Brush It On!

Did you ever think there would come a time when you could brush on images? Or textures, or backgrounds? So much more interesting than just filling in colours! So where can you buy these brushes? There’s a wonderful site online that just gives it to you for free and it’s called Brusheezy. (They do have a paid option, too). All they do is run a site where artists can show off how good they are and the brushes are all there, just waiting to be downloaded and put to use.

Of course, Brusheezy has a few conditions and that is mainly dependent on the contributing artists so when you download a brush, make sure you read the conditions that the artist has put down carefully. Some just ask you to download the brushes and have fun with them while others might want a link back. For the most part, you can do just what you like with the brushes. And if you’re happy with the brushes you see, do donate if you can. There’s a Donate button at the bottom of the page.

Brusheezy brushes are designed for Photoshop and it’s simple to download and install them inside your software. Here’s how you do it:

You can follow the instructions in the video or you could do what I do. Just make sure the file is compatible with the Photoshop version you have.

-          Download zipped file to Desktop

-          Unzip file

-          Open Photoshop

-          Go to Edit>Preset Manager>Load>Desktop>(Downloaded folder)>abr file

That’s it. Now, anytime you click on your ‘Brush’ option in your Tools, you can use these brushes. Go to the Brushes tab on the right and then click on the brush you want. You might need to adjust the size a bit – quite a bit in most cases – you can do it with the sliding bar on the left.

Let’s take a look at some of the amazing images you can churn out with these brushes. Like pink dragons on parade, psychedelic leaves drifting by your window, starry, starry nights. You can turn musical or medieval, you can be on Cloud 9 or go all glittery or sparkly! (OK – that isn’t what you see here because I’m no artist. But I try, I really do!!!)

But you don’t have Photoshop!!

You can still use these brushes. All you need to do is to download the free image editor, Paint.net from here. Once you’ve done that and installed it, it’s time to get those brushes. Download all the brushes you want, unzip them and put them into a folder in your Desktop – you could name this Brushes.

These brushes are all in an abr format for Photoshop so you need to convert them to png files for Paint.net. Follow the instructions here and you’re all set to go!

Here’s what I do once I’ve downloaded the abr file converter to my Program Files. I open the abrViewer (click on the icon) >File>Open Brush Sets>(Downloaded Brush Set Folder)>abr file. Now wait till the programme has scanned and loaded the files – they will appear on the screen. Now go to Export>Thumbnails>My Documents>Paint.net User Files>Custom Brushes. That’s it!

When you want to use a brush, here’s all you need to do. Open a file in Paint.net or you can do your own background, then go to Custom Brushes and go paint the town in every colour and design you want!