Brushes/Swatches

Photoshop brushes turn a flat plan or elevation into a drawing someone wants to look at. This collection gathers brush sets and swatch packs made for architectural work rather than general illustration: tree crowns in plan, elevation vegetation, human figures, textures, hatches and material swatches that sit correctly on a scaled drawing.

The sets here cover the two moments where brushes do most of the work. The first is the plan: top-view trees, shrubs and shadows that read as planting instead of green blobs. The second is the elevation and section: figures for scale, elevation trees with visible trunks, and surface texture that suggests material without fighting the line work underneath.

A brush is only as good as the size you stamp it at. Set your document to the final print size and resolution before placing anything, and keep plan crowns and elevation silhouettes in separate brush groups so you are not hunting through one long list mid-deadline. Shadow layers belong under the vegetation, not painted into the same stamp, so you can move them independently.

If you are deciding between free and paid sets, our guide to Photoshop brushes for architects compares what each is worth and where free packs run out.