Brushes for Photoshop ®

Brush packs to buy and use for Adobe ® Photoshop ® , Elements, PaintShop Pro and others PC and MAC OS X

examples of some of the brushes in the brushes collection for use in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, all the brushes by this site.

examples of more brushes from the brushes collection from graphicxtras

Loading the Photoshop brushes (ABR files) in CS6 CS5 CS4 CS3 etc tutorial

example shows the load brushes command on the brushes palette

Use the right menu on the brushes palette to load / replace / save / reset the brushes (to the default set).

1) window menu and brush presets

2) right side of the brushes palette

3) select the load option to load all the brushes into the brushes palette

4) select the replace option to load all the brushes and remove the existing ones

You can also do the same operation via the edit menu and preset manager command

1) edit menu and preset manager (in Photoshop)

2) load button or use the menu and the replace (why is this different from the main brushes menu ? )

You can load many brushes though there are limits imposed by Photoshop itself, a limit that has changed from version to version of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements

Selecting a Photoshop brush tool tutorial

example shows the brush tool selected in Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements - same)

The easiest way to select a brush tool or one of the paint tools for use with the Photoshop brushes, is to use the keyboard i.e. press B for the brush tool, S for the clone stamp. This is slightly limited as all the tools in the same slot (brush tool, pencil tool etc) have the same keyboard letter shortcut by default. You can always go to the edit menu and keyboard shortcuts and set a new keyboard shortcut say L for the pencil tool and B for the brush tool - but as you can only use A-Z the choice for the tool box is limited

You can also just go to the Photoshop toolbox and select the individual tool. By selecting one of the tools 'beneath' the original default tool, that tool icon will replace the default icon i.e. you can replace the brush tool with the pencil tool (or color replacement tool etc) and now with the latest version, mixer brush tool.

There are also many other paint tools and some use the current color and some will just modify the existing image without applying any color from the Photoshop toolbox foreground or background color (such as blur tool)

Most of the tools (brush, pencil etc) use the Photoshop brushes ABR files, some will not such as the color replacement tool.

Selecting a Photoshop brush tutorial

example shows a selection of the antique brush strokes from one of the type brush sets - displayed in the brushes palette of Photoshop with the current size setting

Select the brush via the options at the top of the screen. You can also select a brush preset by using the brush presets panel (window menu and brush presets).

You can only select one of the brushes at any one time.

There is a feature in the brush panel to allow for the mixing of an additional brush (sadly, only one brush and not a selection or randomly selected brushes - now that might make some very interesting brush strokes).

Selecting the brush via the top option 'brushes dropdown' will set the size of the brush to the default original size of the created brush. Selecting the brush via the brushes preset panel sets the brush size to the size stored in the preset and perhaps not the original size of the brush

Packaging - use of Photoshop brushes

Use the photoshop brush strokes to create stunning packaging designs.

Especially useful now with the addition of CS5 CS4 CS3 Extended and the new 3D features. Brush strokes can be applied to 3D layers (diffuse etc)

Use Photoshop brushes with styles / metallic effects

Add a style to a layer and apply a stroke to the layer, the stroke will now have the style such as blue gel / metallic etc

example shows a metallic style applied to a Photoshop brush stroke via the layer style palette

Product reviews

Trademarks

Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Corel and Paint Shop Pro are registered trademarks of Corel Corporation

Changing the size, scatter etc of the brush in Photoshop tutorial

example of the brush palette and the various settings - examples of brushes shown from the type section of Photoshop brushes

To change the brush apply settings such as scaling, rotation, color changes, scattering, opacity, pressure settings etc go to the brushes palette

1) window menu and brush palette

2) Either select a brush preset OR set the brush tip and set the size, angle, roundness of the brush and spacing

3) Go to the shape dynamic panel and set the size jitter, minimum diameter for the brush, angle jitter, roundness etc

There are also other panels and some brushes will have these fields or a whole panel enabled or disabled.

4) Set scattering, texture, dual brush, color dynamics and so on

5) Set the color (amazing how that comes at the end - one of the key things about a brush or at least most of the brushes) via the foreground (and perhaps the background if you are mixing the two)

Some of the tools such as the pattern stamp also allow for the input of pattern information. Some of the tools such as the art history and history tool requires some additional setup via the history palette.

What do I receive when I purchase the Photoshop brushes ?

You receive a link to the Photoshop brushes file set. The file set consists of the brushes (ABR file always though may also contain PNG and other formats) + brushes documentation + serial number for future updates + thumbnail gallery showing all the designs

ABR format - Photoshop brushes format

Brushes are stored in ABR format, all the sets include the files in that format.

Most of the packs also include the designs in PNG (or EPS) for use in PSP etc

The collection set only contains ABR files and only for version 7 upwards (if you have any doubts about any of the files included in the sets before you purchase, please request a sampler). Some of the earlier packs also only include ABR as well

The PNG files also can be used as layers in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

example of type brushes in Photoshop applied with the color black using the brush tool

Brush textures and Photoshop / Photoshop Elements

Use the Photoshop brushes to create stunning texture designs. Apply the brush dabs in 1000s of ways, apply blurs and smears and other effects to create unique texture designs. If you wish to make the designs seamless, I would suggest using additional tools such as Terrazzo from Xaostools

Use Photoshop brushes in different color modes

Use the brushes in CMYK LAB and other color modes as well as RGB

1) Image menu and mode command and CMYK

2) Go to the brush tools

3) Apply brush stroke in CMYK color mode

You can also apply the brush stroke to CMYK's color channels, select individual cyan, magenta etc channels via the channels palette

Brushes in Paint Shop Pro ®

The brushes can be used in PaintShop Pro (PSP - the name has had a few changes over the last 10 years). Open the PNG and select a brush tool and then go to the brush palette and click the 'create brush tip from selection' button to save the brush to the PSP palette

Added: December 26th 2011

example of brush tip creation in Paint Shop Pro using one of the triangular brush strokes PNG files

Contour brush for Photoshop

Using a star brush from the pack 150, the brush is applied using the initial color of orange and is applied to a new layer

The new layer then has a layer style (layer menu) applied to the star design and the stroke setting is applied (outer) using a different color from the original star design. Go to the layer palette and then select the stroke setting and right click and use the create layer command

Repeat this a number of times with the newly created layer - adding a style and then creating a layer. The end result is a contour star brush stroke for Photoshop. Added January 3rd 2012

example star brush from pack 150 with star contour / stroke added. More complex designs can be created by varying the size and repeats of the stroke setting

Brush designs in Photoshop

The brush strokes can be applied as brush strokes but they can also be used as a basic design tool. The best approach is to apply the brush strokes to a new layer - one brush stroke per layer in Photoshop. That means the brush strokes can be removed at a later point (obviously if you are using the brushes as actual brushes that approach is not the most convenient way of using brushes)

The layers for the above design are below

You can, if you wish, apply shadows etc as well as hide or reveal brush strokes (as well as change colors etc) in Photoshop. Added January 3rd 2012

Free brushes sampler/demo

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Date modified: April 30th, 2012

Creating plugins and presets since 1995. Privacy - no details sent to third parties. After buying any of the brushes for use in Photoshop and Elements (and in most cases, PaintShop Pro and others), you receive the download link to the brushes pack - stored in zip format and containing the ABR file along with other formats and also documentation and a gallery of all the strokes. Unique items - the brushes are unique to each set, there are no duplications in the sets. The brushes collection is totally different from the brushes packs . Commercial use brushes - use in countless projects, all royalty-free.