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Fresh Photoshop Resources – Patterns, Textures and Actions

speckyboy — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 08:20:53 +0000

There is nothing better, nothing more powerful and nothing more popular than the greatest graphic image editor ever that is Photoshop. Photoshop by itself is a pretty useful tool, but when its extended with stylish brushes, beautiful patterns, seamless textures and powerful actions, it is truly an unstoppable tool.

In today’s news we have collected the best free resources to help enhance your next project.

650+ Free Photoshop Patterns

The use of repeating patterns in Photoshop can help to produce attractive website backgrounds with very little effort, and of course patterns have other uses as well. In this post we’ll feature some of the best free patterns that are available. You’ll find some individual patterns as well as many packs of multiple patterns.
650+ Free Photoshop Patterns

45 Photoshop Actions To Enhance Your Photos And Stand Out

In this article you’re going to find 45 sets of Photoshop actions that can help you enhance the colors and change the overall look and feel of your photo.
45 Photoshop Actions To Enhance Your Photos And Stand Out

The Ultimate Collection of Free Photoshop Patterns

Photoshop patterns offer a quick way to enhance your project with a cohesive look. Here are a collection of absolutely beautiful photoshop patterns. Whether you use patterns to fill the entire background of your site or just a specific area of your design, you will definitely find these useful.
The Ultimate Collection of Free Photoshop Patterns

40 Fresh Free Texture Packs

In this round-up they’ve collected 40 amazing new free texture packs to freshen up your designs.
40 Fresh Free Texture Packs

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboyand speckyboy@twitter).

The Best Photoshop Resources of 2009

speckyboy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:06:23 +0000

What a year it has been for Photoshop, with a multitude of new, fresh and original tutorials, a wide array of useful Actions, textures for, well, every possible texture you can think off. Resources are seemingly endless.

What we have done today is put together a collection of the best Photoshop resources from this year (2009), There are tutorials for image manipulations, text effects, icon design, digital imagery, illustration… and much, much more. Accompanied with all of this, there are also huge collections of PS actions and textures.

The 100 Most Popular Photoshop Tutorials 2009

In order to save your time, Photoshop Lady has been spending almost a whole year searching for the best photoshop tutorials for you. They have come up with The 100 Most Popular Photoshop Tutorials of 2009, selected from there published tutorials, with over 1 million votes and views from there Photoshop users and readers.

The 30 best Photoshop tutorials of 2009 – Computer Arts

Whether you're after advanced advice on font trickery or you hanker for detailed guides on photo manipulation, you're sure to find something here to help you while away those long winter nights and boost your Photoshop know-how in the process.

The 30 best Photoshop tutorials of 2009 – Computer Arts

The Best 40 Photoshop Text Effects from 2009

In the resource you will find The Best 40 Photoshop Text Effects from 2009, a collection of diverse and unique effects and type treatments that will add a little extra to your next design.

The Best 40 Photoshop Text Effects from 2009

45+ Truly Stunning Digital Painting Tutorials

The author of this article have listed 45+ Truly Stunning Digital Painting Tutorials for those designers out there who wants to try this type of art. Read through the tutorials in this post and gain useful tips to master the technique… Have fun!

45+ Truly Stunning Digital Painting Tutorials

200+ Very Useful Free Photoshop Actions

In this article Tripwire magazine has a very large collection of Photoshop actions (some in large bundles). With the click of a button an action can help you achieve time consuming effects in no time, you just need to have access to the right actions.

200+ Very Useful Free Photoshop Actions

25 New Photoshop Action Sets for Photographers and Designers

This time, the Photoshop actions are for Photographers, with an impressive collection of 25 actions, this post is worth bookmarking.

25 New Photoshop Action Sets for Photographers and Designers

26 Photoshop Illustration Tutorials

This style of designing is mainly achieved using Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw to get that vector-like effect, but for those who do not have vector graphics editor, orsimply prefer Photoshop, this is a nice selection for you.

26 Photoshop Illustration Tutorials

45 Useful Illustrator and Photoshop Tutorials for Christmas Season

The holiday spirit is once again here. Santas, Christmas trees and Christmas balls are once again in fashion…and just for that Naldz Graphics have collected 45 Useful Illustrator and Photoshop Tutorials for Christmas Season.

45 Useful Illustrator and Photoshop Tutorials for Christmas Season

The Best Free Texture Packs of 2009

There are a few things that a designer can not have enough of in his or her design arsenal, and one of them is textures. Since there were so many textures released in 2009, it must have been difficult to choose the best. However, this post does a damn good job with this collection, and most will be valuable additions to your texture library.

The Best Free Texture Packs of 2009

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboy and speckyboy@twitter).

