Well, this has been a crazy summer.  Some of you are aware that my hubby has been over in Iraq this year.  My brushes business is doing very well, and I've started selling CDs of my stuff as well as commercial licenses for people that don't want/can't credit me for brush usage.  I'm trying to get back into my painting, so I'm working on finishing my portfolio so that I can start putting myself "out there" for professional work.  I'm trying to help do some character concept work for an upcoming online game.  I'm trying to work on a few graphic design commissions that are ongoing projects.  I'm trying to breathe.

The reality of it all is that I'm "working" 10 hour days or so, trying to catch up.  It's slowly happening, but in the meantime, I really don't have time to answer comments/notes.  If you have an important, pressing question and need to get a hold of me, email me.  I will not get it here for quite some time.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and I hope to be able to be back and answering questions, etc. around the end of the year.  In the meantime, I'll still be uploading brushes... don't you worry your pretty little heads about that!  

In the meantime, here's the last 2 week's brush sets.  Lightning II (all of which were created by hand, using my own photos as references - unlike my first lightning set, some of which are pixellated because they were taken directly from photos... in other words, this set is MUCH higher quality - and higher resolution) and Scrambled Letters.  Enjoy!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

This week's set is made up of ALL kinds of stars.

Firstly, some celestial stars… from star patterns that can be overlapped to create beautiful starfields to larger versions to use in starscapes, etc. - even a few individual smaller versions to accent the star fields.

Next, there’s a few chinese throwing stars, or shuriken.  A few different shapes of these, all as vectors.

And lastly, but not least… TONS of different star shapes.  Beveled, lots of decorative (some with swirls, others similar to a compass rose, etc), a double-edged star, a basic star, grungy, jewish, a star outline, several pentacles (one with various alchemy symbols and very decorative), a retro styled star, shooting stars, star dust, etc. etc. etc.


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!


Here are a few of my favorite deviations from the last week or so, where my brushes, patterns, etc. were used!  If you don't send me a link to your stuff, you obviously can't be featured.  So, make sure you send me links! (The main page is NOT the best place for that, btw... the easiest spot is in the comments of the brush set(s) you used or a note!)

Some of these will be stuff that a lot of people may have already seen, but I'm going to try to feature at least a few each time that are definitely underappreciated, in hopes of getting them a few more views! Here they are, in no particular order:

This week's set is very similar to my Vector Foliage Photoshop Brushes set, but in sketchy designs rather than vectors.  (Although, technically, these are also vectorized, as well.)

It includes various flowers, leafs, leafy designs, branches, dandelions, seeds, plants, grass, ferns, etc.

Tips will start back up next week, once the hubby goes back to Iraq for the last 4 months of his tour.


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

This newest set of brushes is made up of a bunch of various shapes of gears.  These are all vector designs, and each design comes in a 2d and a 3d version.  The 3d version is very simple in some cases, and very complex in others (all still vectorized, of course).  This set also includes several different screws (regular, hex, phillips) to help hold those gears in place!

Still no time for a tip this week… my hubby is back for his R&R from Iraq, and I'm not wasting a moment of these next 2 weeks!

Enjoy!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

This set is coming out a bit late... I've been on vacation at my father's for 2 weeks, and while I posted them on my website... I didn't have time to put them up here on dA.  So, here you go!

My first Clouds Photoshop Brushes set remains one of my more popular sets.  I'd been meaning to make a new, high resolution set for a while now, but was working on perfecting the technique.  In my first set, you'll notice that not all of the "wispy" edges are necessarily visible around the corners of the brushes.  Now, that's fine if you're using them small (like the first set was), but not so great for high resolution.

I finally figured it out, and so I now preset to you my Clouds II Photoshop Brushes set.  Wispy edges and all.  These are some of the most realistic looking clouds brushes I've ever been able to produce, so I hope you all can find some use for them and enjoy them!

You'll notice that this set has no brushes that would work for mist like the first did, they're all pretty hefty clouds.  That's because I'm working on a separate mist brush set, which should be ready in a few weeks!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

This week's set of Floral Photoshop Patterns is kind of a companion set to my Flower Vectors Photoshop Brushes set. It’s mostly made from those flowers, but with some added stuff from a few other sets.  Some have swirls added, others have some leaves and stems (foliage) added, etc.   Most of them have a bit of a texture applied to them, as well.

