painting over background

[mduckpf24]

I am trying to design a license plate to send away to have airbrushed. The background is black. However, when i try to draw the name on the plate, it does not show up. How do I use the brush tool so that it shows up? I had to draw the background shape on Microsoft Publisher because I couldn't even figure out how to draw it in photoshop without covering up the logo I am using. I'm sure there is an easy solution. Would someone please share?

[Jeff Perry]

mduckpf24,

are you trying to paint with the brush tool? What is the color of the brush (those two big overlapping squares in the lower left corner of the screen)? If it is the default setting (black square overlapping white square), then you are painting with black on a black background. Same thing goes for using the text tool, if the text color is set to black, it will not be visible on a black background.

Hit the "X" key (switching the black and white squares) and try painting again. See if that works for you.

Jeff

[mduckpf24]

Yes, I am using the brush tool. I changed both colors to the yellow that I was trying to use, and it still did not work.

[Jeff Perry]

mduckpf24,

How about the order of the layers you are painting on? For the painting to be visible, e.g., painting yellow on a black background, you need to be either painting on the Background Layer (i.e., changing the color of the pixels from black to yellow, or you need to be painting on a separate layer that is on top of the background layer. The latter method would be preferred.

Jeff