Top Free Photoshop Watercolor Brushes for Designers

Design styles can be created with free resources like icons, vectors, custom illustrations, and notably brushes. Free brush packs are available all over the web dating back to Photoshop 7. There are now thousands of brush packs online made specifically for digital designers.

This collection of free Photoshop watercolor brushes can be perfect for anyone from graphic design to UI design and print work. Watercolor brush techniques can be applied to anything with a similar style.

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Feel free to download any brushes that catch your attention and try them out in project work.

Bittbox Watercolor Brushes

Bittbox offers some of the most epic hi-res watercolor brushes for free download. This pack was designed exclusively for Bittbox readers back when Photoshop CS2 was the newest program (but they still work in newer versions of PS).

Bittbox Watercolor Brushes Vol 2

The folks over at Bittbox decided to release a 2nd watercolor brush set to append onto the first one. Many of the same smears and designs have been recreated or added for extra-large brush effects.

Grungy Brushes

For a dirtier look try out this grungy watercolor brush pack also released by Bittbox. These brushes have less form and follow more of an abstract design with varying levels of opacity and shape.

Bittbox Freebie Pack

Bittbox released another big watercolor brush set for readers as an exclusive pack. Each brush measures 2500×2500 pixels with different styles from blotches to splatters.

Watercolor Design Bundle

This amazing bundle is free if you have an Envato Elements membership. It includes 169 amazing brushes, as well as more than 100 vectors and 60 high-res textures.

Watercolor Designer’s Kit

This is another huge bundle that is free for Envato Elements subscribers. This one includes 92 brushes, 74 Photoshop styles, and 41 PNG files.

Wet PS Brushes

This free set of 20 brushes comes with PS clipping masks for each brush. They work just like watercolor designs and can be painted over textures or letters for a blended effect.

38 Hi-Res Watercolor Brushes

Hi-resolution watercolor scans were turned into brushes for this 38-pack brush set. Compatible with all versions of Photoshop, these paint splatters were created to specifically mimic the watercolor painting style.

Watercolor Splatters

If you’re looking for a splattered effect consider this more detailed brush set. It comes with 32 hi-res brushes and three extra photo textures. No credit is required so you can use these brushes on personal or commercial work for free.

Watercolor Basics

Realism is tough to recreate but it’s been done with this incredible watercolor set. These brushes replicate the contours and textures of watercolor lain to paper with very high precision.

Social Media Watercolors

Here’s a rather unique brush set focusing on social media brands. Each icon is designed like a grungy watercolor painting including popular networks like Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter. This is a very cool set for a watercolor-style design with a need for social icons.

Watercolor Textures

These painterly brushes feel much more controlled but still have a natural texture to them. Each brush comes in a high-resolution file size and blends perfectly into the background of any canvas.

Free Watercolor 7-Pack

Anyone in need of watercolor brushes will appreciate this 7-pack of high resolution watercolors. The designer perfectly replicates paint strokes and it feels incredibly natural for paint brushes.

Fine Detail Watercolors

Similar to the last set, this pack has 17 unique hi-res watercolor brushes for commercial or personal use. Again they look very natural and all blend together for the potential to replicate a real watercolor painting digitally.

Dark Watercolors

These brushes have a slightly harder feel and replicate oil paint more so than watercolor. However the pack can be used in a watercolor fashion with breezy elements that fit together like a charm. You’ll find 7 different brushes in this pack each at 2500px size.

WG Watercolor Brushes

The WeGraphics watercolor brush pack includes 20 fabulous high-resolution brushes with the natural elegance of watercolor. Each brush measures about 2000×2000 pixels and can be used for any type of creative project.

Watercolor Texture Brushes

This download includes 19 watercolor brushes, as well as the source .png files that were used to create the brushes.

Watercolor Shapes

If you’re looking for more shapes and hard edges then check out these watercolor shape brushes. This pack includes 15 unique shapes which again come in very high resolution sizes(2500px wide).

20 Splatter Brushes

Watercolor paint splatters are just as popular and make the perfect companion with a painterly or grungy design. This brush pack includes 20 different styles which can work in photoshop 7-CC. CS6-CC users will actually get ultra-high resolution brushes at 5000px.

Hi-Res Watercolor Textures

Print designers will appreciate this set of 5 watercolor background texture brushes at 300DPI. You can set these for any print project or even downsample for the web. Each watercolor design is completely free to use in personal or commercial projects.

Watercolor Splatter Brushes

If you love watercolors and splatter, you won’t want to miss this pack that combines the two.

Real Paint Strokes

Paint is known to drip and splatter which makes this brush set extra believable. It comes with 10 different paint strokes duplicating the splatter effect of watercolor paint.

Tropical Watercolor Brushes

This amazing set includes 15 hand-drawn elements as well as 15 flora and fauna elements in transparent PNG files. It is free if you’re an Envato Elements member.

HK Watercolor Brushes

This Hongkiat exclusive offers 15 powerful watercolor brushes for Photoshop. The pack has a variety of brushes from large blotches to tiny dots and everything in-between. This is perhaps the most diverse pack in this list and certainly worthy of attention for that natural watercolor effect.

48 Watercolor Brushes

This large set is free if you have a membership to Envato Elements. If you’re looking for soft watercolor effects, this is a great set for you.

qBrushes Watercolors

A brilliant collection of watercolor brushes with just the right amount of density. Change the opacity on your brushes to get a lighter touch, or update the blending mode for more natural effects.

28 Watercolour Brushes

This collection from Orman Clark and Premium Pixels features 28 high res brushes created from strokes and splats.

Watercolor Blob Brushes

This pack of 64 brushes was created with blobs of watercolor. It’s free for Envato Elements subscribers.

100+ Watercolor Brushes

This pack includes a total of more than 100 brushes. You’ll find some unique options here that aren’t included in other packs, like a variety of shapes and elements created with brush strokes.

Vector Watercolor Pack

These textured watercolor brushes are perfect for grunge effects on the web or in print design. Splatter effects can be copied with ease and blended into any background.

100 Essential brushes

If you need a huge brush pack then look no further. This 100 brush set has every type of brush design you could possibly imagine.

Simple Watercolor Brushes

This 22 brush pack has dots and spots of watercolor shapes for the everyday designer. Naturally these are completely free to use and work well in any design project.

Shapes & Splatters

Here’s another sample watercolor pack focused more on shapes. You’ll find rounded shapes, elongated shapes, and varying degrees of opacity as well. The pack contains 17 unique brushes and is completely free to download.

Watercolor Reloaded

DeviantArt has incredible resources released for free by talented artists. This is one great example titled the Watercolor Reloaded brush pack. It comes with 83 watercolor brushes that work in any version of Photoshop 7 or higher.

PS Watercolor Brush Pack

This simple 5-pack of watercolor brushes can be perfect for a more childlike project. The tones are simpler and fit more with the theme of children. You can download this pack for free off DeviantArt and use them in any digital design project.

Watercolor Brush Set 1-6

Here’s a neat brush pack that’s actually part of a collection. This is watercolor brush pack 5 with a total series of 1-6 available for download by xedgewolfx.

These watercolor brushes should offer way more than enough to get you on the right track. It’s never easy starting a new design project but it helps when you have resources at your disposal.

Feel free to download any of these brushes for free and try them out in your own creative work.

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