I recently had a request for some worn, tattered, distressed Photoshop brushes for working with high resolution. Most of what I found and used in the past was created for Web design. A brush designed at 4oo pixels wide could be “stamped” on a 800 x 600 Web site and take up half of the distance across. When dealing with print, 400 pixels doesn’t go very far when you’re talking about a resolution of 300 dpi. That same brush would show up a bit larger than one inch wide when printed. Though the brush size can be adjusted up to 2500 pixels, if it wasn’t designed at that size it’s going to look quite poor when enlarged.

I’ve designed some brushes that sit right around the 1800 pixel range. That’s going to give you about a six inch brush size when dealing with the standard print resolution of 300 dpi.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about I’ve included an example. Once these brushes are loaded into the brush palate in Photoshop you can begin using them on your own images. Most commonly I select either the eraser tool or the paintbrush tool then I choose a brush. Simply line up the brush on your image and click the mouse once. You get instantaneous transformation. Experiment with layering and opacity settings to get desired effect.

Original Photo

Behold The Aftermath

Important Information

Adobe Photoshop CS, CS2 or higher on OSX or Windows. However, I have divided the brushes into layers to support Photoshop 7 and previous versions, so now everyone can enjoy.

Download Instructions

1. Download the brushes here (23.1 MB)
2. Select the paint brush in the Photoshop tools.
3. From the brushes palate choose “Load brushes…”
4. Navigate to your brand new brushes and happy times begin.

Layers

I’ve had a lot of requests for these brushes to be compatible with Photoshop 7 and previous versions. To save time, I’ve divided each design into a photoshop layer. You get one file with several designs, each on it’s own layer. If you’d like to convert these into brushes, it’s easy. Simply turn on one of the layers and go to edit>define brushes. After this, your brush will appear in the brushes palate.
1. Download the layers file here [Part I] (17 MB)

Brush Usage Rights
Every design on the site, previously requiring purchase of an additional commercial license for use, is now available royalty-free.

Today I went on a quest to find some graphic design competitions to enter. So rather than write them all down, I’ve posted them for you to enjoy. Although a quick google and a bit of digging would get you to the same place, I hope you found these before you had to do that. The competitions are listed in order of approaching entry deadlines, and I intend to enter all of them 5 times. Feel free to add to the list.

Design ONE Condom
Help design the packaging for ONE brand condoms. If your design is selected you’ll win a cash prize and a year’s worth of your condom designs.
Deadline: June 30, 2005
Entry Fee: None

UPDATE 7/1/05 2005 Davey Awards
The Davey Awards is exclusively for smaller agencies, companies, or organizations with annual billings or revenues below certain levels. Work completed since January 1, 2004 is eligible for the 2005 Davey Awards.
Deadline: July 29, 2005
Entry Fee: start at $75

HOW Interactive Design Awards
Winners will be featured in the newly expanded April 2006 issue of HOW and one Best of Show winner will be our guest at the 2006 HOW Design Conference.
Deadline: August 1, 2005
Entry Fee: start at $75

American Design Awards Semi-Annual Design Contests
Open to all graphic and web designers worldwide, including design firms, corporate art departments, and advertising agencies.
Deadline: August 15, 2005
Entry Fee: start at $40

UPDATE 7/8/05 Shift 2006 Calendar Competition
The aim of the competition is to discover fresh creators and support them, Shift provides a platform to show works using a calendar as a medium.
Deadline: September 10, 2005 (9:00PM Japan Time)
Entry Fee: None

HOW International Design Awards
Winners will be featured in the newly expanded April 2006 issue of HOW and one Best of Show winner will be our guest at the 2006 HOW Design Conference.
Deadline: September 15, 2005
Entry Fee: start at $20

Print Digital Design Competition: Interaction 2006
Designers from around the world are invited to submit their most exciting interactive projects as well as print or TV ads promoting Web sites and e-commerce. Winners will be featured in Print’s Digital Design Annual to be published in October 2006.
Deadline: November 1, 2005
Entry Fee: start at $35

I.D. Annual Design Review
I.D. invites you to enter the 2006 Annual Design Review. Winners will be featured in the August 2006 issue of I.D
Deadline: December 1, 2005
Entry Fee: start at $100

Second Annual UniKeep Design Awards Contest (Monthly)
Create a cover for any size UniKeep View Case Binderâ„¢- students, professionals, hobbyists – any art you are willing to share
Deadline: Entries accepted through December 31, 2005
Entry Fee: None

Communication Arts Interactive Media
The most prestigious design competition for interactive media.
Deadline: Jan 13, 2006
Entry Fee: start at $100

circuit

Originally uploaded by jgaylor.

Coming in at a whopping 20.625 inches, this Circuit City receipt for a 14 piece pack of Orbit peppermint chewing gum seems ridiculous. Even if I had purchased a CD or even a laptop, this is quite unnecessary. I’m going to make a guess that we could do better. In a time of recycling and environmental awareness we are handed this sliver of a tree that has to be folded approximately 4 times over to fit in an average size pocket. On this particular version, the Circuit City address, phone number, and time of purchase is printed twice. The logo appears three times. The Web site is mentioned six times. The return policy of six paragraphs is printed once on the front, and then repeated, on the back, in its entirety, three-and-a-half more times. Come on! Can we do better? Someone had to know something to get this store where it is today. I don’t recall any other retail establishment providing me with such an unecessarity.

I do appreciate the flavorful gum that I was able to purchase with a credit card since I didn’t find a one-eighth inch stereo cable for a decent price. Perhaps the prices could be reduced if they weren’t purchasing so much paper and ink for the registers. Oh, and thanks for the bag. It will be useful when I’m carrying my gum on my way to the recycling center.