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Free GrutBrush of the Week #32 – “Lead Thumb” Natural Media Photoshop Brush

Drawn with the Lead Thumb Natural Media Photoshop Brush

When I was growing up I was never far from a pencil and a blank piece of paper and I spent countless hours sketching, doodling and experimenting with any tool that could make a mark on paper. I used to collect the graphite shavings from my pencil sharpener and would dip my fingers into the silky smooth powder and then use my loaded finger to draw or shade my sketches with dusty fingerprints and the smudges that inevitably came with them. The Lead Thumb natural media brush is my digital tribute to those late night experiments in my pencil lab. All these years later I finally made one that won’t spill all over the carpet.

I drew this dog with the Lead Thumb brush by using heavy stylus pressure to draw the dark full textured marks and then softening up the pressure to create the gray shaded areas. When lines were to thick or too pronounced I either used the eraser to chip away at them or just used a mid tone closer to the background to draw over them and soften them.

“Lead Thumb” is available for free all this week until next Monday when as always, there will be a new free Photoshop brush of the week

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Drawing and Painting while combining Multiple Photoshop Brush Types

When making and testing brushes I tend to spend so much time with just one brush that I forget how the much fun comes from combining brushes. Sketching a stick figure outline with an ink brush I gave it some body and shading with a watercolour brush, a fun-fur collar and hat with two strokes of a fuzzy Charcoal brush, then back to ink for some personality by way of a pair of oversized blue glasses.

Brushes used:
Tremble Stem Ink
Slo Rise Charcoal Brush
Hope Lingers Watercolour Brush
GrutBrushes Artists’ Toolset panel plugin
 

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Free GrutBrush of the Week #31 – Gritty Bits Pastel Brush

Giraffe Painted with the Gritty Bits Photoshop Brush
Giraffe Painted with the Gritty Bits Photoshop Brush

I painted this Giraffe with this week’s free Photoshop brush “Gritty Bits” a natural media pastel brush, available to download for free through Sunday in the brush shop or on the free brush page:
grutbrushes.com/freebrush

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Free GrutBrush of the Week #29 – ‘Slow Velcro’ Photoshop Ink Brush

Painting with the Slow Velcro Photoshop ink brush
Painting with the Slow Velcro Photoshop ink brush

Magical abstract trees painted with this week’s free GrutBrush, “Slow Velcro” a scraggly Photoshop ink brush. You can download it on the free brush page until next Monday when, as always there will be a new brush GrutBrushes.com/freebrush

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Painting a Monster-Clown-Doodle

This is me trying to break my habit of drawing with black lines on a white background. Having grown up doodling on white photocopy paper with pencils and pens, my instinct is still to go for black lines on white. To try something different, here I started with a coloured background and a white paint brush (“Molten Filo”) and finished him off with a few orange flourishes with the “Creamsicle” watercolour brush. It’s very satisfying to break away from what’s comfortable and shaking things up is always a nice way to kickstart your creative impulses.

If you’re wondering about the texture, I am painting above a coloured background layer but underneath a copy of that layer, which is set to ‘overlay’ thus providing the linen-like texture.

Brushes used:
Molten Filo Photoshop oil brush
(coming soon: grutbrushes.com/shop/)
Creamsicle watercolor Photoshop brush
Also introducing: the GrutBrushes Digital Artist’s Tool Panel

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Free GrutBrush of the Week #27 – Vole Tractor Photoshop Oil Brush

Painted with the 'Vole Tractor' Photoshop oil paint brush
Painted with the ‘Vole Tractor‘ Photoshop oil paint brush

As always, you can download it on the free Photoshop brush page at GrutBrushes.com/freebrush

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Free GrutBrush of the week #26 – ‘Bay Kessle’ Photoshop Charcoal Brush

Drawn with the Bay Kessle Photoshop charcoal brush from GrutBrushes
Drawn with the Bay Kessle Photoshop charcoal brush

I’ve given away a different brush every week now for 6 months straight! To celebrate…here’s a down to earth food old charcoal brush (hey, they can’t all be groundbreakers) As always, you can download this week’s brush at GrutBrushes.com/freebrush

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Painting a Fish with Photoshop Watercolour Brush ‘Creamsicle’

Painting a fish with the watercolor Photoshop brush 'Creamsicle'

Painting a fish with my Photoshop watercolour brush ‘Creamsicle’ You can watch a 15 second video of me painting this below. Unfortunately I paused the recording towards the end so I sadly missed the last 5 minutes of painting which were in a sense my breakthrough moments on this one. I changed the uppermost layer to Normal from multiply which has the effect of muddying the watercolour effect giving me a look I was happy to end the painting on.

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