choose from:

1. Discontiguous (not adjacent): if you want to erase the color at any place that is touched by the eraser. And not adjacent areas.
2. Contiguous (Adjacent): if you only want to erase the color in adjacent areas.
3. Find Edges (Edges): if you wish erase the color in the adjacent areas, retaining the sharpness of the edges of the object.

In the Tolerance box, give you a value or use the slider to set this value.
The value of the tolerance determines the deviation of the color.
At a setting of 10%, the color which you drag or click, is within 10% of the sample color.
With a setting of 80%, the color that is upto 80% different from the color sample.

Select “Protect Foreground Color” to protect the areas selected in the foreground color in the toolbox from being erased.

Note: Make sure that the cross in the center of the cursor is not a color that you do not want to erase.

History and Art History Brush

The History Brush is a tool that restores the previous state of the local image.
With the Art History Brush, we can stylize regions of the image. By experimenting with the different options for “Opacity”, “Area”, “Tolerance” and “Style”, you can see the texture of the paint with different colors and artistic styles.
The number of possibilities is virtually endless, so experiment.

Clone Stamp Tool and Pattern Stamp Tool

The “Clone Stamp” Tool makes an exact copy of a portion of the image.
First select the part that you want to clone by clicking the mouse in a certain place in the image while holding the Alt key pressed.
You will see two cursors. What it does is, it clones the right cursor region into the left cursor region.

The “Pattern Stamp” Tool, I can not explain much.
You must choose a pattern in the Options bar.
I will show you how to make a pattern in the next lesson.

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