3 Amazing and Fresh Photoshop Brush Collections

speckyboy — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:53:40 +0000

Photoshop brushes are an integral part of any any designers toolbox. Sadly Photoshop doesn’t come packaged with an abundance of high quality brushes, you do need to search and scour the web for quality brushes. On a positive note, there are no shortage of designers willing to share there brushes, meaning that there are literally thousands upon thousands of brush sets available for download.

In todays news round-up we have collected the freshest and the best Photoshop Brush Collections.

50+ Free Vintage Photoshop Brush Sets to Download

Vintage-inspired designs are becoming popular and many designers are finding different ways of recreating the old into new. In this post they have collected 50+ free vintage Photoshop brush for your vintage-inspired designs.

50+ Free Vintage Photoshop Brush Sets to Download

High Quality Rough and Grungy Photoshop Brushes

This set of rough and grungy Photoshop brushes take on a drybrush effect, with plenty of detailed whispy lines and long strokes. You can download them for free and you can use them in your personal and commercial designs.

High Quality Rough and Grungy Photoshop Brushes

200+ Free Abstract Brushes To Use For Light Effect

The author of this article has collected an impressive 200+ brush sets with abstract patterns and light effects.

200+ Free Abstract Brushes To Use For Light Effect

By Paul Andrew (Speckyboy and speckyboy@twitter).

22 Excellent Photoshop Brush Creation Tutorials

Chris — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:44:09 +0000

Photoshop brushes are possibly the easiest way to add style to your designs, there settings are endless, they increase your productivity, you can create a brush from almost anything, and the end result can be amazing. Below you will find 22 tutorials to help you create your own Photoshop Brush.

How to make a Photoshop Brush

A simple and detailed tutorial, giving you great tips and a step-by-step guide to creating a PS brush.

Creating Custom Brushes

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create your own brush preset so that you can easily replicate shapes and/or patterns.

How to make a brush and how to use it

Photoshop brushes are maybe the best ways to stylize your picture, you work. There are many settings that you can use to create different beautiful effects. Moreover you can make a brush from almost every picture, every pattern, out of anything. So in this tutorial you will be shown how to make a brush and how to use your newly made brush.

Creating Photoshop Brushes from a Photograph

This tutorial will show some basics on how to create a Photoshop brush from a photograph or a scanned image.

Feather Brush Tutorial

Leaf Brush Tutorial

In this tutorial, you will explore how a custom brush can be used to make realistic leafy foliage.

Beelzebub Brush Tutorial

In this tut you will creating two brushes, one is a cement face and the other is an image of Beelzebub.

Coffee Stains and Splatters Brush Tutorial

The grunge theme has no rules, this gives the designer a lot of freedom. Here, you will learn how to create coffee stain and splatter brushes that can be used again and again in your designs.

Lego Bricks Brush Tutorial

Learn how to create PS brushes out of a rendered image of lego bricks

Grunge Brush Tutorial

Textured Brush Tutorial

Texture and grunge brushes are great resources to have if you want to add an ageing effect to your work. And making your own set gives your design it’s own unique style.

Abstract Brush Tutorial

Create your very own abstract PS brush.

Dew Drops Brush Tutorial

Rose Brushes Tutorial

Brush Creation for Beginners

Making Brushes – AZ Forums

Fractal Brush Tutorial

Photoshop Brushes Tutorial

Custom Brushes and Brush Dynamics

In this video, you will learn how to create custom brushes and how Brush Dynamics work.

Create Custom Brushes in Photoshop

Photoshop Tutorial: Make your own brushes

Making Photoshop brushes from scratch

Hopefully, after all these, you will now be that little bit more familiar with Photoshop Brushes.

Watercolor Roundup: 200+ Beautiful Brushes and Textures

Henry — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:09:00 +0000

Watercolor effects are a hot trend right now in web design. It seems like we are seeing at least one or two sites featuring this style show up on the design galleries every week. Adding watercolor elements to a design can definitely give it an artistic appearance, and when done well, can make a website look as if it was scanned from a canvas.

Here are some of the best watercolor brushes and textures that can be found on the web.

Brushes

Grungy Watercolor
10 Brushes
Hi-Res Watercolor Photoshop Brushes
18 Brushes
Hi-Res Watercolor Photoshop Brushes Set II
20 Brushes
WaterColor .1. Brushes Pack
17 Brushes
WaterColor .2. Brushes Pack
25 Brushes
Watercolour Brushes Set 1
26 Brushes
Watercolour Brushes Set 2
25 Brushes
SimpleSmudges .2. Brushes Pack
32 Brushes

Textures

Textures: watercolors
8 textures
Free Hi Res Watercolor Textures
2 textures
Large Painted Textures
5 textures
Painted Texture
5 textures
Watercolor Textures
13 textures

350+ Brushes, Textures, and Fonts: Massive Hand Drawn Roundup

Henry — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:51:59 +0000

You don’t need to have your finger on the pulse of web design trends to know that hand drawn style is hot right now. To achieve this look you have a few options: you can do some sketches and doodles on paper and scan them in, or you can draw them directly in Photoshop. The third option would be to take advantage of the resources found in this article.

