How to easily create fuller eyebrows in Photoshop

The ‘90s are way behind us and thank god, so are the ‘90s super-thin eyebrows. For the past couple of years, full and well-shaped eyebrows are a beauty trend, and Aaron Nace from Phlearn will teach you how to make them look just like that in Photoshop.

Aaron’s tutorial consists of three main steps: the first is drawing the shape of the eyebrows. The second step is to fill in the shape with darker color. And the last step is to draw realistic individual hairs and give the eyebrows more depth and a realistic look.

Before we begin, note that you shouldn’t use this technique to completely change someone’s facial features (unless they want you to). It’s great to emphasize the eyebrows or make them look tidier, which is what Aaron did in this tutorial.

1. Draw the eyebrow shape

The first step is drawing the shape of the eyebrows. Create a new layer, grab the Pen Tool and draw the outline of the eyebrows. Aaron suggests you make it slightly bigger than you want because it gives you more working space, and you can always mask it out.

When you get the shape you’re happy with, right-click on the path and go to Make Selection. Feather by 1 pixel so you have a more natural-looking line, and click OK.

2. Filling in the eyebrow

When you’ve created the selection, create another new layer and choose the Brush Tool. Choose a large, soft brush, and sample the color by holding Alt/Option and clicking on the eyebrow.

Change the blending mode of the new layer to Multiply and use a brush with a low flow to gradually paint inside the selection.

When you’re done adding the darker color to the eyebrow, you’ll notice that some parts of the selection look too sharp and unnatural (kinda like those eyebrows some girls draw with an eyeliner). To get rid of this, use Blur Tool and blur these edges out.

3. Adding hairs

When you’re done drawing and painting the shape of the eyebrows, you’re only halfway there. Now you need to make them look more realistic and add some depth by drawing the individual hairs. You can do it either by using a mouse or a pressure-sensitive tablet, and Aaron explains both approaches.

Start by creating a new layer, choose the Brush Tool and once again, sample the color from an eyebrow. Make your brush as small as one eyebrow hair, bring the hardness up to 70% and lower the flow. Go to Window > Brush to open the dialog box and play with the settings that will give you the look you need.

If you use a mouse:

Within the Brush dialog box, click on the Shape Dynamics and set the Size Jitter to 0. Change the Control from Off to Fade, and type in a number to choose the length of the stroke. Test it by painting on a new layer, and you should get a brush stroke that becomes thinner at the end, just like a real hair. Make sure to choose a length similar to an existing eyebrow hair in the photo. It takes some trial and error, but it won’t take too much of your time.

When you get the stroke you like, draw the individual hairs on the eyebrows. Paint random strokes, but generally following the direction from the inner to the outer corner (like the real brows).

If you use a pressure-sensitive tablet:

If you use a pressure-sensitive tablet, open the Brush dialog box and simply change Control to Pen Pressure. Now you can make brush strokes with your hand, and make sure to quickly lift the pen as you stroke so the hairs become thinner at the ends.

When you’re done, you can erase all the excess bits with a large, soft Eraser Tool.

Here is Aaron’s before and after:

This is a useful trick to make the eyebrows look tidier, more defined and trendy (at least in the 2010ss). Of course, to achieve the best results: just make sure not to overdo it.

[How to Fill-In Eyebrows in Photoshop |Phlearn]