Using Photoshop Brushes in GIMP

I’ve been thinking about editing some of my pictures in GIMP and I’ve seen the brushes in Photoshop which could be used for cute effects. Photoshop brush envy?

using brushes on GIMP

Yes, I have it. And I am glad that it’s possible to use them in GIMP. (Cheers for GIMP!) This is possible with GIMP from version 2.4 onwards. eHow.com’s guide to using Photoshop brushes in GIMP is pretty straightforward. It teaches you to look for the version of GIMP you’re using then installing the brushes you’ve downloaded. For my trial, I got some brushes from DeviantArt — thanks to the links from this page on 24 awesome brushes for GIMP and Photoshop.

My tip is to basically look for all the brushes you’d like to use. Maybe even just one will do. Make sure it’s an ABR file. If you downloaded a zip file, extract it first and then you’d most likely see an ABR file.
Then check out the Preferences part of GIMP. You will see that there is a section on brushes. Select that so you could see the location of brushes for GIMP.
Afterwards, move all the brushes you’ve downloaded to that directory you see in GIMP’s Preferences dialog box. Chances are it will be in a hidden directory in your home. Mine was in /home/clair/.gimp-2.6 so I put my downloaded files there.
Select the brush icon and you should be able to find the brushes you have just copied to the brushes folder. Now be happy and use them to your heart’s content!

The screenshot was done with these brushes: Edge Brushes by axeraider70 and Grass Blades by iceytina.