This set should be great for digital scrapbookers (as an equivalent to paper), or anyone that needs a floral pattern.  If you’re not sure how Photoshop patterns work, they’re just as easy as brushes, really!  I have a tutorial here that explains how to install and use Photoshop patterns.


If you like the pattern, but not the colors, here's a quick tip to help you fix that!

• Apply the pattern as a layer style and get it positioned how you want it.


• Now, make a new layer beneath that one.  Select the layer with the pattern on it again, and type CTRL-E (CMD-E on Mac) to merge the layers together.


• If you are using Photoshop CS or greater (and some of the newer Elements have it, as well, but not sure which version it was introduced in), then:
  
  
  
  • Choose Image > Adjustments > Replace Color (in Elements, it's Enhance > Adjust Color > Replace Color).
  
  
  • A window will pop up, and your cursor will turn into an eyedropper.  Use that eyedropper to select the color that you want to change.
  
  
  • Slide the "Fuzziness" slider to the right or left until it selects just the right amount of the color that you want to change (the white stuff in the preview image is what is "selected" to change, the black will not).  Moving the slider to the right means it will pick up more colors similar to the one you selected.  Moving the slider to the left means it will pick up less colors.
  
  
  • Once you have your selection, move the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to get the color exactly how you'd like it.  (Note: you can still change the "Fuzziness" slider while you're doing this step, if you can see that it didn't turn out quite right.)
  • That's it!


• If you're using an older version of Photoshop or something that doesn't have "Replace Color" as an option, you can still do this:
  
  
  
  • Choose Select > Color Range.
  
  
  • A window will pop up, and your cursor will turn into an eyedropper.  Use that eyedropper to select the color that you want to change.
  
  
  • Slide the "Fuzziness" slider to the right or left until it selects just the right amount of the color that you want to change (the white stuff in the preview image is what is "selected" to change, the black will not).  Moving the slider to the right means it will pick up more colors similar to the one you selected.  Moving the slider to the left means it will pick up less colors.
  
  
  • Click "Ok" - the stuff that you want to change should be selected.
  
  
  • Now choose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.
  
  
  • Move the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness sliders to get the color exactly how you'd like it.
  
  
  • That's it!

These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

I’ve been meaning to do a set like this for-ev-er.  I LOVE celtic designs, and have a ton of celtic jewelry, but for some reason kept putting off making this set.  Well, no longer!  In fact, I’ve still got enough ideas for a second set relatively soon, if this one goes over well.

This Photoshop brush set is made up of 35 celtic knotwork designs.  Some circular, some square, some solid, some outlines… and a few celtic crosses in there, as well.  And borders!

By the way, I'm having a hard time keeping up with all of my notes and messages, so if I don't go check out the links you send me, don't feel terribly hurt!  This has been a very hectic year so far, and I'm having a hard time keeping up with everything.  Hopefully it'll slow down more around August.


The transform selection tool is your friend.  Ever had trouble getting your selection JUST right, and had to start back over again from scratch?  Well, you don’t have to!

To see what I mean, try to perfectly select around a box in an image.  Unless you’re really careful, you may not get it just right the first time.  So choose Select > Transform Selection from the menu, and you can now expand or contract that selection to your heart’s content.  You can even zoom in so that you can get it JUST right before choosing Select > Transform Selection and do it that way.

And that doesn’t just apply to boxes.  You can go from a free transform (which is how it starts out) into any other kind of transform that you want by choosing Edit > Transform > *****.  That even includes distort and warp!

It’s hard to explain the all of the kinds of situations where this may be useful, but I’ve found it very useful numerous times.  So keep it in mind for that day that you too may need it!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

This was an interesting set to make.  These were a request, which I decided to add to just a bit.  The request was for sketches of various makeup bottles, tubes, etc.  I did that, and also added some face parts, with makeup to put on those, as well!  Sort of like my eyeshadow brushes.  The eyes each have a corresponding eyeshadow brush, the lips all have a corresponding lipstick brush, etc.  There's also noses, just to complete the face.

Also included, of course, was the main idea for this set… bottles and tubes of various types of makeup, like lipstick, lip gloss,  concealer, foundation, eyeliner, nail polish, a pencil, etc.  All sketched / drawn by hand.

Should be a fun set to play around with, even if you just play around with the face parts!

Enjoy, and have a great week!


