Show overlap of the same brushstroke?

[guyaguy]

Hey there! Wondering if you can help...I'm looking for a way to see that the first part of a brush stroke is "under" the last part even though it's all the same stroke. Hopefully this image will clarify:

Top stroke: You can't see if the stroke started on the left or right

Bottom stroke: You can see that the stroke starts on the left because of the drop shadow. (And because I faked it real fast with layers and separate strokes!)

So I'm looking for something like the bottom example but on a single stroke, whether through filter, layer settings, etc. Any ideas?

[hatstead]

Google for "Drop Shadow" brushes and install a (free) set into the PSE brushes folder.

Here is one of many hits:

Drop shadow photoshop brushes download (20 photoshop brushes) for commercial use. format: abr

[guyaguy]

Thanks, I've checked out those in your link and others and searched on Brusheezy, Deviant, etc. and don't see anything that handles what I'm looking for. Unless I'm missing something?

[hatstead]

ok. Why not add the drop shadow manually?

In the Effects palette, go to Drop Shadows in the drop-down, then Outline. Double click on the f on the layer with the shadow to bring up the Style Settings dialog, and fine tune the shadow with the sliders.

[guyaguy]

Adding an effect would apply to the whole layer and will drop the shadow on any pixels in that layer, like in the image you posted. What I'm looking for is a shadow (or something similar) that shows that the last part of the stroke is on top of the first. Maybe this clarifies it more: