Recently a friend of mine asked me about a special technique that can be used in Photoshop to paint fur. The technique was originally shown to us by an artist at Dreamworks, Richard Daskas. Mr. Daskas used this technique to paint the fur for a concept painting of “Monkey” from Dreamwork’s Kung Fu Panda, to be used by the modelers in creating that character. The effect is achieved by using the following settings within Photoshop’s “brush settings” palette:

Step 1: Change your brush shape

Go to the Brush Tip Shape in the “Brushes” palette (F5). Here, you will find a diagram, similar to the one below, for your brush tip:

Click on one of the points around the circle and drag in to “squeeze” the brush tip into something more akin to a “hair” strand. You can also rotate the angle by grabbing the diagram at the “arrow” and rotating it at whatever angle you like. Refer to the example below:

This takes care of the brush tip shape. Now let’s set it up for “hairs”—plural.

Step 2: Scatter

Now, click on and highlight “Scattering” (Fig. 1 – 1).

The default setting should work fine, but if not, set your “Scatter” to something like “38%”. Everything else, you can leave alone. Go to the next step.

Step 3: Shape Dynamics

Click on and highlight “Shape Dynamics”. For “Size Jitter,” I highly recommend setting “control” to Pen Pressure. This will cause your brush to shrink and expand depending on the level of pressure applied. This way, you can get “strands” of varying length, for a more realistic look.
Also, change the “Angle Jitter” control to “Direction.” You can also use “Initial Direction.” These settings will control the “grain” or “direction” of the strands of fur. Everything else, you can leave alone. Refer to Fig. 1 – 2:

Step 4: Other Dynamics

Finally, click and highlight “Other Dynamics” and change the “Opacity Jitter” control to “Pen Pressure” and the “Flow Jitter” to “Pen Pressure,” as well. This will add softness and hardness, accordingly, to your brush strokes, according to the level of pressure that you apply. And that’s it. (See the final settings below.)