Good design never goes out of style; it just becomes “vintage” over time.
Nostalgia is a powerful tool for designers because it creates an instant emotional bond with the audience. The right design aesthetic can conjure up memories of our childhood and help us to connect with the generations that came before us.
This extensive collection of free vintage Photoshop brushes is the perfect toolkit for creating print designs that stir up feelings of nostalgia in your audience. Vintage brushes are great for brands that have an established history, or even new brands with old souls. From fantastical contraptions to retro 60’s advertisements, use these downloads whenever you want to bring a little old-time charm to your modern day designs.
Steampunk | Object & Animal | Shape & Pattern | Fashion | Map & Document | Letter & Postage | Sign & Advertisement | Miscellaneous
Steampunk Brushes
Featured in many popular books, video games and comics, the steampunk aesthetic uses vintage designs from the early 20th century, often blending them with outlandish sci-fi technology. Use these Photoshop brushes to give your designs a retro-futuristic edge.
6 Steampunk PS Brushes
Brushes: SteamPunk Bizarre
Dirigibles
Infernal Machines
Projectwoman Steampunk Brushes
Starwalt Steampunk Brushes
Starwalt Steampunk Brushes Vol2
Starwalt Steampunk Brushes Vol3
Steampunk Electro-Mechanical Brushes
ValerianaSTOCK Gears
Victorian Brushes
Object and Animal Brushes
Ever explore your attic and discover artifacts belonging to your ancestors? Whether it’s a mysterious rusty key or a faded rocking horse, the things we collect give us a brief glimpse into the past. This assortment of vintage brushes comprises a wide variety of objects and animal illustrations from days gone by.
12 Vintage Cycle PS Brushes
Birdcages Brushes Set 1
Book Brushes
Brush Set 16 – Retro Drinks
Retro Cassette Brushes
Retro Flowers
S&T Vintage Chairs Brush Set
Skeleton Keys Brushes
Vintage Baseball Cards Brushes
Vintage Birds
Vintage Clocks
Vintage Illustrated Dogs Brushpack
Vintage Nautical Brushes
Vintage Silhouettes
Vintage Toys Photoshop Brushes
Vector Shape and Pattern Brushes
From the halftone dots of an old comic book to the mod wallpaper pattern from your grandma’s living room, some of the best design aesthetics throughout history have come from simple shapes and abstract imagery. These vintage vector shape and pattern brushes are not only “retro chic,” they’re also fun and funky for the modern age.
11 Sketchy Retro Photoshop Brushes (No longer available)
Floral Retro Brushes
Flying Vector Brushes
Free Retro Cells Brushes
Kunfu 80’s Brushes
Retro Abstract Circle Brushes
Retro Brush Set
Retro Circle Brushes – HeartDriven
Retro Circles Brushes – Chokingonstatic
Retro Circles Brushes – slaughterdbc
Retro Dots
Retro Funk 2
Retro Talk
Retro Vector
Retro Vectors Brushes
Sigsource Retro Brush Set
StrappinCop Funky Retro Circle
The Vintage Effect Brushes
Vector 05
Very Large Retro Brush
Vintage Fashion Brushes
Nowhere is retro chic design appreciated more than in the world of fashion, where trends and styles come and go and return again, all in the span of a few years. These vintage fashion brushes feature pictures and illustrations of various fashion trends, from the corsets and hats of the Victorian Era to the groovy fads of the 1960s and 70s.
1920s Sport Photoshop Brushes
Brush Set 15 – Vintage Model
Brush Set 18 – That 70’s Girl
Victorian Lady
Vintage Clothes
Vintage Fashions
Vintage Footwear
Vintage Hats
Vintage Pattern Girls
Vintage Vogue Brushes
Map and Document Brushes
Before Google Maps and Microsoft Office, everything was done with ink and paper. Maps and other important documents were drawn by hand or stamped on parchment paper. This collection of vintage map and document brushes evokes the feeling of an old library or archive so effectively, you can practically smell the paper!
14 Hi Res Assorted Maps
Old Book Pages Brush
Old Booky Goodness Part 1
Old Brushes 2
Tickets and Labels Brush Set
Vintage Cards and Tags
Vintage Office Rubber Stamps Brushes
Vintage Paper
Waldseemuller World Map Photoshop Brushes (No longer available)
Wanted Poster
Letter and Postage Brushes
There’s no better reminder of the past than old letters, stationery and postage stamps. After all, in the days before e-mail and text messages, this was how people used to communicate with one another. We still use paper letters, but now they carry extra weight because we tend to reserve them for special occasions. These vintage letter and postage brushes help your audience associate your print design with that special feeling of receiving a letter in the mail.
6 Antique Postcard Brushes
Old Letter
Old Paper Brushes 2
Old Paper Brushes 4
Old Postcard Brush Set 1
Photoshop Stamp Brushes
Postage Label Brush Set
Scripts
Text Brush Set
Vintage Handwriting Brushes
Vintage Postcards Set 1
Vintage Script Brush
Sign and Advertisement Brushes
What better way to inject your marketing designs with a retro flavor than to pull images and aesthetics directly from old marketing materials? Back in the day, print designers didn’t have Photoshop to help them craft their designs. They had to do everything by hand, including logos, lettering and any illustrations or visual components. These vintage sign and advertisement brushes bring a bit of that handmade quality back to life, but in a way that’s much easier on the wrist.
1940 Cosmopoliton Brushes
Old Signs
Retr0 Brushes
Retro Images
Vintage Badge Templates
Vintage Grunge Brushes
Vintage News Ad
Vintage Parisian Ad Brushes
Miscellaneous Vintage Brushes
Need a vintage Photoshop brush that doesn’t fit into one of our other categories? Here’s a veritable cornucopia of retro photos, cartoons, diagrams and other ways to turn back time on your design.
Brush Set 64 – Retro Leftovers
Darger-esque Vol. 1
Mightee-Mouse Assorted Brushes
Old Essentials
Phrenology Photoshop Brushes
Retro Brushes PS
Retro Cartoon Brushes
Some Old Photos
Vintage 2 Brushes
Vintage Anatomy Set 1
Vintage Brushes 1
Vintage Medical Brushes
Vintage Polaroid Brushes
Vintage Toile
Vintage Hand
Final Thoughts
Nostalgia can be potent, but you have to know how and why to use it in your designs. Remember that just adding free vintage Photoshop brushes to your project won’t necessarily create the sense of nostalgia you’re hoping for; images and design elements from the 1940s won’t appeal much to a viewer who grew up in the 1980s. Make sure you know your audience and understand the types of imagery they’re most likely to identify with.
What kind of designs from the past do you wish would make a comeback? Do you have any far-out, happenin’ retro and vintage Photoshop brush downloads you want to add to the list? We want to hear your answers, so leave us a comment below.