To make it easier to match up the eyeshadow with the eyes or lipstick with the lips, use the sketch part of the brush on its own layer.  Then, make another layer beneath that one and use the eyeshadow/lipstick.

Once you've got that added on its own layer, you can use Edit > Transform > Scale to change the size of it, or Image > Adjustments > Hue and Saturation to change the color, brightness, saturation, etc.


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

Okay, so I've gotten a bit behind on posting my brushes here at dA.  It's been a hectic few weeks, and I'm starting to put more on my plate than I can handle.  

So, please forgive the lateness of these

Figured I'd post all three today and get you all up to date!  I don't expect the Military Ranks brushes to do all that well here at dA, but who knows.  Thought I'd post them here anyway.

Hope everyone's having a great week!


With vector brushes, it’s fairly easy to change the color to different parts of the brush.

1. First, use the brush on its own layer. (SHIFT-CTRL-N for PC or SHIFT-CMD-N for Mac to create a new layer.)  Use whatever color you want.


2. Next, take the lasso tool (L) and outline the parts of the design that you want to change the color of.  For example, using the “circles” brush from this Retro Vectors brush set, you could outline just the big, center circle.  This will select it.


3. Tip on selecting: Holding SHIFT will allow you to ADD to your current selection, if you missed something.  Holding ALT will allow you to SUBTRACT from your current selection, if you got something extra in there.


4. Now, on the top menu, choose Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation.


5. Slide the “Hue” slider back and forth until it reaches the color that you’d like to accompany the first one.


6. Hit OK, and that’s it!  You now have a vector design in two distinct colors, using just one brush.

These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

Whoops.  Forgot to post this one here last week!

This set is yet another request! As you can see, I'm catching up on a lot of these lately, and doing less of the stuff that I personally come up with. But I've been needing to, because I've been behind on a looooot of requests! (I still have a "to do" list that is over 50 items long, by the way - I'm down to about 5 of those were requests along with donations, which I always do first if possible.)

It's made up of all kinds of stuff along the whole graduation theme. Caps and tassles galore, of course. Some being worn by silhouettes of various graduates (along with the gown, of course!), some being thrown up into the air, some vector-like, some sketchy, etc. Also includes some class rings (University and High School, along with one generic), some balloons, a few diplomas, etc.


You can add texture to a brush fairly easily (although, working on high resolutions on slower computers, you may have a bit of trouble… adding texture to brushes this way can definitely slow the brush down).

• Select the brush that you want to paint with.


• Then, hit F5 to bring up your brushes tab (unless you already have it open, of course).


• Click on “Texture”


• You can choose the texture that you want just like you would choose a pattern.  Click on the small arrow next to the thumbnail, and it will bring up a list of all the available, currently loaded textures.  (To load more, you would then choose the arrow on the top right of that window and choose from amongst the available listed pattern sets, at the bottom of that list.)


• You can change the scale of the texture using the “Scale” slider.  This makes the texture smaller or larger.


• “Depth” specifies how deeply the paint penetrates into the texture. Type a number, or use the slider to enter a value. At 100%, the low points in the texture do not receive any paint. At 0%, all points in the texture receive the same amount of paint, therefore hiding the pattern.


• “Minimum Depth,” therefore, determines the minimum depth to which paint will penetrate.


• “Depth Jitter” will make the depth change randomly as you paint, to give it more of a randomly splotchy look.


• You can also change the “Mode,” which defaults to “Subtract.”  Play around with how each one looks in the preview at the bottom of the window.

These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

It’s coming up on that wonderful summer season soon, and I’d venture to guess that more than one of you will be taking a vacation! Well, here’s some travel brushes to help you decorate those scrapbooks, web pages, etc.

This one was a request, and was a ton of fun to do! This set includes not only travel-related objects like suitcases, tickets, airplanes, etc., but I also decided to add some “stamps” of various countries and “wonders of the world” - like the colisseum in Rome, the Eiffel Tower in France, etc. They are all drawn by hand, and are very high resolution - the average brush size is about 2100 pixels.


Did you know that all of those various windows in Photoshop can be opened and closed? You don’t need to leave them open, if you don’t really use them.

Additionally, there’s a small section where you can “stash” the windows temporarily, if you don’t want them cluttering up your working area. In the upper right, there should be a grayed out section that probably already has a few tabs worth of windows stored there. If you want to move a window there, click on the top bar of the window and drag it into that grayed out area. If you want to move a window from that area into your working space, click and drag the tab down to where you want it, and it will show up as a window again.

If you accidentally close a window you didn’t mean to, no worries! You can get it back again. Under the top menu, click on “Window” and it will show you a listing of all the available windows. A check box next to a name means that the window is currently active, or visible. Clicking on a window once will make it active/visible, and clicking on it again will hide it once again.


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

  If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

Well, dA has been giving me a helluva time with this submission!  I checked the forums, and I guess they're aware that some people are having submission troubles, so I just sat and waited patiently.  Then I thought to try it on my Mac laptop, and voila!  Doesn't make a whole lot of sense why my PC wasn't working, though... I haven't changed anything that would be causing problems.  Hopefully it's okay for next week!  (The Mac is still having a bit of trouble with the preview image as I write this, so maybe the problem isn't solved quite yet!)

Been fighting off a cold all week, and it finally hit today. Ugh! Also been trying to catch up with everything since getting back from my 2 week trip. Things have been pretty hectic, so this set is coming our REALLY late this week (and even later due to submission problems here on dA).  I'm way behind on notes and messages here on dA, btw.  So if you asked a question I haven't answered yet, I'm not ignoring you!

This is a pretty simple set, but one that I think will be fairly popular. It is a bunch of flowery vector designs, all of which are high resolution - about 1500 pixels. Just sat down today and played around with various flower designs, and this is what came out!

These should come in handy for those last-minute mother's day designs!

No brushes tips right now, please-and-thank-you. Iím going to go curl up on the couch and watch some movies amidst a huge pile of tissues.


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).

If you want to use these brushes, but don't have a way of crediting me, I have commercial licenses available for $3 per brush set.  Once you purchase a license, you do not need to credit me for the brush usage for that set.  Information on commercial licenses can be found here.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

More sketches brushes! It's Springtime, and this week's release is a set of brushes to use in your Spring designs!  They're all high resolution and hand drawn.

Included are things like: a butterfly, cherry tree branches, clouds, a cloud blowing the wind, lots of flowers, some kites, mushrooms, lots of rain, a rainbow, robin, several trees, an umbrella, windy swirls, blowing leaves, etc.


Ever have trouble remembering some of Photoshop's keyboard shortcuts for doing certain things? They can save you a TON of time, if you get good at them!

Here's a link to some great PDFs of keyboard shortcuts that you can download and/or print out for reference. They are separated by your particular version of Photoshop, and are available for either a PC or a Mac!

Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

My first Water Photoshop brushes set remains one of my most popular sets for photo-manipulators. But it was made back before I was taking all of my own reference photos, and so some of them are simply not the size that I would have liked. Now, I've been able to take all of my own photos, so all of these are high resolution and exactly what I wanted.

This Water II brush set is made up of the same kinds of brushes that were the most used in my first set. It is made up of several splashes, falling water, water spouts, some shimmers, several reflections (like those on the bottom of a pool), and much more!

Most were made to be used with a white or very light color on a darker background, by the way.


Ever tried to paint with a brush and thought that the edges didn't seem as clean and smooth as they could be? The way that the hard-edged brushes in Photoshop's "Basic Brushes" are set, that just may happen when you're working at higher resolutions.

So, how do you fix that?

• Click on your brushes tab (or hit F5 to bring it up).


• Click on "Brush Tip Shape" and look at the preview image of the brush at the bottom. You'll be able to see those bumpy edges if you set the diameter at a high size.


• Now change the "Spacing" so that it's set to about 15% or lower. You can set it to 1% to make it perfectly smooth for those ultra-high resolutions, but if you have a slower computer, that may slow the brush down when you go to use it. So just find a nice percentage where you don't see all the bumpy edges.

That's it! I don't expect many of you to need this tip, but I remember back when I was first learning to paint digitally in Photoshop, and I couldn't figure out why the edges were coming out so bumpy sometimes. So I thought I'd share!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

Another request this week! I've been behind on those, and trying to catch up a bit. This was a fun set to try to brainstorm ideas for! It's a unique set… I'm pretty sure I'll be the only site out there with Earth Friendly Vector Brushes! Hope that some of you can find some uses for it.

