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The Ultimate List of Free Digital Painting Brushes

Hi guys! I’ve been searching the internet for some digital painting brushes that will imitate the traditional brushes – and other tools used in traditional art. I managed to find really great brushes that nowadays are the main set in my “brush palette”. 

Check them out and download your favorite brushes!

 

In this article, I gathered awesome brushes that can be used in Photoshop. But in the future, I’m going to create similar lists to other graphic software.

As a student, I didn’t have any money, so my obvious choice was to search for free brushes published by the creators (mostly on DeviantArt) with permission for free use.

My main goal was to gather some nice tools that will allow me to create digital paintings imitating the visual effect of traditional paintings – you know, the texture of paper and canvas, the visible use of a bristle brush… that was something I couldn’t achieve easily with the use of Photoshop’s default brushes. The brushes are free to use, but if you plan to use them for your commercial projects, I recommend to contact the artist first, to have a clear situation.

 

List of free digital painting brushes

Below you can find a list of free digital brushes for Photoshop used by professional illustrators/concept artists.

Maciej Kuciara digital brushes

Art by Maciej Kuciara

Download Maciej Kuciara brushes

Artist: Maciej Kuciara | visit Maciej’s website

Maciej Kuciara is one of my idols and people I look up to. His skills, and especially his background made me realize that no matter what are your obstacles – if you are really passionate about things that you do and work hard to achieve your goals, you can do this.

He worked as a concept artist for such projects like: The Last of Us, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Ghost in the Shell.

I was hyper happy when I found out that Maciej published his set of brushes for free download. Here’s Maciej’s comment on brushes:

Here’s a full set of brushes I use, used or might use in my works, most of it I gathered over last few years. Some of the brushes you’ll find in this set I’ve adopted from other artist sets, including: Jaime Jones, Mathias Verhasselt, Danny LuVisi, Shaddy Safadi and more. Feel free to do whatever you like with them, I feel like it’s one of few ways I can contribute to our artists community.

 

Darek Zabrocki’s digital brushes

Download Darek Zabrocki’s digital brushes

Artist: Darek Zabrocki | visit Darek Zabrocki’s website

Darek Zabrocki in a professional concept artist from Gdansk, Poland. He worked in such project as NEED FOR SPEED (2020), WITCHER 3 WILD HUNT: BLOOD & WINE, ASSASSIN’S CREED: SYNDICATE and many other projects.

Noah Bradley’s digital brushes

 

Download Noah Bradley digital brushes

Artist: Noah Bradley | visit Noah Bradley’s website

Noah Bradley is an illustrator and a founder of “Art Camp”- an online art course. Noah Bradley worked on such projects as The Sin of Man, and created an illustration for Magic: The Gathering

 

Loish’ digital brushes

Download Loish’ digital brushes

Artist: Loish | visit Loish’ website

 

Grzegorz Rutkowski Photoshop Brushes

Download Grzegorz Rutkowski’s Digital brushes

 

Download Grzegorz Rutkowski’s digital brushes

Artist: Grzegorz Rutkowski | visit Grzegorz Rutowski’s website

 

AaronGriffinArt digital brushes

Download AaronGriffin’s digital brushes

Artist: AaronGriffin | visit AaronGriffin’s website

 

Sakimichan digital brushes

Download Sakimichan’s digital brushes

Artist: Sakimichan | visit Sakimichan’s website

 

Jonas De Ro’s digital brushes

Download Jonas Ro’s digital brushes

Artist: Jonas De Ro | visit Jonas De Ro’s website

Houston Sharp’s digital brushes

Download Jonas Ro’s digital brushes

Artist: Houston Sharp | visit Houston Sharp’s website

Mac Smith’s digital brushes

Download Mac Smith’s digital brushes

Artist: Mac Smith | visit Mac Smith’s website

 

Wangjie Li digital Brushes

Download Wangije Li’s digital brushes

Artist: Wangije Li | visit Wangije Li’s website

Rafał Górniak aka Rav89’s digital brushes

Download Rav89’s digital brushes

Artist: Rafał Górniak aka RaV89 | visit Rafał Górniak’s website

 

Michael Guimont aka Wavenwater’s digital brushes

Download Wavenwater’s digital brushes

Artist: Michael Guimont | visit Michael Guimont’s website

Przemysław aka Env1ro digital brushes

Download Env1ro digital brushes

Artist: Env1ro | visit Env1ro’s website

Przemysław aka Env1ro has created many amazing brushes which you can find on his Deviantart’s page.

If you like his work, you can donate a few dollars:

Please donate via Paypal using p.szczepanski@gmail.com email. I will be really appreciated!

PaintLines contains 24 HQ brushes (resolution about 2500px) brushes compatible with PS 7 and up!

 

LilithDemoness digital brushes

Download LilithDemoness’ digital brushes

Artist: LilithDemoness | visit LilithDemoness’ website

Sites – here you can find other free digital painting brushes

Brushking

Env1ro

Deviantart

How to Install & Use Photoshop Brushes

Oprócz możliwości korzystania z podstawowych zestawów pędzli, kształtów, wzorów czy innych dodatków, możesz zainstalować również własne, pobrane, np. z Internetu.

There are several ways to import brushes to Photoshop – it may vary depending on which version of Photoshop do you use. Follow the step below to import your brushes.

 

  1. How to import Photoshop Brushes
  • Download the brushes. If it’s a zip file, unpack it first.
  • Go to Window ->Brush presets (You can also open the Brushes panel flyout menu)
  • Click the  icon (or the  icon in you are using the brushes panel the flyout menu) to see more options
  • Select Load Brushes… option
  • A new window will pop-up. Locate your brushes and select them.
  • Click Load
  • Your new brushes are now added to the Brush Presets window (you can find them at the end of the list).
  • Enjoy your new brushes!

 

 

Often asked questions about digital brushes

How do you get Photoshop brushes?

With the installation of Photoshop, you automatically get also a set of default brushes which you can use for free. You can also import new brushes – the ones created for free by artists or purchase a pack of professional brushes.
All you need to do is to download them and follow the steps from “How to Install & Use Photoshop Brushes” part of the article.

You can also create your own brushes. To learn how to create a digital brush in photoshop visit this article:  How to create a brush in Photoshop

What brushes to use in Photoshop?

It depends on what project are you working. The most commonly used brush is the round brush (from the Photoshop default set basic brushes). You can easily modify it to fit  your needs in the Brush settings

For more sophisticated effect, use the Dry media, Thick Heavy and wet media brushes set – they imitate the traditional painting media. That are free brush sets in Photoshop to which you should have an access.

Where do I download photoshop brushes?

There are various sites on the internet where you can download brushed for free. One of the largest sites with such resources is Deviantart – you can check out digital brushes on Deviantart here.
Please go to the Sites – here you can find other free digital painting brushes part, to see more sites.

Where do I find brush presets in Photoshop?

Brush presets is an option in Photoshop, where you can view your actual brushes. To open Brush presets, go to the Window and select brush presets.

Final thoughts

Remember, it’s not the brush that matters it’s what you do with it!

Do you know any awesome brushes that should be listed here? Let me know in the comments!

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