Tools & Tips: Photoshop Brushes
In Tools & Tips by Sean HodgeEver wanted to understand the details of creating and using Photoshop Brushes, but didn't know where to begin? Then look no further! This article has a combination of both creative and practical resources on Photoshop Brushes. Get started with learning the ins and outs of Photoshop Brushes.
How To Create Photoshop Brushes
Creating Photoshop brushes is surprisingly easy. To do it well though takes: planning, creativity, and talent. The tutorials below cover the basic steps for creating Photoshop Brushes. You'll also be walked through the creation of some well designed Brushes. If you have little to no experience with creating Brushes then get started with the first tutorial from Bittbox below. It explains how brushes are not color, but rather the image data is saved as ranges from transparent to opaque. It will get you started with some good beginner tips as well.
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How To Make A Photoshop Brush
This is a thorough introduction to creating a Photoshop Brush. Bittbox covers each step involved in creating Brushes. An excellent introduction to the process of making Brushes.
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Creating grunge brushes
Veerle has many tutorials written with clarity on the internet. This tutorial in no different. She walks you through the process of creating a Photoshop Brush from a freely available grunge texture.
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Complete Guide to Making a Fractal Brush
This tutorial uses an attractive image of a fractal to create a custom brush. It's possible to get creative in another program with image making and then use the image in Photoshop to make a brush. This tutorial covers that process.
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Adobe Photoshop CS3: Brush Creation for Dummies
I always liked the word Dummies in a title. Its so much more offensive than the word Beginner, but in a acceptably fun way. This introductory Brush creation tutorial covers the making of an attractive cloud brush.
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Building a Lego Bricks Photoshop Brushes Set
This tutorial is a bit esoteric in that it covers creating a Lego Brick Brush. Not exactly a Brush your likely to use often. Though its a fun concept. The tutorial also covers the Brush settings by giving visual Lego block examples of how the different settings work.
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Photoshop - Brush Tutorial
This is a great video tutorial on making a Brush in Photoshop. The pace of the tutorial is a little bit too slow though. The author's voice might put you to sleep. But excellent material covered in just a few minutes. It's worth dealing with those issues to learn this material.
Using Photoshop Brushes
To use Photoshop Brushes you need to understand how to load them, save them as sets, and access them when you need them. There are also numerous settings that can be changed when using a Photoshop Brush. The tutorials, resources, and videos below cover both practical and creative Brush uses.
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Using Photoshop Brushes Tutorials here on PSDTUTS
We have a handful of tutorials that show creative uses for Photoshop Brushes here on PSDTUTS. Advanced Glow Effects covers a simple combination of applying a Brush to a path and then using layer styles to get a glowing effect. Or follow the link below to the tutorial How To Create That Last Minute Holiday e-Card in Photoshop. It covers these type of Brush techniques and settings in greater detail.
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Using Photoshop Brush Palette
This article comprehensively covers the Brush Palette. It explains in detail its features. If you check this article out, you'll find that toward the end are links to similar articles that cover other aspects of Photoshop Brushes.
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How to Brush - Photoshop
This is a cool time-lapse video that shows the creation of a layered design. The design is made from a multitude of Brushes. This video shows you how an artist uses a variety of Brushes to create a grunge tech style design. Brushes can be made from any image; So, the possible uses are unlimited. This video taps into that feeling of limitless Brush options in Photoshop.
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Photoshop All about Brushes; Editing, Loading, Using !!!
This tutorial covers some of the basics you need to work with Brushes. It's really easy to save and load Brushes once you know how. Brush settings are also covered well in this tutorial. This video tutorial has a polished professional feel. It's a little long though - timing in at over 20 minutes.
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Using Brushes in Photoshop CS3 Video
Photoshop Support has some large training videos available. This tut is a really basic one about using Brushes. It shows some simple examples of combining Brushes with layer effects.
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Photoshop Brush Tool Cheatsheet
This is a handy little cheat sheet for using Photoshop Brushes.
Finding Photoshop Brushes
There are loads of free Photoshop Brushes across the web. Many of them are of high-quality. There are many websites dedicated to listing downloadable Brushes, following are a handful of those available: Brusheezy, PS Brushes, and Brushfed. Graphic Design communities are a good resource for finding free Brushes. A quick search on DeviantART reveals an enormous collection available. Crazy Leaf Design Blog has an article with a nice collection of Brushes. Photoshop Support has a large collection of Brush Resources.
