15 High-Res Grungy Texturing Photoshop Brushes. 20 Free Tape Photoshop Brushes. Paint Blobs: Photoshop Brush Pack. Wet Paint Acrylic Photoshop Brushes. Leech Shapes: Photoshop Brush Pack. 16 Hi-Res Splatter Brushes. Hi-Res Spray-Paint Photoshop Brushes. Vatio Brushes. Torn Paper: 10 High Resolution Photoshop Brushes With a Flat Edge. Photoshop Cup Shapes (16) Christmas Brushes for Winter Holidays (35) Heraldic Shield Coat (20) Cities Icons (11) Car Silhouettes (11) 6. Circles and Rounded Shapes. Photoshop Circle Shapes – Designer Essentials (23) Sunburst Photoshop & Vector Shapes (33) Speech Bubble Shapes (6) Custom Shapes (10) Sacred Geometry Symbol Photoshop Brushes (7.
Last week we walked you through the steps of how to install & use your new Photoshop actions. This week we're back to show you how to get started with another awesome tool inside Photoshop, the brush tool. Simple yet versatile, brushes let you accomplish some pretty cool things with a couple clicks of your mouse.
In this guide we'll cover what brushes are, why they're useful, and how you can start using them in your designs. Be sure to check out the video below, where you can follow along and get to know the wonderful world of brushes.
At its most basic, the Photoshop brush tool is used for drawing lines and shapes in any color on a layer in your document using strokes. After selecting a brush, you can draw simply by clicking the left mouse button a single time, or by holding it down and dragging your cursor around the page to create multiple marks with a single stroke.
Despite the term 'brush,' you can use brushes for much more than just replicating physical media like paints. In fact, brushes can be used for everything from textures and patterns to lighting. The ease of use and versatility of this tool make it a handy resource for both the novice and the expert designer to add depth to your projects.
Much like installing actions, installing brushes is a very easy process. Follow these simple steps:
1. If you don't have any brushes, grab a set from the great selection available on Creative Market.
2. Download the zip file containing your brushes and unpack the contents of the file. This will reveal a new folder containing a few other files, one of which is a .ABR brush file.
3. You can either drag this .ABR file directly into your Photoshop window, or you can go under Edit > Presets > Preset Manager, select Brushes from the dropdown menu, and then add your brushes using the 'Load' button.
That's all there is to it. Once your brushes are loaded into Photoshop, you hit the letter 'B' to select your brush tool and then you can choose from your different brushes using the dropdown in the top toolbar.
After you've selected the brush you'd like to use, all you have to do is start clicking. As we mentioned above, you can use single clicks for a single placement of the brush stroke, or you can hold the mouse button down and drag your cursor around the screen to create some cool effects. If you notice your brush size is too big, or you just don't quite like the look of the marks its creating, you can control the size, mode, opacity, and flow of the brush using the settings in the top toolbar.
And if you're really feeling adventurous, you can dig into the more advanced settings by opening the brush panel on the right side of Photoshop. If you have the patience for trial and error, tweaking these settings can lead to some really cool things.
If you learn better by watching these steps in action, check out this great video tutorial from John Shaver of Design Panoply and Photoshop Video Tutorials. For those of you interested in following along, you can download the demo content here.
Easy peasy, right? To get started playing around with some brushes of your own, check out these great products from the marketplace.
If you want to learn more about the ins and outs of Photoshop, there are a wealth of videos available at Photoshop Video Academy, and we've compiled our favorite plug-ins to make your life even easier.
Keep an eye out for more How-To's to come and happy creating!
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Photoshop users are able to benefit from the vast amount of high-quality resources that are freely available to the community. Brushes get a lot of attention, but Photoshop shapes are also extremely useful in the right situations. Finding a custom shape that has already been created can save you some time and headaches in your design, and fortunately there is a very wide variety of custom shapes available.
