Photoshop elements brushes not working properly?

Question

No matter what I try, my brushes don't work properly. They still work, but it's like their constantly set on the "scatter" option. I've attempted reseting my tools, but that doesn't help at all. It makes drawing and coloring in difficult, especially with brushes that I need at a specific angle. Can someone help me fix this problem?

Mujer Alta · Accepted Answer

Do all your brushes misbehave this same way?  Sometimes, if you make changes to a brush using the Brush Settings or if you use a downloaded brush that's too old or too new for the version of Elements you're using, the settings will stick and the next brush you use will have to be reset.

Click on the Paintbrush, select one of the brushes giving you problems, open Brush Settings (the nice looking paintbrush graphic at the far right side of the Options Bar) and see if the scatter option needs to be reset to 0 - or at least lowered - to make the brush work properly.

Also, check the Tablet Settings in Elements (the little arrow between the Airbrush icon and the Brush Settings graphic) and make sure that anything you don't want the brush to control is checkmarked.

If you're using a tablet, a whole 'nother set of problems might be at work.  When's the last time you updated the driver?  Wacom (assuming you have a Wacom) does a great job keeping their tablets working as operating systems and software change.  It pays to check for new drivers a couple of times a year.
http://us.wacom.com/en/support/drivers
Drivers self-install so it's really easy to install a new one.  After installing a new driver, be sure to go to Start>Control Panel, open the Wacom tablet icon and configure your tablet.

Photoshop elements brushes not working properly?

1 Answer