{"id":48125,"date":"2017-12-11T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/?p=48125"},"modified":"2024-04-17T04:29:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T11:29:00","slug":"free-photoshop-brushes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/free-photoshop-brushes","title":{"rendered":"Free Photoshop Brushes to Decorate Your Holiday Cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adobe Photoshop is a program that offers seemingly endless potential for creating. With all of the incredible features it boasts, it can sometimes be overwhelming to try to figure out how to make the most of them.
\nThat’s where Photoshop brush expert extraordinaire Jessica Johnson<\/a> comes into play.
\nShe’s going to be walking us through some of her favorite brush techniques inside Photoshop. It will unlock your creativity and show you her insider techniques to create your own stunning holiday cards and illustrations!<\/p>\n

<\/span>Getting to Know Jessica<\/span><\/h2>\n

Jessica comes from a fairly traditional design background, having graduated from Missouri State University in 2002. “We BARELY had the internet when I was in university… so things were VERY different,” Jessica explained.
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\nHer university’s design department was headed by a group of distinguished \u201cold school\u201d professors. Although being very tough, Jessica learned to appreciate how they instilled in her the most important design fundamentals. These included how to properly approach design, and the importance of creative problem solving.
\nJessica reflected, “These are the skills that are the foundation of who I am today as a designer.” These skills, mixed with her insatiable curiosity, pushed her into the rewarding career of developing tools to help other designers.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Jessica’s Adventure into Creating Custom Tools for Designers<\/span><\/h3>\n

Jessica started creating design tools during a rough patch in her life. She was living in Miami Beach and her freelance work was drying up. On top of that her dog started suffering from heart issues, and the expenses piled up. Out of desperation she decided to pack her dog and belongings up to move back with her family in Missouri.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Avoiding the 9-5 Life<\/span><\/h3>\n

After staying in Missouri for a few months Jessica came to the realization that she needed to start making money fast, or she would need to start a more typical 9-5 job again.
\n“I had uploaded just a few products onto Creative Market up to that point with a few sales… but I had an idea for a product I thought could be a BIG<\/strong> hit,” stated Jessica. “I wanted to create a kit for some gold foil effects, not shiny gold like you used to see on club flyers all the time, but a gold leaf \/ gold foil effect.”
\nAt the time, there wasn’t anything like it on the market. She had to work hard to bring her vision into life, and make sure that it looked good no matter what it was applied it to.
\nAfter releasing the product to a seemingly slow start Jessica said, “…it somehow gained traction and took off like crazy, and in those first few months I sold a BUNCH!<\/strong> All of my hard work, late nights, and manic over-creating (I created something like 180 original patterns which were the base of my effects) finally paid off!”
\nJessica’s hit product is shown below:<\/em><\/p>\n\n

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Jessica reflected on this experience, “It was a high I will never forget, and hearing amazing feedback from my fellow designers was more rewarding than anything.”
\nShe also noted, “One of the things I love about the career I\u2019ve been able to carve out through Creative Market is the freedom I have to work wherever I want \u2014 which is a huge privilege \u2014 and being able to spend time with my best friends who live all around the world. I am able to live a life I never dreamed of up growing up in a small town in Missouri!”
\nShe continued, “I even turned my travels into an instagram featuring my stuffed fox \u2014 that I\u2019ve had since I was 3 years old \u2014 which went viral due to a fundraiser for a friend with cancer.”
\nYou can view her now famous travels with Mr. Fox here: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thetravelingmrfox\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span>Stepping into Custom Brushes<\/span><\/h3>\n

Jessica built her niche in creating layer styles, but never stopped experimenting. “I had been purchasing brushes from my fellow designers, and became more and more intrigued by what was possible. That got me into experimenting with the brush settings and creating my own brushes for projects,” she said.
\nAlong the way, Jessica realized that she could take the brush techniques she developed and turn them into products for designers of all levels to enjoy and use.
\n“It was very essential for me to create a product that would let designers of all levels be able to pick up these brushes and start creating, no matter if they were a beginner or an advanced illustrator.”
\nShe continued, “I am proud to say that with the Impressionist Brushes and Wet Paint Studio (shown below)<\/em>, I was able to put something into the market that hadn\u2019t been seen yet, and translate techniques I developed into a turnkey solution for so many of my fellow designers.”<\/p>\n\n

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<\/span>Hacking the Pattern Stamp Tool for Impressionist Color Blending Brush Strokes:<\/span><\/h2>\n


\nThe pattern stamp tool is an often overlooked tool in the Photoshop arsenal. It’s a powerful design tool that can help you make amazing color blending effects and illustrations.
\nSince pattern overlays are perhaps the most common way to apply a pattern to an object in Photoshop, I feel that the pattern stamp tool \u2014 which simply applies the pattern to an area you paint with a brush \u2014 is overlooked by designers and illustrators.
\nMore importantly, there is a setting WITHIN<\/strong> this brush that is also overlooked. The impressionist brush setting<\/strong>. When checked, instead of painting the pattern as you paint with your chosen brush, it will \u2018spit out\u2019 all of the colors that are WITHIN your pattern. If you grab a regular Photoshop brush and try this it will likely not look great. You will probably see unappealing bands of color as you paint.
\nHowever, if you tweak the Photoshop brush settings, you can disperse the brush marks so the brush creates an appealing blend of colors. What’s cool about this feature is you can create a pattern that contains exactly the colors you want in your brush stroke; even if they are unrelated.
\nThe color jitter feature has long been included with Photoshop brushes, but there are limitations, and it’s tricky to be precise with the colors. You can blend foreground to background, or jitter the hue, but it’s nothing compared to the pattern stamp tool!<\/p>\n

<\/span>Wet Paint Brush Effects Are One of the Coolest Features in Photoshop You\u2019re Not Taking Advantage of:<\/span><\/h2>\n


\nWith the emergence of digital painting on our tablets, and new programs like Procreate luring designers away from Photoshop, it’s easy to forget that some of these \u2018new\u2019 features are already in Photoshop. You’re just not taking advantage of them!
\nNot only that, there are also amazing things you can do with Photoshop that you can’t do with apps such as Procreate.
\nWith the wet paint brush tool in Photoshop, you can pick up and sample MULTIPLE<\/strong> colors at the same time (not just push them around), and adjust your brush settings to create amazing wet paint strokes that blend all of the colors you have sampled in amazing ways.<\/p>\n

<\/span>With the Right Tools ANYONE Can Be an Illustrator<\/span><\/h2>\n

True Story: I cannot draw. As a fine arts major, I had to take drawing and painting along with everyone, but my attempts at realism were mediocre at best. I always considered myself a \u2018designer\u2019 and never IMAGINED<\/strong> that one day I could be creating illustrations I would be proud of.
\nHowever, through this journey creating tools and resources for other designers, I discovered that I was becoming an illustrator! What I LOVE<\/strong> about advances in technology, is that it gives someone like me who can’t traditionally illustrate, the ability to bring ideas to life. All because I’ve created tools to make this possible.
\nBy creatively harnessing the power of the tools within Photoshop, I\u2019ve pushed my own boundaries and am now able to create designs and illustrations I never imagined possible!<\/p>\n

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