35 Free Abstract Illustrator Brushes

In my opinion, one of the most underused features of Illustrator is the creation of custom brushes. You can literally make ANY shape into an Illustrator brush to get all kinds of cool effects. I put together a set of 35 abstract brushes for you to play with. The example below was made only with the brushes I provided in the set, and I only used 3 shapes: Mostly circles, a couple starbursts, and a spiral or two. Every bitt of detail in the example is created from the brush strokes alone, on different sized shapes/stroke sizes. (I also played around with blending modes of certain shapes. Download the source file below.)

No, I wasn’t kidding when I said that all of the detail above was made from brushes, and brushes alone. Here is what the “wireframe” of the example file looks like:

Download the Brushes:

Here is a Screenshot of some of the brushes in this set.

Includes: - AI Brush Library(1)

Installation:

Even though it has an .ai extension, the file you downloaded is an “Illustrator Brush Library,” not an actual Illustrator file. You will not be able to open the file in Illustrator.

1. Unzip the File.

2. Copy or move the file to your Illustrator > Presets > Brushes folder.

3. Restart Illustrator If it was open during installation.

Loading the Brushes:

1. Open Illustrator and make sure the Brushes Palette is open. (Window > Brushes)

2. Click on the little arrow in the upper right of the rushes palette and got to “Open Brush Library,” then click on “BB_abstract” to load the brushes.

3. Start drawing and go nuts!

Download the Example Source File:

In order for you to view the example file properly in Illustrator, you must have the brushes installed.(above)

Includes: - AI (2) EPS (1) SVG (1) PNG (1)

Brushes Source Shapes:

This file contains the shapes I made the brushes from. This would be for those of you who don’t have Illustrator, but want to try and make your own brushes from another program. (e.g. InkScape)

Includes: - AI (2) EPS (1) SVG (1)

Tips for exploring this on your own:

I can’t stress enough how much blending modes can effect your design. I urge you to try new blending modes when overlapping your shapes. You can get some really nice effects, and it’s super simple.

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81 Responses to “35 Free Abstract Illustrator Brushes”

1. Espenhh, on April 10th, 2007 at 9:08 pm

   This is fantastic. I really like designs which are abstract, so this is perfect for me :D

   Thanks…

2. Doug Owens, on April 10th, 2007 at 9:58 pm

   Once again you have provided inspiration. I will make up some brushes and pass them back to you.
   DougO

3. Cawlin, on April 11th, 2007 at 12:37 am

   Hurrah.

   Good illustrator brushes are hard to come by

4. hfng, on April 11th, 2007 at 1:54 am

   These are great, thanks! People .. don’t brush these aside .. download them! :D

5. Dana, on April 11th, 2007 at 5:39 am

   Great work! Thanks for your generous contribution!

6. DBdesignCo, on April 11th, 2007 at 6:32 am

   you should blog a step by step on how to go about making custom brushes and saving them and then provide a uplink so that all registered users can share and swap cool brushes, just an idea.

7. Jos? Ramos, on April 11th, 2007 at 6:34 am

   Whoa, this is waaaay Cool! Great Job, man.

8. Sean Flanagan, on April 11th, 2007 at 6:52 am

   I agree with DBdesignCo. I use custom brushes consistently in my illustrations and brand identity work, and they’re an easy way to get really striking results. For those among your readership who don’t know how to create them, it would be a valuable tutorial. And, for those of us who do know how, new tips are always welcome!

   Great work as usual, keep it up!

9. Gabriel J. Boisvert, on April 11th, 2007 at 9:32 am

   sweet!

10. BittBox, on April 11th, 2007 at 9:59 am

    I will post a tutorial on making custom brushes, etc, soon. Thanks

    ~BittBox

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12. rich, on April 11th, 2007 at 12:58 pm

    thanks so much for sharing your knowledge. i appreciate it a great deal and your site is my favorite as i am new designer. i like your style and it’s great to have a place to come where there are useful tips and inspiration.

    please, do post a tutorial on making brushes. can’t wait to see that one.

13. CrystalShip, on April 11th, 2007 at 1:48 pm

    Thanks for this!
    You’re a great source of inspiration!

