Obsidian Dawn Updates

School Dayz Sketches Photoshop Brushes

2008-10-01T17:29:52Z

It’s that time of year again! Alright, so it’s been “that time of year” for the last month, and I’m a bit behind. C’est la vie, eh?

This week’s set is made up of all hand drawn sketches, all high resolution (about 1800 pixels on average) - themed around school.

Includes: “1 2 3″, “a b c”, an apple for the teacher, a backpack, “back to school”, a math book, a pile of books, a chalkboard, some chalk and an eraser, a compass, crayons, a desk, a football, a hopscotch design, lockers, a lunchbox, a pencil, a protractor, a ruler, a school, a schoolbell, a school bus, a see-saw, a slide, a swingset, a thermos, and a U.S. map.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Photoshop Brush Tip:

Not all Photoshop brushes were made to be used like stamps. I have two sets in particular that are made for you to actually paint textures or special effects with, for you digital painters out there. You can find them here:

Textures Photoshop Brushes
Special Effects Photoshop Brushes

Try them out! You’ll be amazed at the kinds of textures they can make. I use them for my own digital paintings ALL the time.

Astrology Sketches Photoshop Brushes

2008-09-25T18:29:54Z

This week’s set has been requested on and off by various people for a while. It just took me a while to get around to doing it, because I couldn’t figure out what else to put in there along with the zodiac symbols that everyone was requesting. That would’ve only been 12 brushes in the set, and that’s just not enough!

So, I was found a wonderful book on various types of symbols, and purchased it. That means you’ll be getting more symbols in the next few weeks, most likely! I plan on doing a set of actual alchemy symbols (since the Arcane Runes and Arcane Circles were so popular, but those were my own designs and these will be the traditional alchemy symbols) soon, as both shapes and brushes. I’m working on converting my Arcane Circles brushes to shapes, too - although that will mean removing that glowy effect, of course and making them into vectors.

Included within this Astrology Sketches brush set are all of the signs of the zodiac, aspects, nodes of the moon, and the symbols for the planets.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Photoshop Brushes Tip:

When you are creating a brush, did you know that you can highlight just a portion of your canvas and make that into a brush, without getting the rest of the stuff on the canvas?

Open an image.
Using the lasso tool, select only a certain portion of that image by clicking and making a circle around your selected area.
On the top menu, choose Edit > Define Brush Preset.
Click on your brush tool (or hit “b”), click on the little arrow next to your brush preview on the top bar to view the brush preset picker. Check out the very bottom/last brush, and you’ll see that only the portion of the image that you had selected is included in that brush.

Note: Photoshop Support has put together a wonderful list of my top 10 Photoshop brush tips! Check it out!

Banners & Scrolls Photoshop SHAPES!

2008-09-11T18:08:07Z

That’s right, I said SHAPES! These are the same as last week’s brushes set, but as Photoshop custom shapes.

So, for those of you out there that don’t use shapes much, what are the advantages? Well, for one, shapes can be stretched into any size and any proportion without any loss of quality. They’re vectors - or as close as Adobe Photoshop comes to them, anyway. So, they’re VERY small in size, as well. Look at the download size of the shapes, for example, compared to the brushes. 126KB VS 1.93MB. That’s a pretty hefty difference.

I’m branching out in the world, and custom shapes are my first stop. For those of you that love my brushes, don’t you worry your pretty little heads! I’ll still be making brushes, and plenty of them. I just thought I’d add a bit more variety to my resources.

For those of you that get addicted to shapes, I do have plans to make many of my vector brushes into custom shapes. So, keep your eyes open! I’m also looking to make some of my more popular sets as shapes, which means converting some of them into a vector format. So, we’ll see how that goes!

As far as terms of use goes, the same rules apply to shapes as my brushes. You can purchase commercial licenses for custom shapes, as well, for $3 a set.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Photoshop Shapes Tip:

Not sure how to install Photoshop’s custom shapes? Well, it’s almost exactly like installing Photoshop brushes. However, the file goes here:

Windows:
Program Files > Adobe > Photoshop (version) > Presets > Custom Shapes
Mac:
(wherever you installed Photoshop - usually Applications) > Photoshop (version) > Presets > Custom Shapes

(Make sure you unzip the file!)

Then, to load them:

open up Photoshop (if you saved them while PS is open, you’ll have to restart PS for them to show up automatically in the list)
hit “U” to bring up your custom shape tool
when you hover over that tool, it should say “Custom Shape Tool” - if it doesn’t, right click on that box and select it
File > New (CTRL-N or CMD-N), and make it whatever size you want - 600 x 600 will do
on the top bar, next to where it says “Shape:” click on the little arrow just to the right of that thumbnail to open the Custom Shape Picker
then click on the small arrow on the upper right corner of that window
the “SS-banners-scrolls” should show up for you in that list, so select it and hit “Ok” to replace
you’ll now see the thumbnails of the banners and scrolls - click on whichever one you want to use
just below your main menu, on the left side, you’ll see the tool preset picker and then three different options for how to use shapes - make sure that “shape layers” is selected (hover over them with your mouse to see what each of them is) - this will make sure that your shape is filled in, and not just an outline of a shape/path
select the color that you’d like the banner or scroll to show up in as your foreground color
on your canvas, drag from somewhere in the upper left corner down to the lower right - you’ll see the shape as it’s being created, and once you let go, it will create it
TIP: If you want to keep the proportions the way that they were intended, hold SHIFT down while you’re draggging

Enjoy!