This post highlights 80 different sets of custom Photoshop shapes - over 2,500 individual shapes - in several different categories. If you plan to download and use any of these shapes be sure to check to terms and conditions set by the creator of the shapes. [Updated Oct/31/2016]
Further Reading on SmashingMag:
1. Nature
Greenhouse Shapes (67) (affiliate link)
Animal Shapes & Sunbursts (16) (affiliate link)
Mountain Shapes (36) (affiliate link)
Wreath Shapes (24) (affiliate link)
Feathers Shapes (4)
Butterfly Shapes (7)
Photoshop Fish Shapes (30)
Photoshop Custom Shapes Bugs (20)
Feather Custom Shapes (7)
2. People and Parts
Lavas Custom Shapes (26)
Glasses, Lashes and Staches (8)
Heads (45)
Tumbling (2)
Stock girls Shapes (8)
3. Lovely
Hearts Shapes for Photoshop (20)
My Valentine Shapes (11)
Doodle Journal Shapes (15)
Kiddy Stuffs (20)
.Hearts Photoshop & Vector Shapes (55)
4. Signs and Labels
Public Signs Shapes (11)
Red Faction Guerrilla Shapes (25)
Auto Gauges (8)
Label Shapes (12)
Viking Rune Shapes (24)
5. Icons
Pretty Texture Icons (35)
E-Commerce Photoshop & Vector Shapes (50)
Plus, Minus Photoshop Shapes (6)
Social Networking Icons (24)
Tick Shapes (30)
Email (Envelope) Photoshop Custom Shapes (8)
Pretty Chat Photoshop Shapes (12)
CD Disc Photoshop Vector Shapes (25)
80+ Badge Icons (80)
Cookware/Tableware Photoshop & Vector Shapes (30)
Zoom (Magnifier) Photoshop & Vector Shapes (6)
Blenke Shapes (200)
Cake Photoshop & Vector Shapes (10)
Beautiful Coffee & Tea Cup Photoshop Custom Shapes (5)
Shapes Icons (Vector) (90)
Photoshop Cup Shapes (16)
Christmas Brushes for Winter Holidays (35)
Heraldic Shield Coat (20)
Cities Icons (11)
Car Silhouettes (11)
6. Circles and Rounded Shapes
Photoshop Circle Shapes – Designer Essentials (23)
Sunburst Photoshop & Vector Shapes (33)
Speech Bubble Shapes (6)
Custom Shapes (10)
Sacred Geometry Symbol Photoshop Brushes (7)
Circular Design Custom (30)
Abstract Circle PS Shapes (4)
Abstract Circles (20)
Badge Photoshop & Vector Shapes (35)
Wavy & Spiral Sunburst Shapes for Photoshop (25)
7. Random Shapes
Holiday Shapes (20)
Font Awesome Shape Pack (112)
Ribbon Photoshop Custom Shapes (3)
Photography Themed Shapes, Camera Tripod, Memory Card (13)
Nautical Photoshop Custom Shapes (18)
8. Arrows
Arrow Shapes (9)
Smooth Arrows (56)
Arrows Photoshop Shapes (120)
Hand Drawn Arrows Shapes (70)
Photoshop Arrow Shapes (120)
9. Various
Picons Social (75)
Free Photoshop Glass Shapes (12)
Eiffel Tower Shapes (3)
Abstract Shapes (4)
Paint Edges (4)
Water Drops Photoshop & Vector Shapes (16)
Paperclip Photoshop & Vector Shapes (7)
Link (Chain) Photoshop Shapes Icons (2)
S&T Vintage Shapes (4)
Photoshop Custom Shapes Stars (7)
10.Military and Tech
US Army PS Vector Shapes (19)
Star Trek Tech Custom Shapes (6)
Half Life 2 Weapon Shapes (12)
Rocket (21)
Atom and Molecule Photoshop (12)
11. Horror
Free Splatter Custom Shapes (6)
All Hallow’s Eve (11)
12. Clocks
Best Photoshop Brushes
Clocks Photoshop Custom Shapes (12)
Photoshop Square Clock Shapes (12)
Photoshop Alarm Clock Shapes (9)
If you’re interested in learning more about the basics of custom shapes, how to load them, and how to create your own, try the following resources.
- What are Custom Shapes?
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