The 56 best free Photoshop brushes

01. Niño Batitis brushes

Niño Batitis relights the fire in Photoshop

Digital artist Niño Batitis has been very kind in releasing 13 high quality Photoshop fire brushes for free. Perfect for your design projects, these will allow you to experiment with flames, characters and landscapes.
Limitations: none

02. Bokeh brushes

The term Bokeh is of Japanese origin and refers to the appearance or feel of the out-of-focus areas of a photograph. Add this cool effect to your imagery with this free set of high quality Bokeh brushes

• Limitations: none

03. Photosop Flourish

Front end web developer and designer John Horoszewski created this free brush pack, which is made up of various flourish, vine and leaf designs.
Limitations: none

04. Photoshop brush set

This cool set of Photoshop brushes was created by designer Matt Heath using an 8B Staedtler pencil and custom settings giving a natural feel and wide variety of textures.

• Limitations: none

05. Splashes of paint

A collection of 30 big brushes, this set features spray paint patterns suitable for generating dirty backgrounds and textures. For use with Photoshop CS2 and higher.

• Limitations: none

06. Doodle brushes

This free brush pack features a collection of 30 random scribbles, suitable for projects such as greeting cards, web page headers and more.

• Limitations: none

07. Dry Brush Strokes

A set of 12 excellent brushes from Chris Spooner, these high-resolution dry brushes are fantastically detailed, bristly and texture-rich.

• Limitations: none

08. Subtle Brush Set

A lovely collection of 15 brushes from designer Jack Fahnestock featuring beautifully subtle-but-complex textures that add immediate depth and clarity.

• Limitations: none

09. Photorealistic Explosions

A useful set of 16 explosion images, each saved as a standard image, but easily used as a brush. Perfect for compositing or adding impact to your designs.

• Limitations: none

10. TC Magic Spells

A quirky set of 21 brushes, each related to the overall theme of "the moon", and featuring a mythological bias. Great for adding some whimsy, or accenting original illustrations.

• Limitations: none

11. Fairy Tales Brush Set

A useful collection of fractal renders at up to 2500px, gathered together under the theme of fairy tales due to their other-worldly appearance.

• Limitations: none

12. Speckle Brushes

This superb set of five Photoshop brushes were made using a piece of toast. No, seriously!

• Limitations: none

13. Technical Brushes

A beautiful set of 10 illustrative brushes in a technical-drawing theme, including wonderfully detailed cross-sectional designs.

• Limitations: none

14. Heads Up Display pack

A set of 30 high-resolution brushes that provide all the elements of a HUD in the style of Iron Man. Includes brilliant details such as exploded diagrams and topographical renderings.

• Limitations: non-commercial only

15. Nature Silhouettes

This is a really useful set of 19 different silhouettes, each featuring a different flora, ranging from trees to grasses. 

• Limitations: none

16. Grimey Brushes

A useful set of brushes for adding a bit of dirt to your images, this collection of five brushes from Mattox Shuler is understated but incredibly versatile.

• Limitations: none

17. Paint Lines

These 24 very high resolution brushes will provide a real-media feel to your design work. Some brushes look like paint tin marks, while others are thicker, providing lots of options within the pack.

• Limitations: none

18. Sponge Party

Some beautiful textures make up this collection of eight high quality brushes, including some excellent sponge brush marks, great for adding timbre to collage work.

• Limitations: none

19. Coffee Stain Brushes

Some excellent stain marks that would pass equally well for daubs of ink as much as coffee or tea. These brushes add a nice degree of life-wear to your images, instantly aging them.

• Limitations: none

20. Gradient Shapes

A nice set of simple swishes that incorporate gradient colours to provide a modern, soft-edged finesse to any graphic design project.

• Limitations: Free for personal and commercial use

21. My Heart Brushes

These 18 love heart themed brushes have a nice real media feel that sets these apart from some of the alternatives available on the web.

• Limitations: none

22. Smoke Brush Set

A great collection of smoke art from Graham Jeffery, saved as 21 different brushes.

• Limitations: Non-commercial

23. Vintage Wooden Brush

This simple brush offered by Creative Nerds brings a wonderful, rich flaking wood texture to your brush arsenal.

• Limitations: Cannot be redistributed

24. Hi-Res Clouds

This is a really useful set of 17 brushes, each of which features a different cloud design that can easily be used to add interest to your images

• Limitations: None

25. 3D Halftone

A really nice set of halftone images arranged in 3D with perspective to create interesting patterns that add depth to designs

• Limitations: Non-commercial

26. Dust Particle Brushes

A really useful set of dust particle brushes from WeGraphics that add instant dirt and richness.

