Brush Select Tool

I was asked to show examples.  Before doing that, I went to a couple tutorials but did not find a solution.  So here is something on which I'm currently working, a complicated line drawing. You must know that line drawings are famously difficult to photograph because the white must be consistent and the lines must have clarity.  Two professional photographers took a stab at it, and I'm working with the better of the 2 images. (1st jpg) I tried various tools on photoshop ranging from the automatic ones (2), to exposure, to curves, to levels, to putting it in B&W and attempting to manipulate.  I get close but even when areas read the same according to the color selector, they appear differently.  One area tinted a little green while the other tinted a little red, both reading #f5f4f2. (3) So I find myself selecting all the white areas so that I can paint them similarly.(4)  Here's where I need to be able to select critically with a selector that I could use as a brush which has been helpful in the past (I guess  when I was using Elements. ) 

Yes, I used to use Photoshop Elements. I must have found it there. Thank you for detailing that process. I’m a painter, not a graphic designer, so the geometric tools don’t work for me generally, and have found lasso awkward. Hopefully this solution will allow me a familiar and comfortable way of selecting areas without assistance. Thank you very much.

[This is a public forum. Contact information removed for your protection by a the moderator.]

No.  Not the quick selection tool.  This was a tool that one used like a brush or crayon.  I find all of the selection tools available at themoment clumsy and inexact when trying to define discreet spaces.  The one I'm describing did the job well. But as I said, it was some time ago.