Free Photoshop and GIMP Brushes

Photoshop and GIMP brushes can be incredibly useful when editing an image or creating something artistic using one of the image editing programs. They can stamp on a finishing touch, a border, or make an interesting addition to a picture that was lacking in another way. You can make entire images out of brushes or simply use them to add on to another image. Brushes are infinitely useful and, at the very least, interesting to toy with in Photoshop. Also, take note, GIMP users - GIMP 2.4 supports .abr files, meaning that Photoshop brushes no longer have to be converted to be used in the GIMP. Simply put them in your brushes folder and they are ready to go. Ten of my personal favorite free brush sites are listed below with brief reviews.

Obsidian Dawn - - This site is my personal favorite resource for free brushes. It is a very well organized site full of unique and fun brushes, all made by the same talented person. The brushes can be downloaded in image packs or as a .abr file. The site is aesthetically pleasing and interesting to read through - it also features some tutorials, patterns, and other resources image editors will find useful.

Brusheezy - This site contains unique brush sets. It is a well organized site, and each brush pack is nicely described (which version of Photoshop is the brush pack compatible with? No problem; it's listed on this site). The site also has patterns and a blog for those seeking other resources. Those interested in sharing their own brushes can choose to submit some.

My Photoshop Brushes - This site is fairly organized, but not quite as well as a few other sites I have seen. It may take a while to find a specific brush set you are looking for, especially since the brush collection is of a quite nice size. That is a plus though - there's a huge selection to choose from. Also featured on the site are other resources like gradients and patterns.

PSBrushes - This site is extremely well organized and features an exhaustive collection of brushes. Each brush set has very organized previews in which you can see icons for the brushes you will be downloading. The site is very pleasant to browse through and I quite enjoy using it, especially because (thanks to the brush previews) I can see if a brush set is worth downloading or not.

QBrushes - This site features attractive and interesting brushes and fairly good organization. It may take a while to weed through, but the collection is not of an astonishingly large size so it does not require the extensive organization that other sites may.

Hybrid Genesis Brushes - There are not many brush sets on this site, but the ones there are well worth browsing. Organization is not a matter of importance here, as most of the brushes are textures anyway and there are so few pages to go through that it does not matter much. Again, there are not many, but the site is included because the ones that are included are very useful.

BlendFu - This site is very user friendly and features brushes, gradients, patterns, shapes, and other free image editing resources that are compatible with both Photoshop and the GIMP. It is well organized and fantastic to browse. Check back often - there are frequently new contributions to the site.

DeviantArt - Browsing through DeviantArt for Photoshop brushes can be quite fun because it is often updated, since users create and post the brushes themselves. Searching for a specific sort of brush can be exhausting, but often it is rewarding because of the wide variety of brushes and other resources available from many different artists.

Brush King - This site features a fairly well sized collection and the site is well-organized and not bad looking at all. A newer feature on the site is tutorials, which may come in handy for many different people.

BrushesDownload - This brush collection is very, very well organized and fun to browse. I almost always find something here that I feel the urge to download. The site also features other resources for Photoshop like patterns.

Brushes are not only fun to use, but easy to find free and credit. The only thing you must be sure to do is follow the terms of use given by the creator of the brushes (this can often be found in a .txt or readme file in the compressed folder containing your brushes) if you plan on sharing your creation with others.