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!

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Makeup & Face Brushes Tip:

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.

This week’s set of Photoshop brushes is some retro vectors designs.

Included are all kinds of retro designs involving circles, squares, diamonds, flowers (of course), wavy lines, spirals, etc.  Also includes several designs that you couldn’t put a name on if you tried, as well as several halftone designs (in circle and square shapes).

Those of you that are astute will notice that I’ve changed the background of brushes.obsidiandawn.com just a bit for this week, to go along with the retro theme.  Whenever possible (and when I feel like it), I may play around with the background to reflect that week’s brush set… or perhaps one that’s “Popular Now” - who knows.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Photoshop Brushes Tip:

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 pack, 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.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I thought this would be a fairly quick and easy set to make, but boy was I wrong.  I was thinking of officers, because a lot of those images are the same, even if the rank that it corresponds with it isn’t.  Why why WHY do each of the enlisted branches need to have their own ranks?!  (Okay, some overlap… but not many.)

So my brain is fairly fried.  Hopefully this post makes sense!

The first set is full of United States Military Commissioned Officers and Warrant Officers ranks.  All branches are included: Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines.  Included along with this set is a text file that explains what each brush corresponds to for each branch and rank.  So, just in case you’re not sure what that double silver bar means to each branch, now you’ll know!  Exciting, yes?  I know, you can thank me later.

Go Now to the Downloads Page (Commissioned & Warrant Officers)

The second set is made up of US Military Enlisted ranks.  Again, all branches are included.  And also again, included is a text file that explains what rank and branch each brush is for.

Go Now to the Downloads Page (Enlisted)

Hopefully some of you can find some usages for these!  This set is dedicated to all of the men and women that keep our country safe.

No brushes tips today, or my brain will explode.

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.)

So, these should be coming up just in time for some graduations this year! Scrapbookers, be ready! This brush set will help… maybe just a little bit.

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.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Random Brushes Tip:

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.

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.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Random Photoshop Tip:

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.