Photoshop Brushes are a great way to add dynamic artistic effects to an image. In our Photoshop courses we show you many techniques for creating stunning graphics. In essence the Photoshop brush tool uses strokes to draw coloured lines or shapes on a layer. You choose a brush then click and drag around the page to create your shapes or lines. You can also use brushes to create textures and patterns, and also to create lighting effects.
You can create your own brush, or download and install them. Do a search for free Photoshop brushes. When you extract the downloaded zip file, you’ll see an .ABR brush file. Either drag this straight into Photoshop or go to: Edit > Presets > Preset Manager > Brushes > Load. The new brushes will appear in your top Control panel.
To work with your new brushes, select the Brush tool, then use single clicks for a single instance of the effect, or click and drag around the screen for a stroke or scatter effect. If the effect is too large, you can adjust the settings for size, opacity, blending mode, and flow in the Control panel.
You could also use an existing image as the basis for a Photoshop brush, eg. a coloured splatter effect or a pile of leaves. Advanced settings for Scatter, etc, are available on the Brush panel on the right hand side of your screen.
You can see how Photoshop brushes can really enhance an otherwise bland image.
See many examples of our clients’ work on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/DesignWorkshopSydney
Other related Photoshop Blog Posts:

• Photoshop interface
  
• Photoshop basics