There are thousands of Photoshop brush directories online and hundreds of thousands of brushes- most of which are great to look at and even better to use. The vast majority of brushes are free to use for personal projects. Commercial use is where the rules differ. Some sets require you to buy a license; others merely ask that you request permission to use the art commercially.

But if you don’t want to pay and are too antisocial to contact people through email to ask them a question, there are some brushes out there that you can freely use in your commercial projects. I’ve listed ten of my favorites below.

Note: At this time, the artists have all specified on their sites that these brushes can be used freely in commercial projects. Double check before you download to make sure they haven’t changed that policy.  

Crack Brushes III by Hawksmont (15 brushes) 

Dark Wings Brushes by Hawksmont (9 brushes) 

Bamboo Brushes by Hawksmont (29 brushes) 

Fantasy Floral Brushes by Graphic Identity (4 brushes)

Bug Brushes Set 1 by Boogie Designs (14 brushes) 

Rocks and Stones Texture Brushes from Photoshop Essentials (6 brushes) 

(The image above was made using two different brushes) 

Wood Texture Brushes from Photoshop Essentials (6 brushes) 

(The image above was created with three of the brushes) 

Promo Trees by Horhew’s Brushes (18 brushes) 

Retro Grunge Brushes by Enigma Design (7 brushes) 

Broken Arrow Brushes by Klstock (23 brushes) 

Preview of that set: