+ How To Make Brushes In PhotoShop

For this tutorial I am using version 7.0 of Photoshop if you are using some older versions everything is still the same except for the 'define brush' part- you can find it under the arrow on the brush palette.

(Click on the thumbnail for a better view of the images)

Making brushes requires defining parts of an image so first you must open a image in which you plan to make the brush set from. The image can be scanned, manipulated or created by yourself. For this tutorial I will be using an image of an eye and a doodle.

So open a new file and make sure it has a decent dimension ( I usually use 600x450 ) and make the background white. Now copy and paste the images you want into that file and place them so that they are not touching each other.

Now make sure you have your brushes palette open, it usually appears at the top right hand corner. If you cannot see it then click on 'window' and go down and select 'show brushes'.  Or you might find it at the baron the top right hand corner.

Before we start making the brushes you must make sure that the brushes palette is empty so when you go to save your brushes you only have your own brushes there. Otherwise you'll need to delete or the other brushes in it- one by one!

This is the part of making  brushes that no one mentions so you're in for a treat! 
First reset the brushes to make sure there is a minimum amount of brushes there and delete them one by one. You cannot have an empty palette so you just keep one of the default brushes there. Now go and save that brush and name it something. Before you start defining brushes replace the palette with that brush set and you'll see why later.

Now use the marquee tool to select an area of the image you wish to turn into a brush. Keep the area selected and go click on the arrow at the top right hand corner of the brushes palette. Choose 'define brush' and you will have created your first brush. Now you can delete the one brush remaining from the default brush set so that you only have you own brushes in the palette.  Keep selection areas and defining the brushes until you have a set.

Before you get excited you must save your brushes as the .abr file or else you will loose them. Choose a folder to keep all your brushes and make a name for you brush set for easy identification. Now you can delete the brush set you loaded earlier (which only has one brush so it takes only 2 seconds) and save your brush set.

And you're all done! The rest cannot be taught and is up to you and your imagination. I cannot give you all the tricks that I use for creating my brushes- there is no magic involved. You will just have to experiment and play around with your images until you come up with a satisfactory design. 
You must be busting to create your own brushes now. So hurry along and be patient, practice makes perfect!