Now that you’ve created some brushes, it’s time to put them to use. Depending on what kind of image you want, there are two methods we can use. We’re going to start with the linear kind, where the speedlines all run parallel to each other.
Linear Speedlines
1) The first thing we need is an image. Something inked, black and white or screentoned will work best. For this one I’ve drawn a quick shot of a guy reacting to something off panel. If you’ve not flattened it, put all the layers you’ve used to make the image so far into a group, to make it easier to see what you’re doing.

Note: These techniques work best on images smaller than 2000×2000, though that’s not a hard and fast rule.
It doesnt seem to work right for me, I click path, make it then try to make the speedlines and it just stays the same angle, 0. Maybe because I have the wiindows version hmm
Make sure the ‘Angle jitter’ of the brush is set to ‘direction’. I’m not sure what version of photoshop they put that option in but you’ll need it for the brush to work correctly.
If I do that then they point every which way with no regard to the path I chose. They go left right, everywhere, and I have a very steady hand, especially when dragging down. I have CS3. The brush itself works fine, perfect motion lines but the direction is wonky.
If you use a directional one, you need to actually use the path tool and ‘stroke’ it. The easiest way is to select the path, then select the brush tool and hit enter. Even if you have a steady hand, it’s going to jitter about if you try to do it by hand. Also, make sure that while the brush is set to direction, the slider is set to zero.
awe shoot, I didnt see the stroke path instructions, perhaps you should bold it or something, it seems to be easy to miss. Here I was trying to do it by hand. Silly me.
I was going over it again and suddenly I noticed it said stroke path, not brush path. Thanks for the quick reply. I was going to delete and say I figured it out but you beat me to it.
You’re welcome. Hope you have fun with it!
oh yes, this is exactly what I need, I’m going to link to your tutorial in my webcomic on the next html update. http://www.drunkduck.com/Insanity_of_Xade if you want to take a look :)
hi im a big fan of ur drawings, i have one of ur books, how to draw more manga and i am slowly learning how to draw like that. i hope u come out with new books!
Where is the circle tool? I’m not finding any. I really want to do the radial speedline but I’m having trouble finding the circle tool and trying to change that into path mode. Please help.
The circle, line, rectangle, and rounded rectangle tools are all under the same button. Either click and hold that to bring them all up so you can select the one you want, or hold shift and press U until it comes up.