Noupe Editorial Team October 26th, 2008

1000+ FREE High Resolution GIMP Brushes

best gimp brushes
Last week we published our first GIMP post "30+ Exceptional GIMP Tutorials and Resources" and saw a great appreciation from our readers. So this week, i would like to share with you 1000+ high-Resolution GIMP brushes that will be perfect for any project you may happen to be working on. Also you will find some useful tutorial to teach you how to create your first GIMP brush-set and how to convert Photoshop brushes into GIMP brushes and more. Please note that Photoshop Brushes are now Fully Compatible with Gimp 2.4 and up. So you can now use any PS brush in your GIMP software. For another huge collection of Photoshop brushes, you might find some really stunning brushes over here. Important: Licenses of every brush set varies, so be sure to check that information before using them.

1. Grunge Brush set

1.1 GIMP Grunge Brush Pack 2

gimp brushes
10 grunge GIMP brushes.
Download Brush Set here

1.2 Grunge brush set 3

gimp brushes
Includes an imagepack and brushes for Gimp.
Download Brush Set here

1.3 More grunge brushes

gimp brushes
13 grunge brushes; includes .gbrs for Gimp and an imagepack.
Download Brush Set here

2. Floral and Plant Brushes

2.1 Floral I

gimp brushes
There are 9 big brushes - at lest 1300 px each, so you can use them also in printed stuff.
Download Brush Set here

2.2 Floral Part 2

gimp brushes
There are 6 big brushes of flower brushes.
Download Brush Set here

2.3 Floral Brushes

gimp brushes
10 greyscale floral .gbr brushes for GIMP. They are about 400x400px and have blended edges.
Download Brush Set here

2.4 Pine - MEGA PACK

gimp brushes
There are 16 full branches and 33 smaller parts, so you can design you own branches yourself.
Download Brush Set here

2.5 Vector Foliage-Plants

gimp brushes
Download Brush Set here

3. Nature GIMP Brushes

3.1 Cloudy Brushes

gimp brushes
Realistic cloudy brushes for your skyscaping needs.
Download Brush Set here

3.2 GIMP Brushes: Moon

gimp brushes
There are 9 big brushes in this set.
Download Brush Set here

3.2 Lightning Brushes

gimp brushes
A nice set of lightning brushes.
Download Brush Set here

4. Glitter, Splatter and Snowflakes

4.1 GIMP Glitter Brushes

gimp brushes
Realistic cloudy brushes for your skyscaping needs.
Download Brush Set here

4.2 Splatter Brushes

gimp brushes
These brushes were originally created for Photoshop then converted to GIMP brushes.
Download Brush Set here

4.3 Snowflakes

gimp brushes
There are 20 snowflakes in this pack. They were created in CorelDraw 11 and then converted with GIMP 2.2.
Download Brush Set here

5. Water and Bubbles Brush sets

4.4 GIMP Water Brushes

gimp brushes
This set contains 36 brushes created in Photoshop 7.0 and converted with GIMP 2.2.6
Download Brush Set here

4.5 Bubbles

gimp brushes
This set contains 9 brushes created in Photoshop 7.0 and converted with GIMP 2.2.
Download Brush Set here

5. Miscilnea GIMP Brushes

5.1 Mask Brushes

gimp brushes
5 mask brushes. GBRs for Gimp and an imagepack.
Download Brush Set here

5.2 Butterflies Part I

gimp brushes
There are 9 brushes in this pack. They were created in CorelDraw 11 and then converted with GIMP 2.2.
Download Brush Set here

5.3 1100 Gimp Brushes

gimp brushes
This set contains 1100 brushes for GIMP
Download Brush Set here

5.4 Doodles Part 2

gimp brushes
This set contains 41 ! brushes created for GIMP
Download Brush Set here

5.5 Blood Brushes

gimp brushes
Looking for splattery blood brushes, here you go.
Download Brush Set here

5.6 Inner Universe Brushes

gimp brushes
Download Brush Set here

5.7 GIMP Odysee Brushes

gimp brushes
Download Brush Set here

5.8 GIMP Galactic Brushes

gimp brushes
Download Brush Set here

5.9 GIMP Rise Brushes

gimp brushes
Download Brush Set here

5.10 GIMP Edge Brushes

gimp brushes
Download Brush Set here

5.11 15 Vector Brushes

gimp brushes
15 vector .gbr brushes for GIMP.
Download Brush Set here

GIMP Brush Tutorials

1. Creating Spikey Brushes

gimp brushes
Learn how to create spike-looking brushes.

2. Make a .GBR Brush

gimp brushes
Learn how to create .GBR brushes from pre-existing files
Further reading: Best Photoshop alternatives Featured Image by Howard Bouchevereau on Unsplash

Noupe Editorial Team

The jungle is alive: Be it a collaboration between two or more authors or an article by an author not contributing regularly. In these cases you find the Noupe Editorial Team as the ones who made it. Guest authors get their own little bio boxes below the article, so watch out for these.

