For graphic designers, working with custom shapes in Photoshop can be a big time-saver. While free brushes get a lot of attention, custom shapes probably get less. Here is a rundown of some of the best resources to download free custom shapes for your own work in Photoshop.
For more Photoshop resources, please see:
- 50 Essential Photoshop Text Tutorials
- 45 Photo Editing Tutorials for Photoshop
- 40 Excellent Photoshop Tutorials for Textures and Backgrounds
- 40 Photoshop Tutorials for Lighting and Abstract Effects
Photoshop Custom Shapes from the Adobe Exchange (370 sets)
The Adobe Exchange is a great place to find all kinds of resources, including custom shapes for Photoshop. There is plenty of variety and a huge amount of sets to choose from.
Custom Shapes from MyPhotoshopBrushes.com (30 sets)
MyPhotoShopBrushes isn’t limited to just brushes. They also offer 30 sets of custom shapes, including animals, people, objects, and more abstract shapes.
Custom Shapes from About.com (9 sets)
About.com has nine sets available for download, including basic shapes, arrows, symbols, snowflakes, stars and sunbursts, speech bubbles, and more.
Custom Shapes from Ladyoak (154 sets)
A huge resource for custom shapes, Ladyoak offers over 150 sets.
Photoshop Custom Shapes from BioRUST (21 sets)
BioRUST has 21 sets of shapes for download, including maps, silhouettes, animals, music-related shapes, mythical creatures and more.
Photoshop Shape Sets from eDuration (6 sets)
eDuration offers six sets of shapes, including logos, icons, buttons, and some miscellaneous shapes.
Custom Shapes from Nathan Blenke (100 shapes)
A large set of shapes that includes a number of office objects and various other shapes.
Custom Shapes from Grafiks (24 shapes)
A set of 24 various shapes, including some swirls and abstract shapes.
Butterfly Shapes from Dezignus (49 shapes)
This is a big set of more butterfly shapes than you should ever need.
Foliage Shapes for Dezignus (over 350 shapes)
You can use these foliage shapes to create your own patterns or to add some creativity to text/fonts.
Businessman Silhouettes from Dezignus (12 shapes)
Silhouettes are always nice to have on hand for when you need them. This set provides shapes of businessmen.
Custom Shapes on deviantART
The users of deviantART make it one of the best resources for finding custom shapes. There are countless sets of shapes for you to browse through, and many of the best sets are featured below.
Straights and Swirls from thesuper
Aircraft Custom Shapes by Luke Roberts
Maritime Shapes by Luke Roberts
Skateboarding Custom Shapes by Luke Roberts
Sunburst Shapes by Backflip540
Revolution Collection by HebeDesign
Ribbon Collection by HebeDesign
Skater Collection by HebeDesign
Abstract Shapes by xyunaxfantasiesx
Batman Vector Shapes by Retoucher07030
Animal Shapes for Photoshop by UnidentifyStudios
Sexy Stances Vol 1 by danijeL-one
Assorted Logos by Richard Perkins
Silhouettes Bernius by eiermann1952
Stains and Blot Custom Shapes by Limoli
Basics of Working with and Creating Custom Shapes
Want to learn more about working with custom shapes or creating your own shapes? Here are three articles to get you started.
How to Install Custom Shapes (written for CS2) - PixelDigest
How to Create Custom Shapes - PixelDigest
Photoshop Tutorials: Photoshop Custom Shapes - Photoshop Essentials
For even more Photoshop-related resources, see:
October 6th, 2008
Nice and very usable list for.
October 7th, 2008
[...] el blog VandelayDesign nos dejan una lista con un resumen de algunos de los mejores recursos para descargar libre de [...]
October 7th, 2008
oh! very nice collection, thx!
October 7th, 2008
[...] Zaman zaman bulmakta zorluk çektiğimiz shape’ler için favorilere eklenesi bir kaynak.. 45 Shape kaynağı burada! [...]
October 7th, 2008
[...] Le premier traitera des design de menus originaux, tandis que le suivant proposera plus de 45 sources et sets pour des formes spéciale dans photoshop. [...]
