The “Brush”
The first thing I want to tell you is that, there is a difference between the “brush” tool and the “Brush” option.  Not only does the “brush” tool uses the “Brush”, but it is also used by the other tools such as the “Pencil”, “Quick retouch brush”, “Healing Brush”, “Clone Stamp”, “Blur”, “Eraser” and a number of other.
So with any tool that offers this option, you can change the diameter (1) and hardness (2) by the downward-pointing arrow button.

A quick way to change the diameter is to right-click and drag it while holding the Alt key on your keyboard pressed.

A quick way to modify the hardness is to right-click and drag it while holding the Alt key, the Ctrl key and the Shift key on your keyboard pressed.

I think I already told you this, but it’s just that you know it. It makes life a lot easier.

This is new in CS4, so previous version users will still need to do in the old way.

By default, a thumbnail display of the different brushes is displayed in the brush category (3).

You can change this by clicking on the right pointing arrow (4) and choosing a different view from the drop-down menu. For example, the “Stroke Thumbnail”. This view gives you an excellent example of what to expect when you begin drawing with the brush.

In this drop-down menu you will indeed find all the categories (5) installed with different brushes.

What I also say is, when the diameter is set to 70 pixels for example, the diameter of the drawn line is not always 70 pixels.

This is only true when the hardness is set to 100%.

You can see the example on the left.  The diameter of the two lines is set to the same value, but the hardness of the two lines is different.

What I also say is, if you want to draw vertical or horizontal line, hold the shift key on your keyboard while you click and drag.

The Brush tool vs. Pencil
The difference between the “brush” tool and the “Pencil” tool is that the edge is harder when you a draw a line with the pencil than when you draw with the Paintbrush tool.The color for the pencil or the brush is done by the foreground color which you can change in the tool bar, the “Color” panel of “Windows” menu and selecting a color from the panel or by selecting the dropper in the toolbar and clicking a color in the picture.

The color that you draw is always the foreground color set in the tool bar.

To quickly set the black/white in the tool bar, click the letter D on your keyboard.

To quickly change the background color with the foreground color, click the letter X on your keyboard.

The “Brushes” panel
We have already seen a number of options for the brush, but there are a lot more. And when I say a lot more, I really mean a lot more.

Open the “Brushes” panel and you will see what I mean.

On the left we find the different categories (1), each with their own options. Select a category and the various options for the selected category appear in the middle of the dialog box, where the different types of brushes are shown now (2).

It is impossible to discuss all of these options, but you must try these when you have a lot of time. But this is actually quite logical.

Thus, the “Shape Dynamics” has something to do with the shape of the brush for sure, and the option “Spread” has something to do with the spread between the different forms.

Though it all seems complicated, but when you do this with patience, this will all be easy.

By clicking on the downward pointing arrow in the upper right corner of the dialog (3), you’ll also find another brush category.

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