smoothing out color in painting

[leigh]

It's hard to say without seeing an actual example of your efforts.

It's worth bearing in mind that Photoshop is primarily an image manipulation program, not a painting one. The painting engine is still quite new and undeveloped and doesn't have the same intuitive approach to painting adopted, and mastered, by software like Painter, or even ArtRage.

Having said that, it could also be an issue of skill. Personally, I am so used to using Photoshop that I can't say I have any issues with painting myself. Sure, some tools could be improved, but I always get the result I was after. Perhaps you just need more practice? As I said earlier, it's hard to judge since I've not seen your work.

[Creatrix]

Drawing with a pressure-sensitive tablet, I (almost exclusively) use the Airbrush Pen Opacity Flow brush (it defaults at size 19 in Photoshop, you'll find it just in front of the Airbrush Soft Round brushes) for just about everything I paint. Typically, I'll blend colors together at lower opacities (say... 30% or so, depending), and it blends them nicely but not *too* smoothly (as a soft round brush would do... I don't like perfectly smooth, airbrushy blending myself, it lacks texture).

But there are so many different ways to achieve the same effects via Photoshop, it's all in finding out what works for you and the look you're going after. My best advice is to play around with all the different brushes and settings and see what happens. You'll get a better feel for what they do, along with discovering the countless ways you can use them.

[gruhn]

You might look at the smudge tool with fingerpaint.

[jfrancis]

I do this:

How to Blend Colors and Paint in Photoshop (http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2009/07/how_to_blend_co.html)

[sbdb]

Turn spacing off

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