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Photoshop Lightsabers go Viral – Cheers to all who showed up!

 

how to add star wars lightsabers to your photos in Photoshop
Original Photo courtesy Michael Coghlan

Well that was crazy day. I posted the announcement about the free Photoshop brushes to add LightSabers to your photos on a sleepy Sunday evening, and within less than a day, 4,500 people visited the site with over 1,200 of them downloading the free brushes (They are still there for the taking) This was the first major test of the server which held up under the weight of mini floods of traffic. The vast majority of people came from Imgur.com where it was seen by an astonishing half a million people within about 13 hours.

In contrast, I also posted it on Behance hoping to capture the attention of some designers but after one full day it got just one single lonely little view, and for all I know, that was me.

Join in the fun and download them here: https://www.grutbrushes.com/drinksaber

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Free GrutBrush of the Week #36 – “Bed Kelp” Photoshop Ink Brush

Photoshop Ink Brush drawing done with the Bed Kelp Photoshop brush

This week’s free Photoshop brush is “Bed Kelp” a delicously messy ink brush with a ragged edge that starts as a medium wash but ramps up quickly to a full viscous black… and I just can’t stop doodling with it, I truly love sketching with this brush. Despite it’s jagged texture and crumbling edges it has a nice continuity with the appearance of a long trailing stroke which can taper to a fairly fine tip. You can download it in the shop ( grutbrushes.com/shop ) or on the free Photoshop brush page: grutbrushes.com/freebrush

You can download this week’s free Photoshop brush until next Monday when, as always, there will be a new one waiting for you. Meanwhile, for a change of pace, don’t miss out on the free Lightsaber brushes that seem to have hopped on a viral wave that has kept the website flooded with new visitors all day: grutbrushes.com/drinksaber

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Add LightSabers to Photos with the Lightsaber Photoshop Brushes

how to add lightsabers to photos in photoshop with free Photoshop lightsaber brushes
add lightsabers to photos in photoshop with Photoshop brushes

Relive your memories of a night out with friends as a glorious Lightsaber battle instead by adding Lightsabers to all your photos in just a few clicks with these free Photoshop brushes. Use the hashtag #drinksaber so that I can find your creations!

Continue reading Add LightSabers to Photos with the Lightsaber Photoshop Brushes

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Free GrutBrush of the Week #35 – “Bran Chatter” Photoshop Watercolour Brush

painted with the 'Bran Chatter' watercolour Photoshop brush

This week’s free Photoshop brush is a very fibrous textured watercolour brush called Bran Chatter. You can download it in the shop ( grutbrushes.com/shop ) or on the free Photoshop brush page ( grutbrushes.com/freebrush )  If you want to download the paper texture (PSD file) just click the download button below

You can download this week’s free Photoshop brush until next Monday when, as always, there will be a new brush.

You can watch a video of me painting this here

 

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Free GrutBrush of the Week #34 – “Fin Summit” Photoshop Ink Brush

Leaves painted with the Fin Summit Photoshop ink brush

Back to line drawing! This week’s free brush is an ink brush with a relatively slender line which drops off and becomes intermittent at the lowest pressure but fattens up nicely at full pressure for a nice variable taper. This ink brush has a slightly worn edge which gives it a warm feel verging a bit more on the painty side of ink. The shading in the background was done with the ‘Damp Nakpin’ watercolor brush.

You can download this week’s free Photoshop brush until next Monday when, as always, there will be a new brush.

 

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Free GrutBrush of the Week #33 – “Rice patter” Photoshop Brush

Novembers-Hat-Painted-With-the-Rice-Patter-Photoshop-charcoal-brush

Sometimes a soft brush with no context, nothing to compare it to, can just appear as smudged, faded or even just out of focus. What I like about this week’s brush is that while it has a softness to it, it also has lots of sharp grainy ‘bits’ in it, which depending on the background, appear to be either paper flaws or flaky deposits of pigment. It’s digital after all so what they really are, is up to you.

You can download this week’s free Photoshop brush until next Monday when, as always, there will be a new brush.

 

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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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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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“Cave In” Photoshop Cross Hatching Brush

drawn with the 'cave in' Photoshop cross hatching brush brush
drawn with the ‘cave in’ Photoshop cross hatching brush

 

I didn’t get a chance to announce this week’s free GrutBrush on Monday due to my day job, but it’s been there and is still free until Sunday (24 hours left!)  This one is a cross-hatching brush and I doodled this guy above using it. First I sketched the basic shape in black and then I ‘etched’ into it with the same brush, but using white to chip away at it (you could also use an eraser) and essentially carve into the black. Finally I made the layer a Multiply layer so that the white disappears and the paper background shows through.

As always you can get this on the free Photoshop brush of the week page

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