10,000 Photoshop Brushes Collection / Photoshop Elements

Commercial use brushes for all your projects

Date updated: June 16th, 2013

 

Video tutorial of Photoshop brushes

Brushes video

Photoshop brushes

Opening Photoshop brushes

The brushes in the collection set are all ABR format (there are no PNG files included for use in other applications). The collection set includes all the brush strokes over multiple ABR files (there is no way to load all the brushes into a single ABR as Photoshop probably would stop working).

 

It is possible in some versions to open the brush ABR files via the file open but many versions of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements seem to have an issue with this and I have found that only two or three brush strokes within a particular ABR file are actually load. Another option to opening the Photoshop brushes, use the edit menu and the addon manager - it is an odd dialog as the interface only shows a load option for the brushes but if you go to the small control menu on the side, you will also see replace and reset option. You can access all the collection Photoshop brushes via the load and replace command. The best option to load all the brushes is to place all the brushes in the brushes path and then you will see in the brushes palette for the brush strokes a list of all the files in that folder - you can then instantly select brushes pack 1, pack 2 without having to search for the ABR files. You can also just use the load / replace commands - which does have the advantage that you can have your ABR files in multiple locations or a single location for use with Photoshop Elements and other graphic applications.

 

 

Once loaded, you can then just select the brush stroke you want to use with the clone, history tool, blur tool - personally I have always found it slightly confusing and annoying that the same brush is not used when you select the tool - instead you end up with a different brush for each tool and sometimes the brush library selected has been changed since the last use of the tool.

 

 

The images displayed show a selection of the brushes in the brushes collection - there are 10,000 brushes so the samplers are only a very small selection of the brush strokes in the supplied ABR files. You can also apply the brushes in 1000s of different ways as well as using the basic brushes to create 1000s of new brushes - they can also be combined with effects as well as layer effects so literally millions of diffrerent brush strokes can be created using this collection inside Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.

 

 

Native format ABR Brushes

The brushes are all stored in native format ABR for Photoshop ® and Photoshop ® Elements. The brushes in the graphicxtras.com sets vary, the earlier sets were mainly for Photoshop 7 upwards but most are now for Photoshop 6. The brushes collection brushes are all stored in Photoshop 6 format. If you re-save the brushes file, the brushes will be saved in your current format and this may mean the file will not be accessible in earlier versions of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. The brushes on the graphicxtras.com site are not brushes presets so do not contain all the additional information such as scattering or brush texture. The ABR format files are not generally accessible in other applications but a quick search on google will show a number of applications that support the ABR format (a few new ones appeared only recently).

 

 

Cross platform brushes

The brushes are totally cross platform and can be used across platforms: PC or MAC OS X. So yes, you can use that stunning brush stroke on your PC as well as your mac. Simply copy the ABR file over to your other machine (the license for the use of the brushes allow you to use the brushes on any number of machines as long as it is based on the individual and not for an entire firm of networked users. There is no conversion of the Photoshop brushes required, they work exactly the same way. Load them on the pc or mac via the brushes palette.

 

 

Hi-rez

The brushes are hi-rez brushes, with the size of the brushes ranging from 200 x 200 up to 1000 x 1000 in most cases. The brushes are all stored at 300 DPI (though the internal format of the ABR brushes is unknown). The collection set was created a while back so the file sizes are not up in the 2000+ range. You can always use the brush strokes to create multiple brush strokes which can then be defined as a new much larger Photoshop brush. you can do this by just opening a new document and then applying multiple dabs and then using the edit menu define brush command (though you will have to also remember to use the save command on the brushes palette to save the ABR file with the new brush)

 

Re-combine brushes and create

The brushes in the brushes collection are not cast in stone. you can always use the strokes to create a new brush stroke via the edit menu define brush. Combine the brush strokes by either using the same brush stroke or perhaps multiple different brush strokes as well as applying different brush strokes in different colors - grayscale - and different sizes and rotations. The brushes can also have effects applied to them such as blurs or smudges or you can develop brush strokes using the different brush tools such as the smudge and blur tool to create localized modifications to the brush pixels. You can also combine the brush strokes on a single layer and then use that layer as a floater or resource which can be added to the image in different locations - convert the combined brush stroke design into a smart layer so the source brush strokes can be modified at any point in the creative process within Photoshop

 

 