This set includes all kinds of images, mostly involving the earth and nature. Kind of a "green" set of brushes, if you will. Ecologically friendly, earth friendly… whatever you want to call it, these should help you represent it! These are all vector images, and the average brush size is about 2000 pixels - so they're high resolution!

Includes: various earth images (an earth inside a giant set of hands, nestled safely in a leaf, with a heart around it, inside a flower, next to some leaves, with a tree growing out of it, etc), flowers, 2 sets of grasses, several leaves, a leaf and a water drop, 2 regular recycling images, 1 water recycling image, and some trees!

By the way... I'll be out of town the next 2 weeks, yet again.  So, I won't really be reading messages/notes unless they're a question.  I just won't have time.  But good news... next week comes a sequel to one of my top 5 most popular brush sets here on dA!  And in HIGH RESOLUTION, whoot!  


Want these images to show up in several colors? Like the earth, for example.

1. Create a new layer (the button on the layers palette or Shift-Ctrl-N… CMD-SHIFT-N on a Mac).

2. Use the "earth" brush that on that new layer, using a blue color (we're using blue because the "earth" brush will fill in the water portions of the earth).

3. Use the magic wand tool and click somewhere outside of that earth. It should select the space around the earth.

4. Choose Select > Modify > Expand, then put in 1 or 2 pixels (1 pixel if you're working on a small scale, 2 if you're working high-res).

5. Select > Inverse. You should now have the earth itself selected, minus a pixel or two at the edges.

6. Click on the layer beneath the one with the earth on it, and create a new layer again (Shift-Ctrl-N or Cmd-Shift-N).

7. Using the paint bucket tool, and with a green color selected, click once inside the earth to fill the rest in with green.

8. Voila! You now have a multicolored earth.

9. You could also have just painted in that green color beneath the earth, if you're good at painting "between the lines" like you would with a coloring book!

10. When it comes to using more than 2 colors, however, I'd suggest checking out my multiple colors with photoshop brushes tutorial (with vectors like this, though, you don't need that top, black layer - you can just erase it when you're done).


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

Okay, this set is based off a request I got…. quite a while ago. I get some requests that I just don’t know quite what to do with, at first. This was one of those. I started out collecting photographs to make it an image-based set. But since then, I’ve decided I really don’t LIKE image-based sets. And most people don’t really use them. Why would you use a Photoshop brush for something that you could get a stock photo of, and add it already in color? I can think of very few exceptions that would make you do this. So, while I will still be doing image-based sets… they’re mostly going to be the kinds of things that you would add to something. Not the “thing” itself. (Like, the Distressed brushes - those are great! And image based. But the Sports brushes, which are all kinds of sports equipment and balls… not-so-great. Not many more of those kinds of things coming.)

Anyway, my point is that I wanted to still do the whole beach-themed thing, and wanted to try something new. So, I’ve started a new section for sketches brushes. These will be, well, just what they sound like! Actual, hand-drawn sketches of various things. I AM an artist, I figured I may as well start using it!

So, to whoever requested the beach themed brushes (I believe a lighthouse and a message in a bottle were specifically named), my apologies for this taking so long! But here you go!

This set includes: a beach ball, a pail (bucket), an umbrella, bubbles, a conch and various other shells, a dolphin, a heron, a lighthouse, a lounge chair, a couple messages in a bottle, a palm tree, a pelican, a sand castle, a sand dollar, a sea turtle, 2 ships (one sailboat, one galleon), a starfish, a stylized sun, sunglasses, and waves. They’re all high resolution, with the average brush size being about 1900 pixels.


I’ve showed you in various other brushes tips how to get brushes to do things like scatter, change their angle, size, and color, etc. So, what happens if you want to SAVE a brush like that, once you’ve created it?

Well, first off, make sure that you have the set open that you want to save the brush to. Because it will be added to whichever set you have currently open.

Once you have the brush settings how you’d like them, click on your Brushes tab (or hit F5). Up in the VERY upper right hand corner, there should be a small arrow (facing right). Click on that arrow. (Alternately, you can click on the small arrow next to your currently selected brush’s thumbnail to open the brush preset picker, and then choose that small arrow on the top right.)

You should see a list of all your current brush sets, etc. Near the very beginning, there should be a “New Brush Preset..” option. That’s the one you want! Choose that, name your brush, and it will be added to your current set.

