Photoshop Brush Tutorial: Brushes vs The Pencil Tool

Before we begin our look at Photoshop's brushes, brush controls, Brushes palette, and all that good stuff, we should first look at the difference between Photoshop's brushes and its other main painting tool, the Pencil tool.

Now, you may be thinking "Pencil? Who paints with a pencil?", and who could blame you for asking that question, since really, who paints with a pencil? People who've never heard of a paint brush, that's who. Or, perhaps painters who get paid by the hour. However, Photoshop's definition of a painting tool is any tool that allows you to apply color to an image, which means that both the brushes and the Pencil tool qualify.

So if there's two painting tools in Photoshop, what's the difference between them? Boy, you're just full of questions today, aren't you?

Where To Find The Pencil Tool

The Pencil Tool is found in the Tools palette, but unless you've previously selected it, you won't see it there. The reason is because the Pencil tool, by default, is hidden behind the Brush tool. If you look closely at the Brush tool icon in the Tools palette, you'll see a small black arrow beside it which indicates that there are additional tools hiding behind it. Simply click on the Brush tool icon and hold the mouse down on it for a second, and the additional tools will fly out. You can then select the Pencil tool.

* Note that Photoshop CS2 also includes the Color Replacement Tool with the Brush and Pencil tools. In Photoshop CS, the Color Replacement Tool is found with the Healing and Patch tools.

The Brush Tool Options Bar Vs. The Pencil Tool Options Bar

There are some key differences between the Brush tool and the Pencil tool. The first has to do with the various options we have for each tool up in the Options Bar.

Options Bar: The Similarities

First, the similarities: Starting from the left side of the Options Bars and working our way to the right, both Options Bars give us a Tool Preset Picker where we can save and select tool presets, followed by a Brush Preset Picker (even with the Pencil tool selected, Photoshop still calls it the Brush Preset Picker) where we can select any of the brush or pencil presets we've created ourselves or that Photoshop comes with by default. Next, we have a Paint Mode selection drop down box for both tools (set to Normal by default), and an Opacity selection box where we can set the level of transparency we want to paint with.

This is where the similarities end, however.

Options Bar: The Differences

Flow Control
The Brush Tool Options Bar gives us a Flow control selection box, which controls the amount of paint, set as a percentage, that will be applied to the canvas each time you pass your brush over an area. We'll look more closely at the Flow control and how it's related to the Opacity control in another section. All we need to point out here is that the Flow control is only available for brushes, not the Pencil tool.

Airbrush
Along with the Flow option, the Brush tool also comes with a button to enable "airbrush" capabilities with the brush. The Airbrush used to be a separate tool itself, but as of Photoshop 7, it's been moved to the Options Bar. With Airbrush enabled, the brush will continue adding paint to the image in the percentage increment you've specified in the Flow selection box as long as you're still holding the mouse button down, even if you're holding the mouse in place. We'll look at the Airbrush in another section. Again, all we need to know for now is that this is an option specifically for the brushes, not the Pencil tool.

Auto Erase
The Pencil tool may not have a Flow control or airbrush capabilities, but it does have its own unique option, "Auto Erase". Now, I don't know what Adobe was thinking when they called this feature Auto Erase because it has nothing to do with erasing anything, automatically or otherwise. However, it is a somewhat interesting feature in that it will paint with your currently selected background color, rather than using the foreground color, if the area you click on to begin painting already contains your foreground color. It's as if Photoshop thinks, "Well obviously he/she doesn't want to paint the same color over top of the exact same color, so I'm going to switch to using the background color instead". For example, if your foreground color is blue and your background color is red, when you first start painting on the canvas with the Pencil tool, you'll paint with blue as you would normally expect, since blue is your foreground color. If you check the "Auto Erase" box in the Options Bar and then click on an area you've already painted blue to continue painting, Photoshop will switch to using the background color, which in this case is red, so you'd start painting with red rather than blue. If you release the mouse button, then click on an area that doesn't already contain your foreground color and continue painting, Photoshop will switch back to using the foreground color again. Now you tell me, what does that have to do with erasing anything? Still, it's a somewhat interesting feature, and it's a feature exclusive to the Pencil tool.

Anti-Aliased Edges

The other main difference between the Brushes and the Pencil tool is that of the two, the Pencil tool is the only one that can paint with a true hard edge. In fact, it has no choice but to paint with a hard edge. The Pencil tool has no ability for painting with soft feathered edges, whereas the brushes most certainly have that ability. In fact, just as the Pencil tool has no ability to paint with a soft edge, the brushes have no ability to paint with a hard edge. Even when you select 100% hardness for the edge, the brushes will still give you a slightly soft, anti-aliased edge. The general rule then is that if you require a true hard edge, use the Pencil. If you require a soft, anti-aliased edge, which is usually what you want, use a brush.