• Limitations: Cannot be redistributed

27. Dried Blood Splatters

A full 117 brushes, each featuring a different dried blood effect. Great for creating blood effects, but also worthwhile for paint simulation.

• Limitations: None

28. Scorched and burned

Another great set of brushes from WeGraphics that feature realistic scorch and burn effects in 10 different designs.

• Limitations: Cannot be redistributed

29. Funky Paisley Brushes

A rich set of brushes each featuring a paisley design element. Also includes the original PNG files the designer used to create the brushes.

• Limitations: Non-Commercial Use

30. Grass and Plant Brushes

10 different brushes each featuring different grass and plant designs and ranging in size from 500px to 2500px.

• Limitations: Attribution under some circumstances

31. Ornamental Butterflies 2

A beautiful set of butterflies and plant-based ornaments that can add a sophisticated touch to corners and borders.

• Limitations: None

32. Hi-Res Photoshop Hair Brushes

An excellent set of isolated hair styles rendered as silhouettes.

• Limitations: None

33. Dynamic Light Special FX Brushes

Create special lighting effects by using these brushes in combination with layer blending modes such as screen or vivid light.

• Limitations: None

34. Night Sky Brushes

This set of brushes includes 13 different night sky elements including space dust, stars and moons.

• Limitations: None

35. AP Brushes: Scar Face

Ideal if you want to introduce some scarring to portraits or simply generate beautifully textured background elements.

• Limitations: None

36. VectorPack Brushes

A nice range of circular brushes that are clean and modern.

• Limitations: None

37. Hair Brushes Set 1

Great for providing touch-up on model photography, this set includes detailed textured hair in a variety of falling styles.

• Limitations: Attribution necessary under some cirumstances

38. Sparkle Brush

A nice and simple brush that adds a sprinkle of diffused light orbs to bring a Disney-esque magic sparkle to your work.

• Limitations: None

39. Tree Borders Brushes

A nice set of brushes that allow you to introduce tree and bush silhouettes to the edge of your composition.

• Limitations: Non-Commercial use only

40. GreenPack Random Brushes

Four green-themed brushes - mainly worth the download for the excellent tree illustration that's included!

• Limitations: None

41. Water Brushes Vol. 2

12 large brushes that include splashes, ripples and water drops. An excellent set for backgrounds as well as foreground design elements.

• Limitations: None

42. Grunge and Smooth Floral Brushes

A great set of mixed media brushes along a grunge and floral theme.

• Limitations: Non-Commercial use only

43. Five Simple Fabric Brushes

Straightforward fabric textures, great for backgrounds in both print and web designs as they're high resolution.

• Limitations: None

44. Grunge2012

A great set of 25 grunge brushes with some excellent textures for adding detail to your work.

• Limitations: Non-Commercial use only

45. Floral Swirls

Useful set of floral swirl brushes ideal for building up rich borders and textures in both print and web designs.

• Limitations: None

46. World Map Brushes

A beautiful map in 12 brushes that feature the work of 16th Century cartographer Marin Waldeemuller.

47. Antique Postcards

This wonderful collection of six antique postcard designs provides an excellent background for further design work. Each card brush features text and a delightful patina.

• Limitations: None

48. Moon Brushes

This excellent set provides 10 different phases of the moon in brush format!

• Limitations: None

49. 7 High Resolution Leaf Brushes

Great for creating organic textured background, this set features seven isolated leaf images with intricate details and textures.

• Limitations: None

50. Fractal Brushes

An excellent selection of fractal-based brushes that look futuristic - great for web design.

• Limitations: None

51. Fractal V Brushes

This pack of six brushes contains some lovely organic shapes.

• Limitations: Some usage/distribution restricted

52. Texture Brushes

A useful selection of nine different fabrics that show off the weave and pattern of the material with a scratchy realism.

53. Starfield

Four brushes, each at 2500px square, allowing you to quickly create detailed star patterns and celestial dust clouds.

54. Feathers and Birds

A total of 12 individual brushes, each of which includes a stand-alone piece of artwork ranging from detailed feather illustrations, to whimsical birds-on-a-branch.

55. Gritty and Grunge

Seven useful brushes that instantly add a grimy background to your work, featuring useful specks and splatters as well as areas of grit.

56. Spray Splatter