How is this different from choosing Edit > Define Brush Preset from the top menu? Well, if you do it that way, all it will save is the brush shape, based on what is on your canvas. “New Brush Preset..” will save the brush that you’re currently using, including all the extra options you’ve added.

Hope this helps!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!


Here are a few of my favorite deviations from the last week or so, where my brushes, patterns, etc. were used!  If you don't send me a link to your stuff, you obviously can't be featured.  So, make sure you send me links! (The main page is NOT the best place for that, btw... the easiest spot is in the comments of the brush set(s) you used or a note!)

Some of these will be stuff that a lot of people may have already seen, but I'm going to try to feature at least a few each time that are definitely underappreciated, in hopes of getting them a few more views! Here they are, in no particular order:

This newest Photoshop brush set is made up of silhouettes of people. Babies crawling, little girls holding a teddy bear, children walking or standing unsteadily, pregnant women, fathers holding children, mothers holding children, men in suits, women in dresses or in sexy poses… you'll find all of them in this latest brush set!

Most of these were drawn by hand, using minimal references. They're all vectors, and all very high resolution… about 2200 pixels in size on average.


You know how the grass that comes with Photoshop fluctuates in color, each time that you use it?  You can do that with any brush that you want!  Here's how.

• Hit F5 to bring up your brushes tab


• Choose "Color Dynamics"


• One way to control the color is to choose two colors for your foreground and background colors.  In the case of a blade of grass, say... light green and dark green.  Then set the "Foreground/Background Jitter" bar somewhere between 25-75%.  When you use your brush, it will now vary in color between the foreground and background colors that you chose!


• Another way (or you can do the former and then ALSO do this) is by using the Hue, Saturation, and Brightness Jitter sliders.
  • Hue will change the color itself.  Set it at about 10%, and your green will become both a blue-green and a yellow-green sometimes.
  
  
  • Saturation will change the intensity of the color.  Set it at 20% or so, and your green will switch between a bright, vivid green to a slightly grayed-out green.
  
  
  • Brightness will change the darkness of the color.  Set it at 20% or so, and your green will range between a light green and a darker green.

Play around with these settings, and you can achieve all kinds of color variations!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!


Here are a few of my favorite deviations from the last week or so, where my brushes, patterns, etc. were used!  If you don't send me a link to your stuff, you obviously can't be featured.  So, make sure you send me links! (The main page is NOT the best place for that, btw... the easiest spot is in the comments of the brush set(s) you used or a note!)

Some of these will be stuff that a lot of people may have already seen, but I'm going to try to feature at least a few each time that are definitely underappreciated, in hopes of getting them a few more views! Here they are, in no particular order:

This week's set is made up of all kinds of distressed images. I went all over the place looking for cracking paint, rust, drainage stains, etc. If it looked distressed, I took a picture of it! Was fun, but got me quite a few odd looks! This set is what came of it!

These work great for adding that distressed look to a wall or floor, and also work great for grunge textures.

Includes things like: rust, scratches, rusty holes, drainage stains, dirty and grungy textures, canvas holes, cracking and peeling paint, etc.

Sizes vary from about 600 (some of the smaller rust holes) to 2300 pixels.


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!


Here are a few of my favorite deviations from the last week or so, where my brushes, patterns, etc. were used!  If you don't send me a link to your stuff, you obviously can't be featured.  So, make sure you send me links! (The main page is NOT the best place for that, btw... the easiest spot is in the comments of the brush set(s) you used or a note!)

Some of these will be stuff that a lot of people may have already seen, but I'm going to try to feature at least a few each time that are definitely underappreciated, in hopes of getting them a few more views! Here they are, in no particular order:

I'm still pretty exhausted from being out of town the last 2 weeks, but somehow I still got a set up!  I came back to like 1000 messages/favorites, and about 100 notes.  So, needless to say, I didn't respond any of the basic "thank you" stuff or go to any of the links you sent me... unless it was a question of some sort, in which case I answered it.  Sorry that I just didn't feel up to wading through all that right now.

First, a little announcement, though. I've had a few requests for a compilation CD, that has every one of my brush sets available on it. Well, I've decided to go ahead and do it. You can now order an Obsidian Dawn Brushes CD, which will have every single brush set that I've ever made on it (including some of those made exclusively for other websites!). They're $10, which covers the price of shipping, gas to drive to the USPS, and a bit extra for my time. A very reasonable price, I thought, though! (That $10 is ONLY for US addresses, btw... but I have a link to my email, where you can send me your address if you live overseas and I'll get you a quote for how much it'll be, as well.)