14. Dan, on April 11th, 2007 at 4:48 pm

    This is great. Also so note that Lynda.com is going to have in-the-box training for CS3. Pretty cool!

15. BittBox, on April 11th, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    I can’t friggin wait to get my hands on CS3. Especially because I run Intel. It will be nice to see what improvements are in store for us.

    ~BittBox

16. Lars, on April 12th, 2007 at 2:06 am

    Wow, its amazing! I have never thought that it would be so easy to make such fantastic graphics!

    thank you, i love your site!

17. lawton chiles, on April 12th, 2007 at 10:26 am

    Bittbox, hey. Awesome stuff. How do you recommend that we use these?

    I mean, in pictures and regular photographs?

    PS- can u do some cool logo tutorials?

    :)

    LC

18. Neo, on April 13th, 2007 at 3:02 am

    Nice one bro and yeah I’d like to see some logo tutorials too.:)

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20. BittBox, on April 14th, 2007 at 11:57 am

    Logo tutorial in the queue…

    ~BittBox

21. Jee Sohn, on April 15th, 2007 at 3:44 pm

    this might be a stupid question….but i can’t seem to load these brushes in Illustrator 10….does any one know how to make it work….?

22. Nate, on April 16th, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    How did you make the multiple lines that twist and converge? I tried the warp and 3D filter, but I’m stuck, but also very close to figuring it out. Any help would be great.

23. BittBox, on April 16th, 2007 at 4:04 pm

    @Nate

    I learned that (easy) trick from this tutorial:
    http://www.ndesign-studio.com/resources/tutorials/abstract-background/

    ~BittBox

24. Jeremy Mace, on April 17th, 2007 at 4:48 am

    Wow. Your blog is awesome. Thanks for all of the inspiration and files.

25. NRT, on April 18th, 2007 at 3:04 am

    Thanks. These are greeaaat for someone who is so new to Illustrator.

26. Robert, on April 18th, 2007 at 5:34 am

    Thank you 4 your fine work and supporting us designers out there :-)

27. Nikolay, on April 18th, 2007 at 6:21 am

    Thanks a lot! Think, i can use your work in my work ;)

28. carloseduardo » Blog Archive » 35 brushes abstratos gratuitas para Illustrator, on April 18th, 2007 at 6:27 am

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29. Bethany, on April 20th, 2007 at 2:16 pm

    “You make me so very happy. I’m so glad you came into my life….”
    Singing this song to you at the top of my lungs. WOW! What a website. I was so thrilled to come across your amazing site, especially these illustrator brushes, the swooshes and the abstracts, what an amazing treat. You are my hero. I can’t wait to play with them. Thank you so much for your generosity, inspiration and creativity. You rock!!!

30. aaron, on April 23rd, 2007 at 10:29 am

    Dude, creating custom brushes and applying them as you have shown has opened up a whole new world to my design capabilities!! you rock!

31. BittBox, on April 23rd, 2007 at 9:52 pm

    Thanks All,

    Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all positive feedback and compliments. I will keep the doing what I’m doing. Glad to help!

    ~BittBox

32. bunny, on May 1st, 2007 at 2:57 am

    yo thanks for every thing yoooooooooooohoooooooooo ppl at bittboxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

33. Asmodeus Dark, on May 3rd, 2007 at 12:25 am

    Saved my life in finals.

34. OneBoredSenpai, on May 6th, 2007 at 4:37 pm

    Thanks for not only giving us resources but also telling us how to go about doing it- I love how easy Adobe makes it.

    Can’t get too complex, though- then it looks like someone heaved on my desktop.

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37. roman, on May 24th, 2007 at 10:03 am

    The brushes seems to be working for everyone else. I just get an error which says it does not recognize the file and can not import it.
    Why would that be?
    Illustrator CS2
    Windows XP

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39. BittBox, on May 24th, 2007 at 4:03 pm

    @roman

    I can’t think of any reasons why it wouldn’t work. Have you tried re-downloading the file?