October 7th, 2008
These are cool custom shapes collection. They are all vectors, so you can easily resize without resolution problem.
October 7th, 2008
Wow…… awesome… thanks for the effort. These things really do help web designers like me.
October 7th, 2008
This is a great list - thanks for sharing.
October 7th, 2008
[...] vandelaydesign.com encontramos una fantástica colección de colecciones de formas para [...]
October 7th, 2008
[...] +45 Sets de Custon Shapes para Photoshop Vandelay Design [...]
October 7th, 2008
Great collection, but now I’m going to waste the morning in Photoshop and not get any real work done…
October 7th, 2008
These are really great! Thank you
October 7th, 2008
[...] 45 PS Custom Shapes [...]
October 7th, 2008
Fantastic. Thanks for this ’shop collection.
October 7th, 2008
[...] Mas de 45 recursos y sets de formas personalizadas para [...]
October 7th, 2008
Never really searched for PS shapes, so this collection will come handy
October 8th, 2008
I was looking for more shapes to add to my collection, Thanks!
They will serve me well!
As will it serve other web developers!
Hip Hip - Hooray!
October 8th, 2008
im sure as hell am going to use those useful tools. I’m getting sick and tierd of paying big bucks to istock photos for every image i need, thanks god there are still people who are willing to give good artwork for free . cheers mate
October 8th, 2008
These are cool custom shapes collection. They are all vectors, so you can easily resize without resolution problem.
October 8th, 2008
[...] 45 Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes [...]
October 9th, 2008
Wow, Such huge collection.
October 9th, 2008
Great round-up! Thanks a bunch for sharing, keep up the great work.
October 9th, 2008
[...] 9, 2008 http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/design/photoshop-custom-shapes/ Posted by cccmien Filed in [...]
October 9th, 2008
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes [...]
October 9th, 2008
Thanks for compiling this list! I especially love the link for creating custom shapes.
October 10th, 2008
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes [...]
October 10th, 2008
There are some nice sets, thank you for the list.
October 11th, 2008
Very useful post! So much good stuff - its amazing!
October 12th, 2008
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes | Vandelay Website Design (tags: photoshop resources shapes) [...]
October 14th, 2008
I love the auto gauges, I’m definitely going to use this on a future blog!
October 15th, 2008
I’ve been having a ton of fun with the birds. Good stuff.
October 18th, 2008
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes | Vandelay Website Design [...]
October 18th, 2008
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes [...]
October 19th, 2008
your website is aweomse i just book marked it as this list of resources are trully great, thanks oince again.
November 2nd, 2008
[...] Visit Source [...]
November 3rd, 2008
oh! very nice collection, thanx
November 3rd, 2008
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes [...]
November 5th, 2008
[...] 45 Sources [...]
November 15th, 2008
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes [...]
November 22nd, 2008
[...] 1. Vandelay [...]
December 9th, 2008
[...] 45 sites para baixar shapes para o photoshop. [...]
December 21st, 2008
[...] Zaman zaman bulmakta zorluk çektiğimiz shape’ler için favorilere eklenesi bir kaynak.. 45 Shape kaynağı burada! [...]
December 21st, 2008
Very nice collection of PS sets. I especially like the car logos. They’ll come in handy now when I feel like ranting about our good ‘ole American cars. lol.
December 29th, 2008
I am looking for the numbers 1-9 + 0 Is there anywhere I can find those?
December 29th, 2008
Chrissy Michelle,
I don’t think I’ve ever seen custom shapes for numbers. They may be out there, but I don’t think I’ve seen them. I’m not sure what advantage they would have over just using text.
January 22nd, 2009
Great stuff
Thanks
February 5th, 2009
im sure as hell am going to use those useful tools. I’m getting sick and tierd of paying big bucks to istock photos for every image i need, thanks god there are still people who are willing to give good artwork for free . cheers mate
March 9th, 2009
I created some really nice buttons with those…
I’ll be using them as my templates from now on.
Thank you for sharing.
March 27th, 2009
[...] 45+ Sources and Sets of Photoshop Custom Shapes [...]
June 2nd, 2009
Amazing brushes for website design. I will love to use it in my website design too.
Thanks.