{"id":4446,"date":"2023-11-14T00:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/?p=4446"},"modified":"2023-11-14T09:30:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T14:30:25","slug":"torn-paper-brushes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/torn-paper-brushes\/","title":{"rendered":"Torn Paper Brushes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two weeks ago, I gave you some tips on digitally tearing paper<\/a><\/strong>. I mentioned \u201ctear\u201d brushes and said I\u2019d try to give you some tips on those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, today\u2019s the day to take care of that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Torn papers are a fun addition to any layout. I love including them on my pages, but I\u2019ll admit\u2026I typically use templates when making them. On rare occasion I have created my own from scratch as demonstrated in that prior post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve known for a long time (relatively speaking) that there are brushes to help with creating torn edges. Another confession\u2026I\u2019d never tried using them. So, I stepped out of my comfort zone & decided to do a little research and learn about creating torn paper with them for this \u201ctutorial\u201d. Just like everything else in graphic design, there\u2019s not much limit to what we can do today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tearing With Brushes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before I get started, please remember that I use Photoshop Elements (PSE) so everything that follows is done using that software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, there are lots of free brushes available. One of my favorite places to look for brushes is Brusheezy<\/a><\/strong>. And I did find a nice set of \u201ctear\u201d brushes \u2013 \u201cTorn Paper Brushes<\/a><\/strong>\u201d by Tricorn Design.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brusheezy<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There are other sites offering free Photoshop brushes\u2026but Brusheezy is kind of my \u201cgo to\u201d spot to look & they didn\u2019t disappoint. But you can search the internet for \u201cfree torn paper brushes Photoshop\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Load The Brushes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once I downloaded (& unzipped) my new brushes, the first thing I needed to do was \u201cload\u201d them. In case you\u2019re not sure how to do that\u2026it\u2019s pretty easy. I click on the brush tool in the tools panel. Then, I click on the down arrow beside the brush to open the Brush Preset Picker box. I then click on the “three little dots” on the top, right corner of the brush panel:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This opens an “options” drop down from which I select Load Brushes. From there I just navigate to the folder containing my brushes and select the appropriate ABR file. Now my new brushes are loaded:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brushes<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Tearing The Paper<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Okay, now I can get down to tearing. Today I\u2019m going to be using some papers from \u201cPearFect Fall<\/a><\/strong>\u201d by ET Designs. I start with the background over which the tear will be layered. I\u2019m using this wood paper:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"PearFect<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Next, I\u2019ll bring in the piece of paper that I\u2019d like to \u201ctear\u201d and place it over the wood paper:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"PearFect<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

You know how cautious I always am when using \u201cdestructive\u201d techniques on paper. I\u2019m going to duplicate this pear paper and hide the original just in case \ud83d\ude09.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the duplicate pretty pear paper layer active, I click the \u201cAdd layer mask\u201d icon at the top of the layers panel to add a layer mask to this paper layer. Next, I click on the brush tool and select one of the Tricorn Torn Paper Brushes. I used 09.psd (2068).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I double-click on the layer mask for the Pear Paper Layer and ensure that my color chips are set to the default (black foreground white background). Then I begin tapping the brush on the mask to mask out part of the pear paper to create the torn edge. I overlap the brush regularly so I don\u2019t end up with a repeating pattern on the torn edge. Here\u2019s a look at my brush \u201cmask\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Unless I want to have only this little strip of wood showing, I need to get rid of the remaining pear paper below the tear. I can do this one of two ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One, I could just change my brush to a basic square or round brush and mask away the extraneous paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But since I\u2019m fairly certain I won\u2019t be making any changes to the actual tear I could also just simplify the pear paper layer and draw a selection box around the remaining paper and press Delete. Either way, this is the result:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now I add a new layer under the pear paper and fill it with white. This layer will become the \u201cwhite fill\u201d part of the tear. I name this layer \u201cFill\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

With the white (Fill) layer active I hold down the Alt key and click the layer mask icon at the top of the layer panel. This will add a layer mask that is filled with black & completely hides the white layer.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Don\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll explain why I\u2019m doing this in a minute. Ensuring that the white fill layer is still active, I double-click the layer mask & select a Torn Paper Brush again. I choose to use the same brush as what I used for the original tear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could use a different one or even change it multiple times while creating the white edge. It doesn\u2019t really matter. The white paper that shows along the torn edge is not meant to \u201cmatch\u201d the tear on the patterned paper. So don\u2019t stress about this. I\u2019m going to do some brush work again, and just create that white edge along the tear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before brushing, I have to reverse the color chips so that the foreground color is white. Next, ensuring that the mask for the Fill layer is active, I just start tapping the brush over the background (wood) layer to reveal the white edge being careful to just reveal a very thin strip of white along the tear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do want it to vary in thickness so it looks more natural. While masking, I want most of my brush to show up “above” the pear paper so I\u2019m only revealing a narrow white edge beyond the torn edge on the pear paper. I want to ensure the edge isn\u2019t even or perfect. No stress\u2026I just start tapping overlapping\/re-sizing and tapping that brush again until I\u2019m satisfied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If some of the edge needs to be reduced or cleaned up a bit, I just switch the foreground color to black, click on the layer mask on the background (wood) layer and tap the brush again to remove some of the white edge. I switched between black (to hide) and white (to show) over and over until I was happy with how the edge looked. And here is my white edge:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Little pointer here\u2026it helps to zoom in a bit during this step to get a better view while brushing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point if I\u2019m positive I won\u2019t want to make any more changes to the torn papers, I could just simplify the pear paper layer. That makes the changes I made on the mask permanent on the layer. For right now, I\u2019d rather keep the layer mask live so that it will be easy to make changes if I feel the need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zhuzhing Up The Tear<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The file looks pretty good as it is, but we all know that torn paper isn\u2019t perfectly \u201cflat\u201d looking. So, just as I did in the prior post on tearing<\/a><\/strong>, I applied a texture to my white torn edge by clipping a piece of textured white paper to this Fill layer:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

