Pixel Painted Autumn Trees

We're going to paint rustic autumn trees.  There are a lot of steps but the tutorial is fairly easy to do.

This tutorial assumes that you are fairly competent with Photoshop and have a graphics tablet and pen.  I'm using default Photoshop brushes.   Make sure that there is ample room to paint above and on each side of the image.

Make use of your Undo Tool and History to correct any mistakes or over-brushing and save often.

Open a New Image 700 x 600 with white background.  Add a New Layer and name it Leaves.  I've used the Spatter 39 Pixels brush, 100% Opacity and 100% Flow.  Under your Brushes menu you will find your Brush Presets/Brush Tip Shape menu.  I have checked Shape Dynamics, Scattering, Texture, Color Dynamics, Noise, and Smoothing.  The settings are as follows:

Color Palette

Painting

Start painting by swirling your brush across the canvas in the shape shown.  Your Foreground Color should be Orange and the Background Color a Rusty Red.


(Ex. 2:  Leaves)

Add a New Layer just above the Background Layer and name it Tree Trunk.  Using a Dark Brown color, select your Hard Round 9 Pixels brush to make your tree as shown.  Add the branches, making sure that you adjust the brush diameter smaller to 5 and then 3 Hard Round Pixels.

(Ex. 3:  Tree Trunk)

Add a New Layer above the Tree Trunk Layer and name it Tree Trunk Highlights.  Using a Light Brown color paint highlights on the branches as shown using a 3 or 1 Pixel brush.

(Ex. 4:  Tree Trunk Highlights)

Smudging

Use your Smudge Tool and start lightly smoothing out the edges of the hightlights.

Smudge Tool Settings:

Spatter 14 Pixels Brush adjusted to 6 Pixels
Mode:  Normal
Strength:  70%

Use a light touch and Do Not Over Brush!  Undo as needed.  When finished add the Noise Filter set to Gaussian - 9.75%.

You're finished!  Experiment with different brushes, brush settings and colors.  The finished tree is shown at the top of the page.

Dani Foster Herring
PixelPaintedGraphics.com
1997-2005