When editing images or illustrations in Adobe Photoshop, you might use a brush tool to create unique designs. Brush tools spread a specific design over an image in the shape of the brush and in whatever color you choose, so it can add a touch of uniqueness to your product.
In my younger days, I used to design signature images for forum dwellers, and the brush tool was something I used all the time when making them. I often found that the brush tools offered by Adobe right out of the box didn’t offer the result I was looking for. The solution? Importing custom brushes.
In today’s tutorial, we’ll show you how to import custom brush designs into Adobe Photoshop. This can expand your existing brush tool arsenal, giving you substantially more flexibility when creating custom designs.
What you need to know
You can import custom brush tools into Adobe Photoshop completely free of charge, however that depends on the author of the custom brush tool. Just like software developers, some brush tool makers may charge for their work, so it’s your decision whether you want to download only free custom brush tool designs or to dabble in paid offerings.
There are countless sources online where you can acquire free custom brush tools for Adobe Photoshop, but we recommend checking out Brusheezy, as it’s reputable, easy to navigate, and free of nonsense. You can download as many custom brush tools as you would like and import all of them into Adobe Photoshop for future use.
While custom brush tools may have differing designs, they all work in the same way by smearing a specifically crafted design across your image. For example, if one brush tool is round and another is square, they will both smear pixels across your image, but they’ll perform differently in that one smears a rounded aesthetic and one smears a squared aesthetic. Some tools are totally shapeless.
Bush tools are great for adding color, motion, or interesting background/foreground elements to an otherwise boring image. That’s why you may want to consider importing custom brush tools into Adobe Photoshop if you find that the stock options aren’t working to your liking.
How to import custom brush tools in Photoshop
To import a custom brush tool in Adobe Photoshop, simply follow the steps we’ve outlined for you down below:
1) Enter the following URL for Brusheezy in your web browser.
https://www.brusheezy.com/free/photoshop
2) Choose a free custom brush tool by clicking on it:
3) Click on the blue Free Download button:
Note: Ignore any pop-ups that appear. You can just close them.
4) Once downloaded, verify the downloaded .zip file appears in your Downloads folder:
5) Double-click on it to extract the file:
Note: The extracted file should be .abr file format.
6) Launch Adobe Photoshop if you haven’t already.
7) Click the Brush Tool to select it from the tool picker on the left side of the application:
8) Click the Brush Size drop-down arrow:
9) Click the gear cog button in the menu and then click Import Brushes….
10) Select the .abr file that you extracted earlier, then click the blue Open button:
Note: The custom brush tool that you downloaded should now appear in your brushes list:
11) Select an imported brush tool and try drawing with it:
That’s all there is to it!
Conclusion
Importing custom brush tools into Adobe Photoshop is a powerful capability that expands your artistic creativity and aesthetic output. With this feature, you can do more things to your images, giving you unique capabilities that someone with basic brush tools couldn’t replicate.
Be sure to let us know in the comments section down below if you’ve found a custom brush tool that you enjoy using for Adobe Photoshop.