As in my prior post about paper tears, I am again using a piece of textured paper from \u201cPaper Pack #4<\/a><\/strong>\u201d by Paula Kesselring. But if you don\u2019t have a nice texture paper (or don\u2019t feel like looking for it) refer back to that prior \u201ctearing post<\/a><\/strong>\u201d for tips on using the Paint Bucket Tool & a Photoshop Pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ll notice that the paper I used makes the white edge look perhaps greyer than it should. DON\u2019T PANIC. It takes a bit of gray to make the texture show up. It looks okay like it is, but I think perhaps I\u2019ll brighten it up just a little. I just change the opacity of the textured paper until it brightens up just enough. I actually used a 70% opacity level<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another option would be to duplicate the textured paper layer (clip it to the Fill layer) and play with changing the blend mode.  The Overlay or Soft Light modes seemed to give the best result. I opted Soft Light. And here is the result:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Either with the clipped paper or the Paint Bucket texture, everything still looks too flat so I need to add some more depth with drop shadow and\/or bevel styles. Today I\u2019m just going to do some quick shadows. If you want more detail about shadowing and\/or beveling please refer back to my prior tearing post<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the \u201ctextured\u201d Fill layer active I select Layer->Layer Styles (from the top menu). This opens the Style Settings Dialog box.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Style<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If the color chip isn\u2019t set to black, I change it to black. Then I set Lighting Angle to 120 degrees, Size to 10, Distance to 9 and Opacity to 35% click ok. How dark & big you set the shadow will depend on how dark your background paper is. With the wood that I\u2019m using I went with a \u201cdeeper\u201d shadow than what I may have used on a lighter background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the top (pear paper) layer could use a boost. I copy the layer style from the Tear Fill layer to the Tear layer. The settings are a bit too dark\/steep for this top layer. Not to worry, this is just going to give me a starting point. I will make adjustments to the settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of tutorials will tell you not to shadow the \u201coriginal\u201d paper layer. I am typically happier with the tiniest bit of a shadow on the top paper. For this I set the Drop Shadow settings as follows: Size to 4, Distance to 3 and Opacity to 25%.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Brush<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Again, you can play around with these settings if you want to experiment with different looks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t tell you how happy I am that I decided to step outside my comfort zone & embrace the role of being a \u201cbeginner\u201d. I love that I can continue to grow and improve. Using brushes may be my new \u201cgo to\u201d for creating torn paper edges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Extra Tips For Using Torn Paper Brushes<\/h3>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The key to getting a nice tear is to really fine-tune your \u201cbrushing\u201d skills. Experiment with re-sizing and rotating your brush to get unique random tears. If you’re not sure how to rotate your brush…watch for next week’s post. I’ll talk more about it then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don’t stop at tearing just one edge of your paper and create more than one torn layer for a given layout<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you\u2019re feeling extra brave put the shadows on their own layers to customize them and bump up the look of your shadow. Just use the Smudge or Warp tool to make it look like the paper is lifting just a bit more here and there. Sometimes just the tiniest warp of the shadows can make it look so much more natural. I would encourage you to experiment with \u201cwarping\u201d the shadows (at least on the fill layer).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don\u2019t know how to put your shadows on a separate layer, please check out this great tutorial<\/a><\/strong> by Cheryl Ashcraft from Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as I always say, the more you play around using brushes to make these tears\u2026the better they\u2019re going to be!  Have fun!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please remember, if you have any questions or need a bit of help, please don\u2019t hesitate to \u201cMessage Me<\/a><\/strong>\u201d for some assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading this week\u2019s Quick Tip. <\/em>If you want to stay informed about next week\u2019s post, just click \u201cFollow Me<\/a><\/strong>\u201d to get an update. I hope you have a wonderful week!<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Stay<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weeks ago, I gave you some tips on digitally tearing paper. I mentioned \u201ctear\u201d brushes and said I\u2019d try to give you some tips on those. Well, today\u2019s the day to take care of that\u2026 Torn papers are a fun addition to any layout. I love including them on my pages, but I\u2019ll admit\u2026I typically use templates when making them. On rare occasion I have created my own from scratch as demonstrated in that prior post. I\u2019ve known for…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"0","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tuesday-tip-day"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yourscrappingcafe.com\/home\/d19521157\/public_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}