making photomasks

Hi, there,
Does anyone know how photomasks are made? It looks to me that many photomasks are made by actually painting or brushing in real, then scan it in, add some digital brushes etc... Is that correct?
I can't find anything about it on the internet , or maybe I didn't search the right corners?

Thanks,
Anja

I read a tutorial on this a while back. I'll see if I can find it for you.

Thanks! You're the first to reply!

Anja, what software and version are you using? I can't find the tutorial I was talking about but I could write one for you.

I use Photoshop Elements 10 but it doesn't really matter what version used because this is pretty simple.

1. Start with File>New>Blank File> and make it 12 inches by 12 inches, 300 dpi and on a transparent background.
2. Select a brush from your presets. (I used a dry media brush.) Set the size to a fairly large one, about 900 pixels. Set your foreground color to black and the opacity to 100%
3. Paint an abstract, freeform shape on your canvas. The softer the brush you use the more arty your result will be. Wherever you have a really solid black on your canvas your image will be sharper and wherever the black is a little less strong the image will be more misty. If you want the edges to look more blended into the background, go around the edges again, decreasing the opacity to whatever looks good to you.
4. When you've got the basic shape, select another brush with some detail, like Shannon Hegarty's Roxie brushes that I used on my example. Decide where you want them and just pop them onto your mask. Once you're happy with what it looks like, lock the layer and save the file as a .png. You'll be able to resize and transform this to give you the look you want once you've clipped your photo to it.

This example took me about 10 minutes. Making masks is actually pretty easy.

5.

Hi Janfrn, thank you sooooooooooooo much!!!
This is really something I can use, you're awesome!

After you've played with this a bit you can start making more complex masks. Now that I've done it I think I might be making a lot of them!

Hi Janfrn, I now see that you asked a second question, what software I was using, I hadn't seen that. I'm using Photoshop CS5, but your explanation is very useful, so thanks!

WOW thanks so much Janfrn!! This worked..great directions...you are awesome!! I looked all over the internet also on how to do this and stumbled over this post this morning. Couldn't wait to try it! So glad you asked this question Tinklebel!

Hi there - so glad you stumbled on to DHD ... welcome!