Brushes used in most brush tools

The brushes supplied can be used in most of the brushes tools in Photoshop ® and Photoshop ® Elements such as with the dodge / blur / smear / paint / art history and more. Access all the brush tools via the Photoshop toolbox. Some of the brush tools have their own brush palette settings so settings such as color dynamics are grayed out. Some of the brush tools are hidden beneath another brush tool in the palette so you have to expand out the tool set to see tools such as the art history tool or pencil tool (hidden beneath the history tool and the brush tool respectively). Some of the tools work better than others with the brushes collection strokes - personally I have struggled with some of the tools such as the blur tool which hardly registers much of a blur effect without a lot of re-applies. The brushes are still useful for localized applications of a particular effect though (always surprised no one has added an effect brush such as applying filters - but I guess the art history and history is the closest to that)

 

 

Photoshop Brush palette

All the brushes can be further tweaked and extended via the brush palette that comes with Photoshop 7 upwards. The brush palette allows the brushes to be scattered, opacity applied, texture applied, color changed and much more. The brushes menu is accessed via the window menu

 

1) Select brush tool (any of the main brush tools such as clone)

2) Go to the window menu

3) Brushes

4) Click on shape dynamics / scattering (checkbox will then be set to ON)

5) Change settings

6) Key settings are via the brush tip shape dialog settings such as spacing (set to 0 to create a smooth brush stroke)

 

 

 

Brush size / Photoshop

Use the brush in many different ways, use with a very small brush size such as 50 x 50 for subtle brush dabs or set to 1000 x 1000 for huge brush strokes / textures. If you are looking for 3000 x 3000 brushes then I would suggest checking on other sites. All the brushes were created for maximum compatability with earlier versions of Photoshop and as such, the brush sizes are smaller than some brushes on the web. The brushes in the collection set were all created in Photoshop 6 and they can be used with all versions upwards from that. The brushes are all 300 DPI

 

 

 

Photoshop Brush textures

Use the brushes to create stunning texture designs as well as using them to create Photoshop tiles. 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. You can also use the brush strokes with the offset filter in Photosho and that is fairly powerful tool to create tiles. say you have a document 1000 x 1000, use the offset with -500 500 and continue to apply brush dabs to the newly positioned document. On completion, use the define command to save the tile.

 

 

Photoshop Blending modes

Use the brushes with different blending modes in Photoshop. The brushes can be applied using difference / multiply / overlay to achieve different brush strokes; you can also set the opacity say to 10% or 20% to create subtle additions of brush stroke.

 

1) To set the blending mode for the brush, select a brush and then go to the top bar of Photoshop and select the mode dropdown

2) Set to 'Darken' 'Difference' 'Lighten' (the blending modes vary from version to version of Photoshop or Photoshop Elements).

3) Apply brush to document as normal. The actual result will depend on the blending mode, the current color of the brush as well as the background color of the document.

 

Another alternative way of applying the brush using blending modes is via the edit menu and fade command which can fade the brush and change the mode.

 

Another alternative approach to applying the brush strokes with different blending modes would be to apply the strokes to a layer and then use the blending modes of the individual layers via the Photoshop layers palette.

 

 

Impressionist brush in Photoshop

You can use all the brushes in the collection set via the art history tool (or impressionist). Use the art history or impressionist brush to create stunning painted / impressionistic paintings using the brush stroke. The key thing for the art history tool is the history palette. Apply a number of effects or brush strokes to a document and then go to the history palette and click the left side of any of the history entries. A little icon will appear showing the source for the art history brush. You can then apply the brush stroke with varying types such as tight short as well as use some of the settings in the brush palette (found via the window menu in Photoshop). Never actually sure why some of the settings in the brush palette are then grayed out such as dual brush and scattering which I never understood.

 

 

 

Custom shapes and Photoshop brushes

Use the brushes to create unique custom shapes designs, apply the dab, select and then define as a work path and define as a custom shape

 

1) Select a brush

2) Apply brush stroke, single dab or multiple dabs as required (perhaps apply as a brush stroke)

3) Select the brush stroke using the selection tools (magic wand tool perhaps)

4) window menu and paths

5) Make work path

6) edit menu and define custom shape

7) Shape can now be saved via the custom shapes palette

 

An alternative approach and probably better would be to export the design via the pasteboard or via the export of a PNG file and re-edited the design in a vector application and use an image trace tool to create a brush path based on the created brush dabs on Photoshop. The vector trace can then be imported into the application via the pasteboard and saved as a new shape.

 

Create tiles using Photoshop brushes

Use the brushes to create tiles or distortions

 

1) Select brush tool

2) Select color via toolbox / foreground color

3) Apply dabs as required (avoiding the edges of the image)

4) Filter menu and Other menu and offset (set to 1/2 height and 1/2 width) to shift design for tile

5) Apply more dabs (again avoiding the edges of the image)

6) edit menu and define command

 

 

 

Apply brushes to channels in Photoshop

The Photoshop brushes can be applied to the red channel and then applied (the same or differently) to the green channel and to the blue channel. You can then re-combine the end result brush strokes in RGB. Of course, if you are in LAB mode then you can do the same with lightness and the A and B channels. The brush strokes work in most of the color modes as well as 8 bit and 16bit modes and beyond. They are a really flexible feature of the application.