Handmade Doodles
16 brushes
Star Doodles
35 brushes
Doodles
35 brushes
Dotted Doodles
20 brushes
Frame Doodles
20 brushes
Arrow Doodles
32 brushes
Doodles Brushes
45 brushes
When I Grow Up Brushes
11 brushes
Enchantment Brushes
12 brushes
Plant Things
11 brushes
Handmade Doodles
17 brushes
Doodles
68 brushes

Textures

To take your hand drawn design to the next level, it is good to place them on nice textures where they would normally be found:

Cardboard
24 textures
Packaging
3 textures
Natural Paper Texture Pack
9 textures
Chalkboard
1 texture

Fonts

400+ Swirls, Curls, and Fleurons

Henry — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:02:38 +0000

Ornamental web design is often comprised of swirling, curling, or flower shaped elements. This style is influenced from decorative art pieces and architectural accents from centuries ago. Using ornamental style is a great way to give your site a classic look. Here is a list of Photoshop brushes that should help you out with your next ornamental design.

Swirl Brushes
2 brushes
Floral ornament brushes
10 brushes
Curly Brushes
6 brushes
Vector Swirl Set01
27 brushes
Floral Deco Brushes
20 brushes
Floral Deco Brushes 2
20 brushes
Floral Deco Brushes 3
15 brushes
Six Vector Swirl Brushes
6 brushes
Swirl Parts
27 brushes
Swirl Brushes
38 brushes
Orgumi Deco Set01
30 brushes
Swirl brushes
11 brushes
Strange Swirls
18 brushes
Decorative swirls
7 brushes
SwirlyScribbles
17 brushes
Swirls – Flourishes II Brushes
23 brushes
Vine Love Brushes
16 brushes
All Curled Up v2
32 brushes
Ornament Brushes 1
20 brushes
Ornament Brushes 2
30 brushes
Arabesque Brush Pack
20 brushes
Curve Brushes
18 brushes

300+ Vintage Style Textures and Photoshop Brushes

Henry — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:30:03 +0000

Vintage design, when done well, can make a user feel like they have been transported back in time. This particular style often uses design elements that look like they were found in the attic of an old house dating back to the 1920′s, 30′s, or 40′s. If you have a project coming up that requires this type of design, here is a big roundup of textures and Photoshop brushes, all found at deviantArt.

Textures

Vintage Texture Pack
5 textures
Vintage II Texture Pack
7 textures
Textures02 – Vintage Floral
24 textures
Pretty Things
38 textures
Textures: art + vintage
15 textures
Vintage Bum
20 textures
Vintage Pattern Textures LARGE
32 textures
Vintage Sky Textures
8 textures
Old Paper Textures II
10 textures

Photoshop Brushes

Vintage Brushes 1
13 brushes
Vintage Birds
20 brushes
Old Paper Brushes 2
9 brushes
Ornamental vintage brush set 1
7 brushes
Vintage Pack 001
6 brushes
Vintage Toile
21 brushes
Vintage Essence
12 brushes (these are not free, but since they are so nice and so cheap, I wanted to include them)
Book Ornaments Brushes 3
8 brushes
Book Ornaments Brushes 2
6 brushes
Happy Spring Thoughts
18 brushes
Vintage
16 brushes
Vintage Polaroid brushes
14 brushes

Got a question about this article? – Ask it here!

200+ Textures, Brushes, and Fonts: Ultimate Grunge Roundup

Henry — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:44:16 +0000

Grunge style is rough, rugged, torn, worn, and tattered. To most, these adjectives would describe something less than appealing, but in the hands of a talented web designer, elements possessing these qualities can be used to turn a web site into a work of art. So, if you are just getting started in grunge design or if you are already a pro, you should find the grunge freebies in this article to be very useful.