122 comments

  1. Impressive list as usual. I’ll spend hours just working the header image on my site and although I love the GIMP project — and think it’s a fantastic alternative to Photoshop — I personally found it quite unintuitive to use as a beginner. Maybe it’s because my brain space already well populated with the way Adobe does things.

  2. Wow, nice collection. Some are available in Photoshop as well. The nice thing of GIMP is that it reads Photoshop Brushes as well, but not the other way around ;-)

  3. Very useful resource, thank you very much. Gimp has some usability problems as compared to Photoshop, but can do a great job once you get used to it.
    Please note that Photoshop brushes (*.abr) work perfectly with Gimp, though. I use tons of them.

  4. Por fin te encontre: Brushes GIMPs.
    Que gran coleccion. Tiene todos y mas de lo que habia imaginado encontrar.

    gracias, muchas gracias.
    Bendiciones.

    1. where it says normal click the down arrow and click soft light and then go on brushes and click a size of the faded brush and then it wont be a solid colour

  5. i have a question… i.e: GIMP Edge Brushes or the galactic one.. it seems to be a glow effect.. how can i obtain that effect…using gimp??

  6. hi – love the grundge brushes, really excellent. however there is no licence file in any of the zips, would be nice to know terms of use.

  7. Substantially, the post is really the freshest on this worthw hile topic. My partner and i harmonize with your conclusions and definitely will eagerly anticipate all your next updates. Simply stating thanks won’t just be good enough, for your phenomenal lucidity in your writing. I will instantly obtain your rss to stay informed of any kind of updates. Authentic work and much success in your business dealings!

  8. Hey could someone help me by explaining how to put them on GIMP so that I can use them, would have been really nice:D

  9. great!! love it.
    hope gimp will cope with the loong loading time when starting it with all the brushes someday ._.

    and it’s fine that you didnt just upload the brushes but wrote the links, because a giant lot of deviantart members are hating it to find their brushes in another one’s brush pack ;)

    so @ all: please consult the wishes of all the uploaders ;) they all deserve a thank you ^o^

  10. I just downloaded the Gimp brushes and have extracted the file but how do you install the new brushes ? If i open the file it lanches the Gimp Graphic program and displays an image (Ex: a picture of a lightning bolt) is this all there is to it ? Just photostocked images of paints ?I must be doing something wrong ? Can you please let me know how to install the brushes and how to select which brush for it’s use .Thank you

    1. In Windows XP
      Install GIMP brushes

      GIMP Brushes and gradients are installed similarly – extract and drop the brushes into C:\Document and Settings\\.gimp-\brushes\ and gradients into C:\Document and Settings\\.gimp-\gradients\

      In Mac OS X

      Brushes can be installed by dropping them (.gbr files) into the brush search path that is specified in GIMP’s preferences. If you have not tweaked anything, this is usually

      /Users/username/.gimp-2.x/brushes/

      where 2.x denotes the version number of GIMP you are using (version number is visible in the GIMP startup splash page). Note that you should replace ‘username’ with your short username (not the full name).

      Install GIMP brushes in Linux

      Go to your Home folder. You have to make hidden files/folders visible, so hit Ctrl+H. Go to the directory named .gimp-2.x (where 2.x is version number of GIMP you are using). Within that folder, there are subfolders, one of which is brushes. Drop your brushes to that folder

      Source: http://www.techzilo.com/how-to-install-gimp-plugins-scripts-brushes-and-gradients/

  11. Thank you for such a great resource to us developers and designers, lovers of open source community.

    I have been using Linux since 1998 and had been running sometimes Windows for Photoshop, only small things done, but with this :D Windows and PS is long gone from my computer.

    Only GIMP and Inkscape on my Ubuntu 64bit laptop with my beloved Eclipse (PDT, JDT and CDT) :P, focusing only on programming.

  12. it’s pretty easy in windows vista, just open the file location for gimp, find the brushes file, and drag and drop them from where they are to the brushes file. when you open gimp, the brushes are there.

  13. I love these brushes! Photoshop is so expensive but the functions are almost the same as GIMP but i think GIMP ROCKS TO THE MAXX!!!
    i’d rather use up my comp space to download this software and not waste any money or time on photoshop…..

    thanks for sharing these brushes!! ?

  14. I am new to this and am trying to create a watermark for photos. This all seems “greek” to me. The links to help me understand how it all works are not working. Can someone help me and put this all into “dummy terms”? Ive dled gimp and some brushes. So..now what?

  15. Is there any way to download these files so they aren’t “read only”? Because of the read only I am unable to change the brush size and many come through larger than my original image. I’m pretty new to Gimp, so maybe I’m just being dumb.

  16. i may not be professional yet but sure i m able to recognize goooood stuff!!!

    in this over populated e-world, i can’t help thinking there are some people who like good things..
    and there is no need to translate the word “good”in the right way

    it sounds like that for me:
    when i feel a line,a perfect straight line with its points all inside aligned..aligned so well ..

    and that’s all for watching your web-site..
    aahahahhaha!!!!!