Banners & Scrolls Vector Photoshop Brushes

2008-09-04T22:39:29Z

This week’s set - Banners & Scrolls Vector Photoshop Brushes - is another request. It’s made up of various vectors in the shape of banners, scrolls, and other pieces of parchment. It also includes a feather fountain pen, a bottle of ink, and pen/ink together.

These are all high resolution, with the average brush size being around 1800 pixels.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Random Photoshop Tip:

Ever want to extend a box with rounded corners? But when you Edit > Transform the whole box together, it changes the shape of those corners, making them more or less rounded… and that may not be what you want. (This applies to any shape that you want to extend, not just boxes with rounded corners.) As long as it has a plain background, you can do it by following these steps:

First, make sure the box is on its own layer, of course, so you’re not messing with anything around it.
We’ll be extending the box vertically, but you could do the same thing horizontally by fixing the steps just a bit.
Take the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and select the bottom third or so of that box.
Switch to the Move Tool (V) and start edging that box down using your down arrow key (this will ensure that it stays lined up properly). This should be moving the bottom third of that box down. Stop wherever you want to extend the box to.
Now, switch back to the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) and select a horizontal rectangle from the left edge of the box to the right.. anywhere on the top part of the box where the edges are straight and not rounded from the box’s corners. As long as the box is on its own layer, you can select from a bit beyond the left or right edges of the box - it won’t matter.
Now to go Edit > Transform > Scale. Grab the bottom of that transform box and drag it down, until the top part of the shape edge meets the bottom part that we separated from it earlier.
You’ve now successfully extended a box with rounded corners vertically, keeping those corners intact. I’ve used this trick countless times in my website preliminary designs, when I started out making a box with rounded corners one size, and decided I wanted it a different size. I’ve used it tons of other places, as well, but I can’t remember where right now. A very handy trick!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Scrambled Letters Photoshop Brushes

2008-08-29T03:52:15Z

Pretty self-explanatory set this week! This Photoshop brush set is made up of varoius letters, symbols, runes, etc (including some in other languages) scattered randomly about. Kind of like taking all the tiles in Scrabble and just tossing them. (Ooh… interesting idea! But that’s a set for another day!)

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Random Photoshop Tip:

Did you know that you can change the way that you view your brushes in the brush preset picker?

Select the brush tool and click on the arrow just to the right of the thumbnail that displays in that top area just below the menu. This is the brush preset picker.

Now, click on that small arrow on the top right. From here, you can load all your different brushes, of course, but you can also change the way that they’re displayed. You have the following options:

Text: This will only display the name of the brushes.

Small Thumbnail: This displays small thumbnails of the brushes and the brush size just below it.

Large Thumbnail: This displays larger thumbnails of the brushes and the brush size.

Small List: This displays the size of the brush followed by the brush name. There is a VERY small preview, as well, but you may not be able to make out much.

Large List: This displays a larger preview, followed by the size of the brush and the brush name.

Stroke Thumbnail: This view displays the thumbnail, with the size of the brush beneath it. To the right, it shows you what the brush will look like when you paint with it (this is particularly handy for viewing some of my brush sets that were made to be “painted” with, like my textures brush set and special effects brush set).

* By the way, you can also change the SIZE of that brush preset picker window by clicking and dragging on the lower right corner.

Lightning II Photoshop Brushes

2008-08-22T01:28:25Z

This set is made up of various lightning bolts. It includes single bolts, so that you could combine them together to make your own bolts if you wished (or leave them on their lonesome, of course!). Also includes various groupings of lightning bolts already together.

These are all original - designed from scratch by moi, using a few photos of lightning bolts that I’ve taken as reference. They are also extremely high resolution, with the average brush size being about 2200+ pixels.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

Contest:

No, I’m not running it. Like I have the time for that! My schedule is far too hectic as it is. However, the nice folks over at Graphics.com and Photos.com are running a contest where your submission must include the usage of my Light Beams Photoshop Brushes set.

Check out the Philter Phrenzy 4 Contest here!

Winners will receive 3 months of access to Photos.com, providing subscription download access to over 360,000 professional stock images. Also, I am personally giving away a copy of the Glitter and Light CD Pack, which includes nine brush sets and a commecial license for their use to all three winners!

Random Brush Tip:

Lightning works great for illustrating magic. And when you’re doing that, lightning comes from (and goes) in all directions. So, how do you rotate these?

Well, when you want to rotate a brush, there are two ways to do it.

1. You can put it on its own layer, and then choose Edit > Transform > Rotate and move it around that way.

2. Even BETTER… you can change the orientation/rotation of a 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 and rotate it around to where you want it to be. You can check how your brush looks in the preview area beneath!

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!

Stars Photoshop Brushes

2008-08-15T03:37:27Z

This 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.

Go Now to the Downloads Page!

You’ll probably notice that I have made room for a few advertisers on the website - this is to help pay for some of the expenses as Obsidian Dawn Brushes grows bigger than I’d ever dreamed. So thank all of you for your support! I appreciate it. :) And if any of you are interested in advertising with us (we only have 1 slot left!), you can check out the Obsidian Dawn Advertising Info here.

There may be a few changes coming to the menus, as well, as I plan to start offering other resources than just brushes, patterns, and tutorials. Like, some transparent PNGs with pre-cut objects that you can use in all kinds of stuff. I also plan on making some of my existing vector brush sets into Photoshop custom shapes (and making some new ones!)

These will all be free, like the brushes… as long as you credit me. Commercial licenses will be available for them, as well, though!

So keep your eye out! Have a great weekend, everyone!