If you’re looking for free Photoshop brushes to add a fantasy, sci-fi or comic book-inspired effect to your work, we’ve got you covered here. Scroll down for our favourite star Photoshop brushes, particle effects, blood drips, halftones and more.
56. Dust particle brushes
- Designer: Nathan Brown
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
- Download here
This is a really useful set of dust particle brushes. They can be used to add instant sparkle, depth and richness to your designs – ideal for creating a fantasy effect.
57. Dynamic light brushes
- Designer: Nathan Brown
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
- Download here
This set of brushes, again from Nathan Brown, allows you to create lighting effects. You can use these Dynamic light brushes in combination with layer blending modes such as screen or vivid light to create special effects.
58. Star brushes
- Designer: DemosthenesVoice
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
- Download here
Here are six high-resolution star Photoshop brushes from DeviantArt member DemosthenesVoice, aka Austin Pickrell. You can use them to create whole galaxies of stars. "Just have fun," says the artist. "I would love to see what people do with them... and if you make millions from your piece, I want a helicopter."
59. Stardust brushes
- Designer: Brusheezy
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
- Download here
This set of 20 Photoshop Stardust brushes can add a sprinkle of diffused light orbs to bring a Disney-esque magic sparkle to your work. These hi-res brushes can be used for personal and commercial work, just make sure you follow the instructions on the site for giving attribution.
60. Night sky brushes
- Designer: WebdesignerLab
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
- Download here
This Night Sky Photoshop brush set comprises 13 different night sky elements, including space dust, stars and moons. They're particularly good for fantasy scenes or simply to add some sparkle to your artwork.
61. Magic spells
- Designer: TreehouseCharms
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use, with a credit
- Download here
Created by DeviantArt member TreehouseCharms, Magic Spells is a quirky set of 21 Photoshop brushes, each related to an overall moon theme and featuring a mythological inspiration. These could be useful for adding some whimsy to your designs, or for adding accents to original illustrations. Donations are appreciated.
62. Fairy tales brush set
- Designer: raysheaf
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
- Download here
This is a collection of fractal renders at up to 2500px gathered together under the theme of fairy tales owing to their other-worldly appearance. These free Photoshop brushes are suitable for quickly creating fantasy backgrounds and textures such as rocks, cave and catacomb walls and alien metals.
63. Blood drip brushes
- Designer: Falln-Brushes
- Usage: Free for personal use, with credit and a link
- Download here
These mildly gory blood drip brushes are perfect for a bit of comic-style horror and murderous artwork. Whether you're looking for drips, drops, splats or spurts, you should find something here. They're free to use return for credit and a link.
64. Blood splatter Photoshop brush
- Designer: AnnFrost-stock
- Usage: Free for personal use, with credit
- Download here
Turn up the gore further with this free blood splatter Photoshop brush set. It includes a range of different large-scale brushes that you can use to incorporate realistic bloodstains into your designs. These brushes are free for personal use, or $10 for commercial use.
65. Circular halftone brush set
- Designer: CreativeNerds
- Usage: Free for personal and commercial use
- Download here
If you're painting comic art, this free halftone circular brush set could come in super handy. You can use it to add quick comic-style shading to your designs. This high-res brush collection can be used for commercial and personal projects. You'll need to subscribe to access these Photoshop brushes.
66. Sketchy cartography brushes
- Designer: StarRaven
- Usage: Free for personal use; ask permission for commercial use
- Download here
Create a Hobbit-style map with these sketchy cartography Photoshop brushes from DeviantArt user StarRaven. The pack includes all sorts, including mountains, buildings, trees, grasses and a range of symbols. As well as a brush file, the download includes a transparent PNG file containing all the images.
Related articles:
- Best photo-editing software: Get powerful software to edit
- Lightroom vs Photoshop: Which is best?
- Best photo apps: Edit photos on the go
