Brush Tool Not Working in Photoshop (Windows)

[Nicole248197608hgw]

The brush tool in photoshop is not working for me. I am trying to use it with a layer mask and I have gone through some troubleshooting and no matter what I try I can't get it to work. I've made sure my foreground and background colors are black and white, I've tried resetting the tool, and I've tried opening and closing the app and downloading the latest software. I am a beginner so it may be something simple that I'm overlooking, but I've watched a bunch of tutorials and tried it so many times and no matter what I try I just can't get it to do what it's supposed to. Please, can someone help me with this? It's driving me crazy lol. Thanks in advance!!

{Title edited by Moderator}

[Ranjisha Sengupta]

Hi there,

Sorry about the trouble that you see with Photoshop brushes. We're here to help. 

Which version of Photoshop and Windows are you using? What happens when you use the brush tool on the layer masks? 

Did you try using the tool on a separate new file to see if that works?

Make sure the layer mask is selected, not the layer. Also, check the Opacity and Fill; they should be at 100.

Would you mind sharing a screenshot with us of the Photoshop screen?

You can try resetting Photoshop preferences using the steps mentioned here: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#reset_preferences.

Please backup your settings prior to resetting the preferences. You can check: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/preferences.html#BackupPhotoshoppreferences

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks.

Ranjisha 

[Nicole248197608hgw · Accepted solution]

Hi! Thank you so much for reaching out! I actually figured it out after messing with the settings for a while. I needed to switch the brush mode setting to normal. Thanks though! I really appreciate it!

[FresnoFlats]

This answer really helped me.  Somehow I got the brush mode switched to "darken", so I could use the black brush to hide a layer, but the white brush wouldn't bring it back.   I was mystified until I saw your answer and changed my brush mode back to "normal".