How to Create a Bubble Brush in Photoshop 2021

February 6, 2021Last Updated: February 6, 2021

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In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a bubble brush in Photoshop. I will explain everything in so much detail that everyone can create the brush, even those who have just opened Photoshop for the first time.

What You Will Learn in This Bubble Brush Photoshop Tutorial

How to create brushes from scratch in Photoshop
How to create a bubble Photoshop brush
How to adjust brush settings in Photoshop
How to apply brushes to a photo

What You’ll Need

To recreate the design above, you will need the following resources:

1. How to Start Creating a Bubble Photoshop Brush

First, create a new file. To create a new file, go to File > New and set the Width and Height to 2500 px and the Resolution to 72 px/in.

creating new bubble brush Photoshop file

2. How to Create a Bubble Photoshop Brush

Step 1

In this section, we are going to create a bubble brush Photoshop add-on. Go to Layer > New > Layer to create a new layer and name it Bubble.

Step 2

Now choose the Ellipse Tool (U), click anywhere inside the canvas to create a new ellipse shape layer, and set the Width and Height to 1000 px. Then, set the Fill Solid Color to No Color, Stroke Solid Color to #4c4c4c, and Stroke Width to 20 px. After that, center this layer both vertically and horizontally on the canvas.

Step 3

Right-click on this layer and choose Blending Options. Then, select and check the Outer Glow style and use the settings below:

Step 4

Now go to Layer > Layer Style > Create Layer to create a new layer using the layer style of the current layer.

Step 5

Select the Bubble’s Outer Glow layer and press Control-J on your keyboard to duplicate this layer. Then, press Control-E to merge this new layer with the one below.

Step 6

Now go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 5 px.

Step 7

Control-click on the Bubble layer thumbnail to make a selection of this layer. Then, go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection to add a layer mask that reveals the selected area of the layer.

Step 8

Now select the Bubble layer, go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient Fill to create a new gradient fill adjustment layer, name it Reflection_1, and use the settings below:

Step 9

Double-click on this layer thumbnail and, using the Move Tool (V), click and drag anywhere inside the canvas to position the gradient fill as shown below.

Step 10

Now Right-click on this layer and choose Rasterize Layer to rasterize it. Then, Alt-click on the layer mask of the Bubble’s Outer Glow layer and drag it over the layer mask of the Reflection_1 layer to replace it.

Step 11

Select the Bubble layer, go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient Fill to create a new gradient fill adjustment layer, name it Reflection_2, and use the settings below:

Step 12

Now Right-click on this layer and choose Rasterize Layer to rasterize it. Then, press Control-A on your keyboard to make a selection of the canvas, choose the Move Tool (V), and click on Align Bottom Edges to align this layer vertically. After that, go to Filter > Distort > Pinch and set the Amount to -100%.

Step 13

Position this layer with the coordinates X: 1250.5 px and Y: 1587.5 px. Then, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 10 px.

Step 14

Now Alt-click on the layer mask of the Reflection_1 layer and drag it over the layer mask of the Reflection_2 layer to replace it. After that, change the Opacity of this layer to 80%.

Step 15

Select the thumbnail of the Reflection_1 layer, go to Edit > Define Brush to define this shape as a brush, and name it Temp.

Step 16

Now press B on your keyboard, Right-click anywhere inside the canvas, select the Temp brush, and hit Enter. Then go to Window > Brush and, in the Brush window, use the settings below:

Step 17

To define this brush with new settings as a new brush, click on the top-right icon in the bottom-right corner of the Brush panel, and name it Bubble Brush.