Drawing > Painting with the Brush tool
Painting with the Brush toolThe Brush tool draws brushlike strokes, as if you were painting. It lets you create special effects, including calligraphic effects. On most pressure-sensitive tablets, you can vary the width of the brush stroke by varying pressure on the stylus.
You can use an imported bitmap as a fill when painting with the Brush tool. See Breaking apart a bitmap.
A variable-width brush stroke drawn with a stylus
To paint with the Brush tool:
1 | Select the Brush tool.
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2 | Select a fill color. See Specifying stroke and fill attributes. |
3 | Click the Brush mode modifier and choose a painting mode: |
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Paint Normal paints over lines and fills on the same layer. |
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Paint Behind paints in blank areas of the Stage on the same layer, leaving lines and fills unaffected. |
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Paint Selection applies a new fill to the selection when you select a fill in the Fill modifier or the Fill panel. (This option is the same as simply selecting a filled area and applying a new fill.) |
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Paint Fills paints fills and empty areas, leaving lines unaffected. |
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Paint Inside paints the fill in which you start a brush stroke and never paints lines. This works much like a smart coloring book that never allows you to paint outside the lines. If you start painting in an empty area, the fill doesn't affect any existing filled areas.
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Original image, Paint Normal, Paint Behind, Paint Selection, Paint Fills, and Paint Inside |
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4 | Choose a brush size, brush shape, and paint color from the Brush tool modifiers. |
5 | If a pressure-sensitive tablet is attached to your computer, you can select the Pressure modifier to vary the width of your brush strokes by varying the pressure on your stylus. |
6 | Drag on the Stage. Shift-drag to constrain brush strokes to horizontal and vertical directions. |
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