I just got a new bamboo to draw with on the computer and I use photoshop 7.0.1 but I just can't seem to get the backgrounds rights with the brushes. I have no Idea what brushes I should use though I have played around with them to find out myself but they don't look real and they look like they have been done in paint.
Any tips would help
Thanks

If you are using the Photoshop, you can define a brush by your own,right?
anyway, can you just post a snapshot of the bamboo you drawn?

I mean like with the sky or grass it just not look as real as some other people make it look :(

:edit:
the bamboo is a type of softwear not something I drew so yeah...

I mean like with the sky or grass it just not look as real as some other people make it look
That's because some other people are better painters than you. =P
When I first started digital painting, I asked the same questions you're asking now. "What brushes do you guys use? What filters? What's the shortcut for this?"
It'd be convenient if using a different brush would make your paintings look better, right? Here's the ugly truth: they won't. You need to practice more.

Every good artist I see uses the default circle brush 99.999999% of the time, no matter what they're painting. No magic tricks you don't know about, no hidden secrets to instantly make you paint better. Sucks, huh? =D

Here's the one and only tip I can give you about brushes, and the only one you should ever need: use the largest brush size possible at all times. If you can paint a column using one stroke, do it. Using the largest brush size possible makes your paintings look less scribbly and busy, because you'll naturally be using less strokes to fill your painting. Besides this, you just need to practice a lot. There aren't a whole lot of tips and tricks we can give you, as horrible as that might seem. You really do just need to practice until your hands break off. xD

One more thing; if you do want to see how other artists do what they do, I'd recommend downloading Open Canvas (www.portalgraphics.net/en) and downloading some event files from the community portion of the site. An event file basically just plays the artist's painting back stroke by stroke. It's pretty awesome. I also prefer OC to PS for painting, as I think the brush strokes look less...photo-shoppy. OC costs around $70 right now I think, which is a lot cheaper than PS. There's a thirty day trial for OC, though, and even when that expires, you can still watch event files in it, if nothing else.

Just another warning, though. When you watch all the event files, you're going to say "oh wow, that's what I was missing!" And then you're going to try to copy what you saw the other artist did, and it won't work. At all. It really is all just practice. Even if you know what they're doing, you still won't be able to do it!

This was an optimistic post, right? Don't mind me, I'm just pissy because I need to practice, too. Anyway, good luck, and brace yourself for years of mind-numbing and tedious practice if you plan on becoming a decent artist! =P

wow thanks for the long post about how I need to practice if I want to get anywhere with this
if you want to see any of them they are in my album

wow thanks for the long post about how I need to practice if I want to get anywhere with this
No problem. Just keep working at and you'll do fine. :3
I checked your DA, and you really do just need to practice more at this point...I notice that your characters have some wonky proportions. To help with that, I'd suggest drawing random objects from life, instead of drawing cartoon characters. It's not as fun, but you'll improve a lot faster. When you're drawing things, try to break them down into basic shapes; it'll help you make sure everything is proportioned correctly. "Ah, his head is a circle, his head is half the height of his cylinder body, his legs are slightly longer than his body," etc.

Anyway, good luck.

thanks again but it's harder to draw in proportion when I am using a bamboo which
in truth I have only used for the past few days so I might pratice with a pencil then move onto a tablet. This whole drawing thing is new to me I'm more used to making videos XD

*anime fall* Didn't I have a post up about scenery? Which is related to background?
Hey, Hopeless Composer, have you checked out any of my albums? Speaking of which I need to update those...>.< Bro won't let me use his computer to scan my pictures...speaking of which...he was supposed to hook up the scanner to my computer three months ago...XP

XD Anyways, now that I've read your post I have to get back to working on scenery and backgrounds too...

I don't have a scanner so I have to take a photo of it

>.< I'm lucky I have a scanner...because I don't have a camera...my bro sat on it a few months back and it stopped working <_<...

when I take a photo of it it's on my phone but it's really bad

I have a scanner, and it works perfectly! But I hardly use it now...

that must help alot if you did use it

I hate taking pics on my phone...they usually turn out really bad...except the pics of my kitties XD!! My scanner actually only started working a while ago...my bro lost the installation CD...and when he got a new laptop it came with an HP scanner installation CD XD!! So...yeah...XD

that would suck

Would suck...?...you mean losing the installation CD?

yes I mean losing the installation CD but can't you download the install program from there site? Thats what I did when I lost my CD