  17. Excellent publish. Very refreshing provided all the duplicate material available. Thanks for performing some thing original.

  18. I am just learning GIMP and found that there are just few brushes available in GIMP and I think I need some more…I found this collection and WOW…thank for the brushes.

  19. i downloaded a lot of these, but they haven’t shown up in my gimp program, i have closed it down and brought it up several times, what is wrong. some work and some don’t – i have done this before, so i know what i’m doing, what it wrong?

  20. 5.3 needs to be removed…i stumbled accross this trying to enhance my gimp install with some better brushes….pretty nice just i think some of them don’t work in the way of downloading them o.O

  21. hi thanks for the information that you share :) it’s really useful :) btw could you share to us how to edit photo by GIMP? thank you so much :)

  22. These all look so amazing, but when I tried downloading them they wouldn’t save to my computer and what not. How do I download these (if I’m not doing so right)? Thanks.

  23. WOW!! Just downloaded every last one of them! :-) Even went over to hawksmont’s site and got all of those! My gimp is very happy right now! :-D

    ^^Download by opening the zip files, then extracting the .gbr files to your gimp brushes folder. Mine is C:\Program Files\GIMP-2.0\share\gimp\2.0\brushes\

  24. GIMP default download does not have all that much. After you modify then extend it, you would be surprised how powerful an editor it can be. Some psd plugins can be used with it too. The UI can be changed. All the brushes used in photoshop that I am aware of work in GIMP. Steep learning curve for those new to it, but once you get passed that it is all golden.

  25. I am Designer and Developer, i want to tell you one thing about your Blog nobody can beat you, in Design and the Best Postings, Thank you for the Great Post looking for More.

  26. They work perfectly for me. a couple broken/dead links on the site (including the one that shows someone who does not know; how to install them, lol. Bummer for some). They are nice brushes though, ty.

    …@Roxxie: In case you don’t know how to install them here is the way (for a Windows OS):

    Go to your downloads folder (in Documents/My Documents) and find the zip file. Extract it (it should extract to Documents/My Documents by default, as a single folder containing the brushes). Your going to want to find the folder for the brushes in your Documents folder and leave it open as you do the next step.

    Then go to Computer/My Computer, (C:) Drive, Program Files, Find gimp and open it’s folder. Under the newest version, you’ll see a folder called share. open that and go into the one inside there that says gimp (yes, this again). their is a 2.0 folder in that one…and finally inside of that folder named 2.0 is one that says brushes.

    you either right click and cut the whole folders (not the individual brushes) and paste them into that brush folder, or drag them over and drop them in (try not to drop them into an existing folder…there should be some empty space at the bottom).

    Keep in mind gimp was not originally made for windows which uses a lot of automated installers and wizards usually. adding new brushes, fonts and plugins is often a manual process. don’t over load your gimp with things you never use either or it will take 5-10 minutes to start up.

    You might want to make a desktop folder to extract gimp add-ons to that will make it simpler to put things in gimp and pull it out. Another thing to know is gimp won’t change it’s layout due to these actions while the program itself is open. so make sure it is closed or that your restart your gimp after you affect changes like this.

    The good news is most PS stuff can be dropped into gimp in a similar fashion (it’s all about finding the right folder to drag the thing you need over to). So gimp is like a PS you can build to your needs rather then have a ton of stuff on it you don’t understand or never use.

  27. Oh wow, these are really cool! I’m personally going to use the Lightning, Water, and Cloud brushes for my signatures, banners, avatars and whatnot for BGs. Thanks for posting them. I really wanted the Moon brushes, but I got a 404 error. Sucks. Anyway, great brushes! Thanks! Kudos to those that made these wonderful brushes!

  28. The blood one and the streaks one worked perfectly for me. They both came with readme files, and they said to open your gimp folder, then your brushes folder, and drop the files into that folder. Of course, you’ve got to extract the files first.

  29. Pretty nice… the only thing is
    A. You can only do solid colors
    B. The brush stays the same as you drag it
    This ma ysound a bit picky, but it would be nice if you could choose a couple different colors for each section of the brush. For instance, having the inside section of the lightning brushes white, then the outer part a different color (say, purple). And if there could be a script put in some brushes “Like the vine brush on Gimp” where it changes the brush as you stroke it so it looks more realistic, that would be awesome.

    Otherwise, AWESOME BRUSHES.

  30. many of these links are 404 errors (broken link) and at least one was trying to install a browser extension (which is shady, no browser needs an extension just to download one thing, we call those kinds of shady things “trickware”).

  31. …when are people going to learn that when you publish something, it will be there until you unpublish it, it makes you look dumb when you leave a page up that clearly hasn’t been touched in almost a decade. That is what the IA waybackmachine is for, not the regular internet.

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