Brushes are a popular freebie to give away on blogs or communities. They are not that difficult to make. So, the bar to entry isn't high. Of course, make an exceptional Brush and it will shine. Bittbox gives away quality free Brushes on a regular basis. There are some smaller design blogs that give away Photoshop Brushes as well, like: PixlPusher and Blog Spoon Graphics. There are also plenty of blogs and communities that sell Brushes, like: Designfruit and AiVault
Conclusion
Brushes are great! There are loads of Photoshop Brush resources available across the internet that you can tap into. If you wanted to, you could create an organized brush arsenal - always available at your fingertips. Brushes are a great way to personalize Photoshop. If you haven't already, then start downloading some and playing with them. If you have any great Brush resources or tutorials you'd like to share, feel free to link to them in the comments.
Comments
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Lamin Barrow
April 10th, 2008
I have always wondered to my self how to make custom photoshop brushes but i have never made any effort to try to learn it. Looks like i don’t have an excuse any more thanks to this post. Thx guys.
Garibaldi
April 10th, 2008
That’s a wonderful post Sean; you’re doing gods work.
Looks like Bittbox can’t handle the pressure though.
Nysuatro
April 10th, 2008
Ah here is the post i was looking for. Thanks for the share
Enrique
April 10th, 2008
Thanks for including my Lego Bricks brushes tutorial!
I’ve also compiled a collection of 100 cool brushes I found around:
http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2007/10/25/100-awesome-high-resolution-photoshop-brushes/
Thanks again!
Andrew D
April 10th, 2008
Nice tips!
JokR
April 10th, 2008
Hey this is all you need to know about brushes and much more
thanks man great job
Greg William
April 10th, 2008
I’ve also always really wondered how to make brushes. Thanks for all the tips!!!
Mark
April 10th, 2008
Cheers!
Paulo Sales
April 10th, 2008
http://abrviewer.sourceforge.net/ -sorry but this is also important ..thkz for the linkage…
Grant Friedman
April 10th, 2008
Great post Sean!
mattems
April 10th, 2008
photoshop brushes saves lives.
Ewan
April 10th, 2008
Thanks a bunch.
Joefrey Mahusay
April 10th, 2008
Nice resources. Thanks for sharing. I’ve visited psdtuts.com Every day. PSDTUTS.com ROCK!
Aminur Rahman [aka Tom R]
April 10th, 2008
another resource to keep tag on, cheers
Ali
April 10th, 2008
great tips
LOSWL
April 10th, 2008
Thanks for this all out best post on brushes!!..very useful!!
Abdul Akbar
April 10th, 2008
Thanks a lot for this post.
Great job. Keep it up!
Markus
April 10th, 2008
The tutorial called “Complete Guide to Making a Fractal Brush” sounds cool!
Maybe i should try it 
Ben Griffiths
April 10th, 2008
Some excellent resources there, thanks
180Degree
April 10th, 2008
Thanks a lot for mentioning!
Enes Kaya
April 10th, 2008
very great tutorials, thx very much
Daniel
April 10th, 2008
Helpful tutorial…
But today no time to try it out
Daniel
rulle
April 10th, 2008
one tutorial shows howto build a brush based on fractals generated by apophysis. unfortunatly, this program is win-only. does any one knows a good mac-based program for creating fractals? i dont want to use crossover or wine.
ahh i just found the perfect one:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/34092
anyway, nice collection
b00m
April 11th, 2008
Nice tips
Has.n
April 11th, 2008
Very very nice!! Thank u
Shane
April 11th, 2008
A great selection of tips. I’ll be busy reading ‘em through, but before I forget, thanks for posting.
romi
April 11th, 2008
Great article!
http://www.chezplumeau.com like Brusheezy with more categories.
http://www.bluevertigo.com.ar maybe the best place to find resources and really updated, just scroll to right to find a lot of links about Photoshop brushes!
ps3 blog
April 12th, 2008
not bad not bad at all - i will be creating some crazy brushes over the weekend so check them out at . http://www.notjustanyblog.co.uk
Hoang Phuc
April 15th, 2008
Thanks you much
Qbrushes
April 24th, 2008
thanks! one this.. i intend to create a few quality Photoshop sets my self.
Vita
April 30th, 2008
I just love it. Thanks
Photoshop brushes
May 2nd, 2008
i don’t see any brushesat your site “ps3 blog”