Textures

Vintage Grunge – 2
5 textures
High Res Grungy Paper Textures
4 textures
Vintage Grunge Textures
5 textures
50 Grunge Icon Textures
50 textures
Hardcore Vintage Grunge
6 textures
High Res Photoshop Brushes: Grungy Texture
12 textures
Large Paper Grunge Textures
5 textures
Color Grunge Textures
5 textures
Autumn Grunge Textures Set
5 textures

Brushes

Worn Photoshop Brushes
9 Photoshop brushes
High-Res Grunge Ink Splatter Brushes
9 Photoshop brushes
Vector-Grunge Brush Pack
6 Photoshop brushes
Tizzape Tape Brushes
20 Photoshop brushes
Ewanism Brushes- Grunge
65 Photoshop brushes
Despirited Grunge Brushes Set1
7 Photoshop brushes
Typographic Grunge Brushes
7 Photoshop brushes
Grungy Stuff
10+ Photoshop brushes

Fonts

Create a Nature Inspired Painted Background in Photoshop

Henry — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:33:53 +0000

When I first saw the Viget Inspire Blog, I was very impressed. The background just grabs and pulls the reader right in. After studying it for a while, I still couldn’t determine if it was made from an actual painting or if it was all created from scratch in Photoshop. Regardless of how it was created, it makes for a great looking design. In this tutorial, I will you show you my own technique for creating this type of background.

The End Result

Here is a preview of the background we will be creating.

View full size

Step 1

Before we get started, you need to grab a couple of freebies and put them in your Photoshop brushes folder:

Watercolor Brushes from Bittbox
Complete Tree Brush Pack from Brusheezy

Since we are designing for the web with a target resolution of 1024px wide, lets open a new document and set the width to 1100px and the height to 900px. That should give us plenty of room to work.

First we need to decide what our painting will consist of and what our color scheme will be. For this example, I have decided to use three main layers of color: the sky, distant mountains, and a rolling hill with trees. I like to create swatches of the colors I will be using so I can quickly select from them.

Step 2

Now it’s time to start painting. Let’s start with the sky since it is behind everything else. Select the Brush Tool (B), and then from the Brush Preset Picker, load BB_Watercolor_II. These are the watercolor brushes that we downloaded from Bittbox, and they are high-res brushes, so make sure to keep the brush size between 300 and 400.

From our sky color palette, select the lightest color. Begin in the middle of the document and start placing single brush strokes across the page using different watercolor brushes set at varying sizes. Continue to place strokes until you have painted an area that spans the width of the document and is about 300px high.

Just like a real painting, don’t over work it. You will end up losing all of the stroke details that make these brushes so beautiful.

Now repeat this using the other colors from the sky palette, each time moving up so that you are overlapping the previous color.

Step 3

Now lets create the distant mountains. Pick the mid tone color from your mountains palette and using the Pen Tool (P), draw the desired shape of the mountain range spanning the length of the document. This will act as a guide for our brush strokes and a solid foundation of color.

Select the Brush Tool again, and select a watercolor brush that is mostly flat on top. Don’t forget to keep the brush size around 300px. With the top edge of the brush slightly overlapping the top edge of the mountains, follow along the curve placing strokes along the way. This will replace the smooth edge with small brush marks.

Our mountains are a little flat, so lets give them some depth. Select a brush that has a nice angle and set the size between 100 and 150. Using the darkest and lightest colors for our mountains, add shadows and highlights. Remember to keep it subtle since the mountains are still far away and details should be minimal.

Step 4

Let’s use the same technique from Step 3 to make the rolling hill in the foreground. Only this time keep the curves much flatter and use the darkest color from our hill palette. Also, make sure the placement doesn’t cover up too much of the mountains.

Now, lets bring our hill to life with some trees. As you did earlier with the watercolor brushes, load in the tree brushes. The name of the set is Trees_by_Horhew. These are also high-res, so size them down accordingly. Placement is totally up to you, but dont overdo it.

After the trees are in place, use the remaining colors chosen for our hill to give our foreground some detail. Choose a watercolor brush again, and add random stokes to the hill. Also, size you brush way down so that it is smaller than the trees, and use it to add highlights and shadows to the foliage.

Step 5

The colors and brush strokes of our painting look really great, but everything seems a little too smooth. It needs some texture. Create a layer above all of the other layers, and set it’s blend mode to multiply. Using the Brush Tool, select one of the watercolor brushes. Only this time, leave it set to it’s maximum size. Select a mid-tone color from the sky, and apply one brush stroke in the middle of the document. Using this oversized brush allowed a lot of detail and texture to be added in one click. Experiment with the different brushes to achieve the best affect.

Step 6

The texture helped, but it is still a little too smooth. Merge all of the layers, and add some noise(Filter > Noise> Add Noise) with an amount of .3.

Step 7

Finally, lets add a mocked up website layout to see how our painted background looks.

View full size

The great thing about this technique is that it is really easy, fun, and the possibilities are endless. Experiment with different colors, and try using some great landscape photos as inspiration.