# Use the Smudge tool

The Smudge tool simulates the actions of dragging a finger through wet paint. The tool picks up color where the stroke begins and pushes it in the direction you drag. You can smudge existing colors in your image, or smear foreground color on the image.

Original image (left), and after smudging parts of the photo (right)

1. In the Editor, select the Smudge tool in the toolbox. (If you don’t see it in the toolbox, select either the Blur tool or the Sharpen tool , and then click the Smudge tool icon in the options bar.)
2. Set options in the options bar, and then drag within the image to smudge color.
   To temporarily use the Finger Painting option as you drag with the smudge tool, press the Alt key.

   You can specify any of the following Smudge tool options:

   Brushes
     Sets the brush tip. Click the arrow next to the brush sample, choose a brush category from the Brushes pop‑up menu, and then select a brush thumbnail.
   Size
     Sets the size of the brush in pixels. Drag the Size pop‑up slider or enter a size in the text box.
   Mode
     Specifies how the paint that you apply blends with the existing pixels in the image. See About blending modes for more information.
   Strength
     Sets the amount of the smudge effect.
   All Layers
     Smudges using color from all visible layers. If this option is deselected, the smudge tool uses colors from only the active layer.
   Finger Painting
     Smears the foreground color at the beginning of each stroke. If this option is deselected, the smudge tool uses the color under the pointer at the beginning of each stroke.

Related Information

- Understanding layers
- About brush options

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