Free Download: 30 Photoshop Brushes for Children’s Illustration

Add this incredible selection of digital brushes to your toolkit to get started in children's illustration

A unique language for communicating both written and visual ideas, the world of children’s book illustration is broad and diverse. Through this art form, we can introduce young learners to ideas that stimulate their creativity and broaden their imaginations. 

With illustrations published in more than forty books and featuring in exhibitions around the world, graphic designer and children's illustration specialist Luis San Vicente (@luissanvicente) is a great guide to help you get started in this magical world.

Ready to get experimental? At the bottom of this post, Luis shares a free pack with thirty of his favorite Photoshop brushes that he uses to illustrate his fantastical worlds and characters. But first, let's learn more about the basics of children's book illustration.

What does a children's book illustrator do?

A children's book illustrator plays an important role in the telling of a children's story; they reinterpret the words through images to add captivating and dynamic visual aids that help young readers understand the story and spark the imagination.

Given that children are some of the most imaginative, creative, and visual audiences, an illustrator’s work is far from child’s play. In charge of elements such as the design of the characters in the text, framing each scene, and the symbiosis between text and image, an illustrator is a key figure in the world of children's literature, pulling various elements together.

Reimagining illustration

With an extensive career combining over twenty years in art direction for print media, forty published books, animations for Mexican TV, and several national and international awards, Luis San Vicente has become a reference in the world of children's book illustration.

His particular style, which combines traditional and digital techniques, has seen him exhibit in Spain, Japan, South Korea, Cuba, France, Chile, and Colombia.

From watercolor, inks, acrylic, and scratching techniques, Luis has explored a wide variety of media, experimenting with all kinds of styles in each project. His work has won the Fundación Cuatro Gatos award for his illustrated album That Morning and first place in the catalog of illustrators for children and young people organized by the National Council for Culture and the Arts in Mexico.

In his projects, Luis seeks to explore different styles by adapting to the narrative needs or the graphic concept of the text he is working with.

To learn more about his creative process, including tips for working in Photoshop, reference materials, and style, watch the Domestika Live video below, in which Luis creates a quick children's book illustration while talking about his technique:

Download 30 free Photoshop brushes for children’s illustration

In this download, Luis shares over thirty Photoshop brushes in various sizes, textures, shapes, and thicknesses that you can use to experiment with effects when creating your own illustrations.

After clicking on the button below, you’ll find a .zip file in your Downloads folder titled, Download Photoshop Brushes for Children's Illustration, by Luis San Vicente. You may need to use a free program, such as WinZip, to decompress the file.

If you want to learn more, you can sign up for Luis San Vicente’s online course, Children's Illustration for Posters. Luis will help you to create striking posters, teaching you how to develop your projects from sketch to vectorization.

You may also like:

- Tips to Illustrate a Children's Story
- 5 Online Courses to Learn How to Draw Animals from Scratch
- What Is Children’s Book Illustration?
- Introduction to Children’s Illustration, a course by Adolfo Serra
- Illustrated Animal Characters for Storybooks, a course by Kevin Waldron