You can order your own Obsidian Dawn Brushes Compilation CD here.

Now on to this week's brush set! This one was a request from a donation, and it was kind of made to go together with my Swirls Parts brush set. This set contains swirls, too... but you can make your own swirl designs if you use the swirls parts brush set! This week's set is made up of various vector foliage, but specifically made to be able to use in a swirl-like design. They work just great on their own too, don't get me wrong! It's very similar to the Vector Foliage brush set (which would also work well with the Swirls Parts, in all likelihood). You can get an idea for the kinds of designs I intended by checking out the preview image. Enjoy!


This is the same tip as last week, btw... so you don't need to read on if you read my journal each week.

To make the most of these brushes, you need to be able to rotate them and flip them to be used at the EXACT angle/orientation that you want to. You can change the angle of your brush before you even use it! Here’s how:

Have your brush tool selected, with the brush you’re wanting to use loaded. Click on the “Brushes” tab in the upper right area of your Photoshop window (F5 will also open it). Click on “Brush Tip Shape.”

Now, you’ll see an area where there’s a circle with a crosshair through it, with an arrow on one side of the crosshair. Say that you want to rotate your brush about 40 degrees to the right. You can either type in “-40″ into the “Angle” area, or you can click on the arrow part of that crosshair, then drag your mouse to rotate it around to where you want it to be. You can check how your brush looks in the preview area beneath!

In more recent versions of PS, there’s also the options for Flip X and Y, which… well, basically flip the brush horizontally or vertically. That’s handy for adding borders to something, like if you have a corner brush that’s made for the upper right corner and you want to also use it in the upper left… just Flip X, and voila!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!

I'm out of town again, so just a quick journal update & brush tip for using these brushes!

Okay, so I thought it was about time I released these. I’ve been using these little babies to make a lot of my swirl designs, including those in the most recent “St. Patrick’s Day” brush set. They are basically a bunch of parts or sections of what would make up a swirly design… so that you can put them all together to make your OWN swirl designs.

Never thought you would be able to make your own swirls? Well, now you should be able to! The most important thing about being able to use these proficiently is to know how to rotate your brush. So that you can add the swirl part exactly where you want it, at exactly the right angle that you want it. I can’t make each swirl part available in 180 degrees worth of angles, that’s just not realistic for me to do… or for you to have to download! So, please be sure to check out the “Brushes Tip” below, if you’re not sure how to rotate your brush before or as you’re using it!


To make the most of these brushes, you need to be able to rotate them and flip them to be used at the EXACT angle/orientation that you want to. You can change the angle of your brush before you even use it! Here’s how:

Have your brush tool selected, with the brush you’re wanting to use loaded. Click on the “Brushes” tab in the upper right area of your Photoshop window (F5 will also open it). Click on “Brush Tip Shape.”

Now, you’ll see an area where there’s a circle with a crosshair through it, with an arrow on one side of the crosshair. Say that you want to rotate your brush about 40 degrees to the right. You can either type in “-40″ into the “Angle” area, or you can click on the arrow part of that crosshair, then drag your mouse to rotate it around to where you want it to be. You can check how your brush looks in the preview area beneath!

In more recent versions of PS, there’s also the options for Flip X and Y, which… well, basically flip the brush horizontally or vertically. That’s handy for adding borders to something, like if you have a corner brush that’s made for the upper right corner and you want to also use it in the upper left… just Flip X, and voila!


These brushes can be used for prints. You don't need to note me and ask.

They are available for commercial or non-commercial usage.

You may make my brushes into GIMP brushes and redistribute them.  But if you do so, it is required that you provide a link back to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com), so that they may know where the original brush set came from.

If you use one of my brushes/stock, please credit me somewhere.  You may do so as www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com, redheadstock, or Stephanie Shimerdla.  Also, if possible, provide a link back here or to my website (www.brushes.obsidiandawn.com).  I do understand that in some commercial applications, it is not always easy to do this.  Just do whatever you can.

Please do not re-package any of the brushes contained in any of the sets and attempt to pass them off as your own!

That's it!  Enjoy!

** When sending me notes about having used something, do NOT leave the message on my front page!  I won't get it!