Lets say I have a curvy line I made in photoshop.

I created a path and I want to stroke it.

I want it to start with a stroke of like 6 and end with a stroke of 2.

Can this be done?

If not how would you suggest doing it. Just draw it in illustrator? I'd prefer to be able to do it in both but I'd take advice for either.

THANKS!

In illustrator it's easy, just make a custom brush and apply it; voila. Photoshop, not so much. You can paste your illustrator piece into P'shop as a smart object, though you will only be able edit it in illustrator you can do all the photoshoppy type stuff to it, though, like layer effects, adjustment layers, etc.

You could also create the object in illustrator, expand the brush (object>expand appearance), and import that as your smart object, just save a version with the brush not expanded so you can adjust it later if needs be and re-paste it in your p'shop doc.

the tapered stroke in Photoshop would be more of a chore as you describe the task, it makes perfect sense—create the path, pick a brush, stroke path... I've done this often with the smudge tool very effectively. finding/shosing the brush and proper stroke/color will be challenging, especially if you are wanting to learn/imcorporate new CS% brushes into the learning curve.

of course, fading the brush stroke is a bit different than changing the width

Depending on the direction of the curve, you might be able to swing it with a slanted/calligraphic style brush - 6 on the wide side, 2 on the narrow... and angled appropriately.

But that would be tricky, and would have to be adjusted specifically for each line and curve. Pain in the ass.

Easier to draw it in illustrator, and drop it as a smart object into PS.

For that matter, you can probably copy and paste your existing PS path into Illustrator, stroke it the way you want, and bring it back in.