    ~Bitt

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42. cf, on May 28th, 2007 at 6:04 am

    I too have had no success loading the brushes into illustrator. I use v.10 on Windows XP and wonder if your brushes are intended only for the MacIntosh or some other platform issue which suppresses the brushes from importing. On v.10 also, the menu for importing these brushes is not located on the palette as your tutorial describes so I also wonder if there may be a version issue.

43. Mac, on May 28th, 2007 at 6:32 am

    Thanks, for this brushes. Great work

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51. RJ, on June 25th, 2007 at 8:53 am

    yeah me too it wouldnt work..
    i used also illustrator 10…
    windows XP..

    can you help us bittbox?

    RJ ++
    Philippines

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53. yasmin, on July 25th, 2007 at 3:42 pm

    nnnnnnnnnnn

54. adamThegreat, on August 11th, 2007 at 9:25 pm

    Great stuff, I’m working creating my own brushes (since I wouldn’t want to just take your stuff and use it for my own work… wouldn’t really be mine now would it?). I’d like to know more about the actual creation of the brushes.

55. Enrick, on September 15th, 2007 at 2:25 am

    Thanks you so much…………. ^_^

56. masood, on September 20th, 2007 at 11:42 pm

    thanks for every thing wonder ful ppl at bittboxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
    thank uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
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57. mauro, on October 3rd, 2007 at 2:43 pm

    Great stuff!!!!Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

58. Daniel Monroy, on October 4th, 2007 at 12:24 pm

    chido mi hermano saludos desde mexico y mil gracias por dar herramientas a estos aprendices de artistas

59. Mik A., on October 12th, 2007 at 9:07 pm

    Wow, really amazing. Thank you once again!

    Mik A.

60. TS, on November 2nd, 2007 at 6:39 am

    Thanks mate!

61. EDUARDO, on November 6th, 2007 at 4:16 am

    Great Brushes congrats! Thank you.

62. pearly, on November 10th, 2007 at 2:37 am

    hi, i am a student studying graphic designs. really love ur web and ur wonderful brushes. it help me lots. i am really inspire to create wonderful works like u =) keep rocking the design world! Thanks for the brushes, its great =)

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64. Dan, on November 16th, 2007 at 2:28 am

    wow, I just used your brushes to whip up an awesome t-shirt project in about 5 minutes. Thank you so much.

65. heike, on November 16th, 2007 at 12:14 pm

    thank you so much, its a real joyfull experience trying these Brushes!

    cheers
    heike

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67. johnsmith, on December 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm

    How do I get the brushes to change color? When I change the color using the swatches it just changes the color of the actual line or shape, but not of the brush. I’m using illustrator CS3. Thanks!

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69. Ignacio, on February 3rd, 2008 at 6:15 pm

    Well, I like your stuff! I’m from South America, my work is some dark and funny (it´s rare mixing) if you have time, please visit my gallery on…

    http://www.iggiart.blogspot.com

70. debra young, on February 16th, 2008 at 12:01 pm

    thank you for responding to my email inquiry. I hope i can use the info you forwarded to me….have a great day!…deb

71. Phillip, on February 25th, 2008 at 8:53 am

    These are AMAZING! Did you make the brushes using illustrator?

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73. brandi ino, on March 23rd, 2008 at 3:44 am

    OMG….i love u.

74. krung, on March 24th, 2008 at 3:47 am

    i love you

75. Sindhu, on March 31st, 2008 at 11:30 pm

    A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!.. :) Thanks a ton…

76. nicola, on April 9th, 2008 at 3:23 am

    so very useful. and so kind to allow them to be used free. thank you

77. Leo, on April 9th, 2008 at 8:43 am

    Hi the article is brilliant… its really amazing to know some tools in illustrator which were undiscovered by a beginner like me.. its really fantastic… i had one question though… the artwork created in illustrator looks a bit dull when used in photoshop to create final artwork. is there any way to polish the vector graphics created in illustrator , in photoshop ? thanks in advance for the help

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79. raizou, on May 31st, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    Thank you.

    totemoyakunitachimasu.

80. Nate J, on June 19th, 2008 at 9:53 am

    Thanks Man, Nice Of You

81. Teboho, on July 2nd, 2008 at 2:00 am

    yo ! thank you very much for your help ……
    it helped me a lot

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