Advanced Digital Scrapbooking Techniques: Custom Brush with Clone Stamp

Using a Custom Brush with the Clone Stamp

by Pattie Knox

Custom Brushes are extremely popular among digital artists—and for good reason. Often thought of as the digital equivalent of rubber stamps, brushes are indispensable tools for adding flair to your work.

Here’s a quick trick using a custom brush with the Clone Stamp tool in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements to create the look of a masked photo in a snap!  You’ll begin with two documents open in your workspace — the layout in progress and a photo.

1. Click directly on the photo to make it the active document.
2. Select the Clone Stamp tool from the Toolbox.
3. From the Options bar click the Show selected brush presets drop-down menu.
4. Double click the brush of choice to load.
5. Position the cursor to cover the desired area of your photo.   (Resize the brush by pressing the [ or ] keys to increase or decrease the brush diameter )
   
6. Press ALT (OPTION on Mac) while clicking once on the photo to sample the image.

   

7. Switch to the document containing your layout in progress.
8. In the Layers palette, create a new blank layer above all other layers.
9. Position the brush and click the left mouse button once to “stamp” the image onto the new blank layer you created.

   

Looks fabulous doesn’t it? (We won’t tell anyone how easy it was if you don’t!) Join me for Still More Mad Digital Skillz starting January 12^th for a lot more of this kind of digital coolness.

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Pattie Knox is teaching her online class Still More Mad Digital Skillz class at Get It Scrapped! starting January 12th.  She’ll teach 6 awesome and useful digital techniques that you can do yourself with Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS.  Find out how easy it is to make your own folds and creases in digital paper. Get the effect of an image behind glass. Learn how to use displacement maps for grunge effects. Make lined notebook paper with binding edge. How about creating your own cellophane tape? You’ll find Pattie in the private class forum every day ready to answer questions and check out your creations. What’s more– you’ll receive a generous bundle of digital product from Pattie’s friends at DesignerDigitals to use with the lessons and your other projects.



5 Responses to “Advanced Digital Scrapbooking Techniques: Custom Brush with Clone Stamp”

1. Pam says:

   January 14, 2010 at 12:58 pm

   This looks like an awesome technique, unfortunately I am having trouble with it. When I stamp it onto my blank layer it only stamps the pixels that are actually on the stamp itself, rather than the stamp and all that is inside it. I hope this makes sense. Any idea what I may be doing wrong?

   Thanks so much!
   PS – I use PS CS3

   Reply
2. Pattie says:

   January 14, 2010 at 2:39 pm

   Are you sure that you performed Step 6 above?

   “Press ALT (OPTION on Mac) while clicking once on the photo to sample the image.”

   This is the step that samples (or makes a copy of) the portion of your photo you want to “stamp”.

   Pattie

   Reply
3. Pam says:

   January 14, 2010 at 7:11 pm

   Thanks for your quick response. It was the right technique but used with the wrong type of brush! The brush had an inside border so it was not sampling the entire inside part of the image.

   Reply
4. Pattie says:

   January 14, 2010 at 8:36 pm

   Ah! One of those things that makes you crazy until you figure it out…happens to me ALL of the time. I’m glad you got things squared away though.

   Reply
5. Steve says:

   March 8, 2010 at 11:02 am

   Does anyone know why suddenly my elements clone stamp cursor looks like a stamper instead of a circle?

   Reply