 

 

Use the 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 followed byCMYK

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 channels via the channels palette

 

 

 

Export brushes from Photoshop to other applications

Use the brushes to create a brush dab for other applications

 

1) Select brush tool

2) Go to brush palette

3) Select brush

4) Make note of the brush size in the palette

5) Create a new document to that size (or greater if you wish to add additional brush dabs to create a new brush)

6) Set color to black via toolbox

7) Apply

8) Save brush via the file menu and brush command

9) Open another application and then add that brush stroke to the brushes palette (this does depend on the other application as not all applications have a feature to use brush strokes or imported brush strokes and only use their own native unchangeable brushes)

10) Go to the brushes tool palette and right menu and create custom brush

 

 

Realistic brushes in Photoshop

The collection set includes a lot of abstract brushes and many of the early brush attempts (by graphicxtras) were around abstract designs but the set now includes lots and lots of realistic or captured brush strokes. The brush strokes include charcoal as well as pencil sketched designs as well as crayon and other pen types. All the realistic brush strokes for use in Photoshop were created from scans of original art drawings and brush strokes. The one trouble with realistic brush strokes over that of abstract ones, they create really large ABR files and many of the realistic ABR brush files only contain 10 or so different brush strokes for use in Photoshop - they are all fairly large in size as well.

 

Brushes in Photoshop CC CS6

The brushes work fine in the latest version of Photoshop, they are also loaded in the same way and applied in the same way - there was no noticeable changes to the brushes or changes to the format of the ABR file. The panels were changed slightly to show off their new grey look. There has been little change to brushes for quite a while - the last big change was the addition of a powerful palette. I would still love to see a symmetry feature included with all the brushes in Photoshop - 4 way, 2 way symmetry as well as 8pt as well as perhaps an automatic tile painting feature where the brush wraps around the edge of the artwork. Perhaps something for Photoshop CS7?? As there are now so many brushes (such as the 10,000 or so brushes in this collection), it would also be a great addition to CS7 if there was a brushes browser / search feature - it gets harder and harder to find a particular brush from an ABR file and surely that time could be spent actually drawing and painting with the brush. Pushing the brushes even further, perhaps the brushes could also be used as a source for many of the filters (such as the shape filter). Live brushes would also be great where the brush stroke can be modified at any point in the creative process such as with smart filters or smart objects.

Use brushes with effect / metal brushes

Add a effect to a layer and apply a brush stroke to the layer, the brushes will now have the effect such as blue gel / metallic. The effect is still live so you can modify the metallic effect brush stroke at any point in the creative process within Photoshop. The layer effects can be modified via the layer menu such as adding a new shadow or bevel to the Photoshop brush stroke.

Flow setting for the brush stroke

Apply a brush stroke in Photoshop and sometimes the underlying image is completely removed. To apply subtle brush strokes to the image, use the flow setting. Set the value to 1% and any applied brush stroke with be very very subtle (and will require multiple applies for the color to even appear). The flow setting is found in the control bar / Photoshop. Strangely the flow setting does not appear with all the brush tools, though it is the same as intensity or exposure. There is a flow jitter setting confusingly placed in the transfer section of the Photoshop brush palette (which, again, turns into intensity when you use other brush tools). I am always a little baffled to why there is no flow setting to 200% as using a single dab of a brush stroke often shows 50% of the underlying image and requires at least two or three applies to eliminate the underlying picture.

Packaging

Use the brushes to create stunning packaging designs. Especially useful now with the addition of CS5 CS4 CS3 Extended and the new extrude features. Brush strokes can be applied to extrude layers (diffuse)

On purchase

Purchase via secure paypal. You will be sent a link to download the software. Please download the software / presets and make a backup to CD DVD. Any questions, issues with installation, please contact us for help

What can I do with the product?

Commercial use OK (as well as non-commercial and hobby). Use to create items for sale, use for books, leaflets, website designs, fashions, scrapbooking, in videos, on buttons, shoes, illustrations, parts of logos (some modification is required to create exclusivity), records, CDs, packaging, advertising and much more. You can use them to create millions of different graphics designs.

 

Site by Andrew Buckle. Any questions, please e-mail us on support@graphicxtras.com. Abneil Software Ltd - UK company: No.04770268. Copyright @2012-2013 By Andrew Buckle

 

Andrew Buckle, Abneil Software Ltd, Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom. (+44) 622 688 375