Brush Tool Making Jagged Rather Than Smooth Lines in Photoshop Elements 14

[MML9975]

On attempting to draw/paint with the brush and pencil tools in Photoshop Elements 14, the lines that are created are jagged - not smooth at all.  I have changed the spacing to 1% (hardness is at 100%) in brush settings, but that doesn't really seem to have helped anything at all - maybe only just slightly improved.  I don't know what else to try in order to correct this issue.  As things are right now, my results are far from professional quality.  I would greatly appreciate any help anyone could provide to resolve the issue.  Thank You.

[Jeff Arola]

How do the Brush lines look when you view the image at 100% View?

Double click the Zoom Tool in the Tools Panel to view the image at 100% or go to View>Actual Pixels.

As for the Pencil Tool the lines will never be really smooth since there is no anti-aliasing like there is for the Brush Tool.

[MML9975]

Thank you for replying.  The zoom-in does look better, but it's still not what I would expect.  An actual printout really isn't quite what I'd expect either.  The oddity about the printout, though, is that some of the lines look fairly smooth while others have the jagged pixelated look.  (I'm working/printing at 300 dpi.)  So, I still don't know what to make of it.  I'd appreciate any further suggestions you may have about it (although I am offline for a while now).  Again, thanks very much..

[hatstead]

You are printing @300dpi  OK. But what is the resolution (ppi) of the photofile that you are working on?

Go to Image>resize>image size and you can ascertain the value in this dialog.

[MML9975]

Thanks for responding.  Resolution (ppi) is also 300.

[hatstead · Accepted solution]

Go  to Edit menu>Preferences>Display & Cursors. In my version of  PSE, there are several options for the painting cursor. Mine is set to normal;  suggest that you check out the other options for your purpose.

I have a question: Do you see pixelation when you use a square brush, for example - i.e a brush other than one among the default set?

[MML9975]

Your first suggestion in this latest post was helpful, and I am getting better results with each type of brush now.  I really appreciate your assistance with it - Many Thanks.