The big difference between custom brushes and custom shapes is that brushes create a bitmapped element that is permanently painted onto a layer. Custom Photoshop shapes will add an editable vector shape on it’s own layer. This is especially useful because it makes it easy to change the color or size of your custom item should you change your mind while working on the design.

Adding custom brushes and custom shapes to your Photoshop presets is an invaluable timesaver. Today, we’ll help you start your collection with this list of 10 Places to Download Free Custom Shape sets for Photoshop.

Start at the Adobe Exchange

The Adobe Exchange has more than 380 quality custom shapes for use with Photoshop. Most of the packages are free for download, although some may be shareware or spareware.

Ornate Vectors

Ornate Shapes – Free download to create ornate shapes. These are great for adding a touch of elegance to your Photoshop designs.

Free Kid Shapes for a bit of Whimsy

From hikaridrops on Deviant Art, Kiddy Stuffs is a set of child-themed custom shapes with fun robots, toys and animals all with an interesting hand-drawn feel.

Custom Photoshop Shapes

Deviant Art – Custom photoshop shapes. From grunge splatters to maps to revolutionary icons, Deviant Art has more free shape sets than your computer can hold. Enjoy but pay attention to the licensing restrictions. They may not all be approved for commercial use.

6 Photoshop Shape Sets

eDuration photoshop Logo Sets are a set of quality shapes with an unlimited use license. Although direct reselling is prohibited, you can do virtually anything else with them.

Lovely Lady Business Silohuettes

Dezignus.com Has a site full of free shapes and brushes for Photoshop including this pack of business women, all in silhouette, all ready to work hard to make your next design stand out from the crowd.

FreePhotoshopBrushes.com

FreePhotoshopBrushes.com has a surprisingly large selection of custom shapes, patterns, styles and gradients too. They don’t create any original shapes, but are more of an aggregator of Photoshop resource from all over the web.

Free Photoshop Shapes

Speech Bubbles – Free Photoshop shapes! Say what? At some point in their career every designer will need to add a speech bubble in Photoshop. It’s an inevitable fact. So even if you don’t need it today, download this pack of custom shape speech bubbles. Better to have it, than need it.

Shapes from Graphic Xtras

Graphic Xtras offers 22 complete sets of Photoshop shapes for all occasions — holidays, modern, abstract, custom shapes.

Basic Vector Shapes

Basic Shapes – A free set of custom shapes for Photoshop with basic shapes like hearts, rain drops and musical notes. You got to have the basics and that’s exactly what these brushes are: simple, unpretentious, but oh-so-handy when you need to draw the perfect heart in Photoshop.

Where is your favorite place to download shape sets? Have you designed a free set of Photoshops shapes? Let us know in the comments and maybe we’ll include your link in our next list!

source: tutorialblog.org