How to Add Realistic Beard in Photoshop
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Looking for a beard Photoshop tutorial that is going to help you create full, evenly distributed beard, without any patches? Using the vast capabilities of Photoshop, you can create the most detailed and natural facial hair. This task may seem too complicated for you, but the clear instructions in my tutorial will make the process of easy and simple.
How to Create Facial Hair in Photoshop Tutorial
These guidelines will help make your workflow easier and faster. The method I will tell you about is quite universal and is suitable for any type of facial hair: beards, mustaches, stubble.
But you need to decide on what type of hair you want to get in the end from the very beginning. This will dictate the settings. Only after that start this tutorial.
Step 1. Create an Empty Layer
Press Shift-Cmd-N/Shift+Ctrl+N or click the New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers panel. As a result, a new layer will appear above the background one.
Step 2. Select the Brush Tool
To get the most realistic effect, we’ll have to create a Custom Brush and paint a single hair on the layer we’ve just created. To do it, you need to select the Brush Tool first. Make sure to reduce the size of the brush.
Step 3. Change the Opacity and Flow
Set the Opacity and Flow to 100%. Depending on facial hair in the image, use brush thickness and flow that matches the other hairs.
Step 4. Sample the Hair Color
To make your facial hair Photoshop look natural, pay attention to its color. Hold Alt/Opt and sample the hair color with the Eyedropper Tool.
Step 5. Paint One Single Hair
This step is one of the most important for further work. Paint one single hair that matches other hairs on the face.
Tip: Work on the tablet. If you don’t have a suitable device, you can use the trackpad or mouse for the task. However, the touch pen will provide more impressive results.
Step 6. Activate the Selection
Press Ctrl/Cmd and select the hair layer to activate the selection.
Step 7. Open “Define Brush Preset” Window
Next, go to Edit -> Define Brush Preset to save it as a custom brush.
Step 8. Name the New Brush
Select Edit and Define a Brush Preset. A preview of the brush and its size will appear on the screen. Choose a name and click “OK” to continue creating Photoshop beard.
When the brush is ready, remove the unnecessary layers. You will find them on the Layers panel.
Step 9. Find the New Brush
Open the Brush menu by going to Window-Brush. Here you can find many settings that allow you to use more diverse adjustments when drawing a beard or mustache. Find the new brush in the Brush Settings menu. As you can see from the preview, it’s currently set to paint a steady stream. In the next couple of steps, we’ll fix this.
Step 10. Increase Spacing
Creating Photoshop facial hair is a pretty tricky thing. The hair differs in color, size, density, curvature, and directions. To achieve the most accurate and natural results, you have a lot of work to do. First, Increase the spacing between brush marks by moving the slider to the right. You can also manually type in the spacing value.
Step 11. Change Shape Dynamics of the Brush
Experiment with the brush parameters by using the menu options. Open the Shape Dynamics Menu. Thanks to various slight adjustments you can get an incredibly natural look! To resize the hairs, to make them larger or smaller, play with the Size Jitter.
By changing the Angle Jitter settings, you will get hairs drawn from different angles. You can also try adjusting Roundness Jitter, X Jitter, Scattering, Opacity. All these changes to beard brush Photoshop will help you get fantastic results.
Step 12. Save the Brush Preset
To be able to use your new facial hair Photoshop brush in the future, you need to be save the adjustments you made, by creating a preset. From the Brush Settings panel menu in the top right corner, click on “New Brush Preset”. This will bring up the preset window.
Step 13. Check the Boxes
Check the “Capture Brush Size in Preset” and “Include Tool Settings” boxes. Press Ok. This will create a perfect beard Photoshop brush preset.
That's all! Once the brush is ready, you can start painting over those parts of the face, where you want to see hair. If you are unsatisfied with some details, you can get rid of unwanted hair with the Eraser tool.
Tip: When drawing hairs, try to follow the natural growth direction to avoid an unrealistic look.
Free Photoshop Facial Hair Brushes
Would you like to skip all of the steps above and add Photoshop beards in a matter of seconds? FixThePhoto professionals have created cool Ps brushes for the task. A few clicks of the mouse and you will get a great beard or mustache.
Spot-Free Beard
Fix bald spots in your beard with the help of this super helpful beard Photoshop brush.
Even Facial Hair
This facial hair and mustache Photoshop action will change your clean-shaven look and patchy mustache to evenly distributed facial hair.
- Find out how to smooth skin in Photoshop.
Full Stubble
Make your stubble much fuller with this facial hair Photoshop action.
- Read on about how to remove stray hairs in Photoshop.
Ann Young
Hi there, I'm Ann Young - a professional blogger, read more
