Smoke Effects, Brushes, and Inspiration

These smoke effects and brushes will help simplify projects and designs, while these inspirational images will give a creative boost.

In today’s inspiration roundup, we’ve put together some of our favorite smoke brushes and effects. We’ve curated these works and resources to inspire and help you with your projects, designs, and general outbursts of creativity.

One of the things I personally enjoy about these roundups is being able to see so many unique works by photographers and artists that I might not normally be drawn to. It’s an exciting way to learn and grow.

If you see something you like, please click on the image to learn more. Delve in, explore, and share!

Smoke Effects

One the great things about smoke effects is that they give you a lot of flexibility when it comes to creating your smoke-y designs. Whether you want to turn something into smoke or add a smoke layer around an existing image, we’ve got you covered.

The smoke effects below cover a wide range of smoke effects, from the simple to the more detailed. These effects are perfect for you purists out there. They’ll let you build your image from the ground up.

If you’re looking to save some time and don’t quite need to be overly focused on the details, check out the smoke brushes we have further down on this page.

Smoke Brushes

These are more my speed.

I totally get that different projects need different types of work, but if I can’t add my smoke with a quick brush, then I don’t want any of it.

Smoke brushes are ideal for those of you out there that, like me, want a quick way to add the effect to a photo or design. Brushes offer a simple, easy solution that will save you time and energy. And we all know that as a designer time = money.

Of course, not all brushes are created equal, so we’ve put together a list of different options for you. Just a heads up, some do require payment, though the majority are available for free.

Smoke Inspiration

Smoke has been used very creatively in designs throughout time. The problem is, sometimes when you’re mid-design, you can get kind of locked up. You know what you want to do, but you can’t quite visualize your end product.

As I mentioned before, one of my favorite things about these roundups is seeing work I might otherwise gloss over. If all you need is a little bit of inspiration, this is the place for it. We love how these photographers have incorporated smoke into their images. We also love the use of smoke in more eclectic, out-there projects.

And just click on the images to see more of the artist’s works, which might not all be smoke-themed, but are still very inspirational.

 If you have any design needs, questions, or suggestions for future inspiration roundups, let us know in the comments!