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I'll cover a few new tools, and some tricks with this rendering of chain and hook against a ceramic tile backdrop.
But first, and introduction to some of the tools I use:
The Line Tool:
In the image below, you can see the settings. First select the "Fill Pixels" Box (right hand box in the first group of three). Then the Line Tool from the Geometry Options group. Weight refers to how thick the line will be, in pixels. I set the Mode to Normal, Opacity to 100%, and turn off Anti-alias (just like you turn it off on the Lasso, Wand, Bucket tools etc).
You click, and drag, as shown below. It gives you an outline of where your line is going.
When you let go, the outline turns to solid color using your Foreground Color - in this case, black. Holding down the Shift Key will constrain your line to a 45° or 90° angle.
Quickmask Tool:
Quickmask mode is a way of visualizing your selections. It turns your selection into a temporary Alpha Channel. Below is the selection made with the Lasso Tool.
Hitting the 'Q' key turns on Quickmask mode, show below. You can see in the Channels Palette there is a new channel, 'Quickmask'.
The next image shows the settings for Quickmask. You get this option by double-clicking the Quickmask Channel in the Channels Palette.
Make sure it's set to "Selected Areas". Having it set to "Masked Areas" gives you a negative image of your selection. I prefer to use a low Opacity so I can see through the Quickmask so I can see the lineart and colors below it. If Opacity is 100%, it blocks out everything underneath it.
Here I've used an airbrush to soften on edge of the Quickmask. This is good for making selections that are hard edged on one side, and feathered on the other.
When I exit Quickmask, I get this selection. The selection is based on Threshold - only showing areas that are 50% selected or more.
If I need to keep this selection for a while, I'll save it as an alpha channel.
And here's what the alpha channel looks like, now that it's saved. Although the color is different, and looks solid, it's still the exact same as it was when I was in Quickmask mode.
Pencil Tool:
Here's the settings for one of my custom Pencil Tools. Spacing is 1% - this helps give a smooth stroke, along with turning on the Smoothing checkbox. You can see I've also turned on 'Shape Dynamics,' and Other Dynamics.'
Under 'Shape Dynamics,' I set the Minimum Diameter pretty small. This gives me variation in size, depending on the amount of pressure I apply with the Wacom Pen.
Under 'Other Dynamics,' I set the Control to 'Pen Pressure.' This means the more I press with the Wacom Pen, the color is laid down on a stroke.
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