Lately, a new crop of natural media software is starting to capture much attention. Programs like Fractal Design Paintersport an amazing number of painting tools that emulate the feel of painting with traditional brushes and papers. With the growing popularity of other realistic painting packages it is easy to overlook some of the tools in Adobe Photoshop. The following technique covers one approach to recapturing some of the organic feel of working with traditional tools. After working your way though this issue, take some time to experiment on your own. You might also look ahead to issue #018 which shows how to simulate drawing on a piece of textured paper.... To complete our example, we returned to the earlier smudge tool and added a few drips in memory of hot summer days! Prepress Note: One advantage to the soft, blurred look of this painting technique is that it works well in a low resolutionenvironment. This means that your file sizes do not have to be aslarge as when working with photographic images. A resolution of 150 pixels per inch (ppi) will work fine for this example.