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The Ultimate Collection Of Photoshop Custom Shapes

By Steven Snell, December 11th, 2008 in Developer's Toolbox | 207 Comments | Forum

By Steven Snell

Photoshop users are able to benefit from the vast amount of high-quality resources that are freely available to the community. Brushes get a lot of attention, but custom shapes are also extremely useful in the right situations. Finding a custom shape that has already been created can save you some time and headaches in your design, and fortunately there is a very wide variety of custom shapes available.

This post highlights 80 different sets of custom shapes (over 2,500 individual shapes) in several different categories. If you plan to download and use any of these shapes be sure to check to terms and conditions set by the creator of the shapes.

1. People

People Silhouettes (306 shapes)

Costumes and Characters Shapes (56 shapes)

Skateboarding (9 shapes)

Skater Collection (3 shapes)

Skateboarders (8 shapes)

Stock Girls (8 shapes)

Businessman Silhouettes (12 shapes)

Business Girls (12 silhouettes)

Jumping People Silhouettes (104 shapes)

Break Dancing (8 shapes)

Hoops (57 shapes)

Presentational Shapes (10 shapes)

Random People Shapes (11 shapes)

People Shape Set (25 shapes)

Hot Babes (7 shapes)

Go-Go Girls (18 shapes)

Sexy Stances (13 shapes)

Ladies (7 shapes)

Sexy Girls (47 shapes)

2. Animals

Birds (12 shapes)

Butterflies (38 shapes)

Horses (9 shapes)

Horses (15 shapes)

Zebras (6 shapes)

Sea Creatures (27 shapes)

Animals (10 shapes)

Animal Patterns (13 shapes)

Bugs (20 shapes)

Weathered Flying Bugs (21 shapes)

3. Planes and Boats

Aircraft (21 shapes)

Maritime (27 shapes)

WW2 Planes (13 shapes)

4. Guns and Weapons

Guns (30 shapes)

Guns (26 shapes)

Ray Guns and Laser Blasters (15 shapes)

I Love Weapons (12 shapes)

5. Halloween Shapes

Halloween Shapes (23 shapes)

Halloween Shapes (10 shapes)

6. Trees

Trees (17 shapes)

Dead Trees (24 shapes)

Live Trees (21 shapes)

Plan Trees (20 shapes)

7. Circles

Retro Circles (10 shapes)

Circles (10 shapes)

Circles, Lines and Sunlights (108 shapes)

8. Random Shapes

Stars (200 shapes)

Sunbursts (30 shapes)

Splats and Drips (15 shapes)

Splat Shapes (8 shapes)

Stains & Blots (34 shapes)

Drips (25 shapes)

Paisley (24 shapes)

Kiddy Stuffs (72 shapes)

Ribbon Collection (3 shapes)

Voters Collection (2 shapes)

Surfing Themed Shapes (6 shapes)

Hero Shapes (13 shapes)

Flames (5 shapes)

Markers (23 shapes)

Vector Shapes (13 shapes)

Arrows (10 shapes)

Speech Bubble Shapes (42 shapes)

Cartoon Shapes (25 shapes)

Assorted Logos (38 shapes)

CD & DVD Logos (7 shapes)

Foliage Shapes (371 shapes)

Tools (9 shapes)

I Love Skulls (12 shapes)

Urban Shapes (31 shapes)

World Map (3 shapes)

Banner and Scrolls (28 shapes)

Art Supplies (16 shapes)

Skyline Collection (6 shapes)

Arabeski (23 shapes)

9. Combination Packs

Custom Shapes Pack v. 1.1 (100 shapes)

Custom Shape Pack (45 shapes)

50s Custom Shapes (14 shapes)

Revolution Collection (6 shapes)

Custom Shape Mix (24 shapes)

Vector Shape Mix (50 shapes)

If you’re interested in learning more about the basics of custom shapes, how to load them, and how to create your own, try the following resources.

About the Author:

Steven Snell is a Web designer and freelance blogger who can be found on his own blogs: Vandelay Website Design and DesignM.ag. (al)

Published in Developer's Toolbox, December 11th, 2008
Tags: custom, photoshop, shapes

1.

thisdj (December 11th, 2008, 8:28 pm)

WOW!! AWESOME!! thank you sooo much..
2.

sulco (December 11th, 2008, 8:35 pm)

Impressive - and useful. As always! ;)
Thanks!
3.

John Saldana (December 11th, 2008, 8:37 pm)

I have been looking for something like the foliage brushes for sometime now, this is awesome!
Thanks so much Smashing Magazine!
4.

gaurav (December 11th, 2008, 8:42 pm)

incredibly attractive ..ooohoooh blender in assorted logo
5.

Ben (December 11th, 2008, 8:51 pm)

Wow this is a grate resource of Photoshop Shapes, for a quick search. I will help lazy designers to make their goal.
One more suggestion, There are people like me who don’t know the exact name of shapes like, the retro shapes, swirls etc.. If you have added it bellow the group it might have helped us for further searching….
6.

ncus (December 11th, 2008, 9:00 pm)

WOW, great stuff.
7.

david (December 11th, 2008, 9:11 pm)

hot damn … these are awesome!

thanks for sharing.

cheers

david
8.

ZaF (December 11th, 2008, 9:36 pm)

thanks heaps man, some really useful stuff on their. definitely will download some!!
9.

Justin Razmus (December 11th, 2008, 9:55 pm)

Great links. Keep up the good work on this site. You guys keep me coming back.
10.

Raul (December 11th, 2008, 9:56 pm)

nice, i always knew that shapes have been underestimated in photoshop
11.

chad (December 11th, 2008, 9:58 pm)

Amazing stuff!
12.

Achmad Syarif (December 11th, 2008, 10:01 pm)

I ‘ve downloaded some of them, but I really want it all!! Really, really great stuff!!
13.

Raymond Selda (December 11th, 2008, 10:08 pm)

Amazing list! Resources are really vast. Thank you for compiling this SM.
14.

VTV (December 11th, 2008, 10:13 pm)

thanks for the list of photoshop shapes.. smashing magazine smashes it again :)
15.

Eli (December 11th, 2008, 10:15 pm)

This is why I love SM. You do all the leg work and make these huge awesome lists :)
16.

PrabhakaranG (December 11th, 2008, 10:41 pm)

Very usefull & interesting..Am just wondering how u guys think in different ways to attract designers ;)
17.

Swapnil Sarwe (December 11th, 2008, 10:57 pm)

This is an exhaustive list of awesome collection
18.

Andris (December 11th, 2008, 11:12 pm)

Awesome collection! I will come back for sure, if I need some of those. Thanx a lot.
19.

Samuel (December 11th, 2008, 11:23 pm)

This was actually an awsome post, thanks!
20.

Pierro (December 11th, 2008, 11:26 pm)

Thats is just brilliant ! Thanks for this awesome list !
21.

Dietmar (December 11th, 2008, 11:38 pm)

Great collection with thousands of very good shapes. Thanks!
22.

Alex Abramov (December 11th, 2008, 11:40 pm)

SICK! I’ve dreamed about this collection! SM rocks!
23.

Frank Buynsters (December 11th, 2008, 11:50 pm)

OMG this is really, really great!
24.

jens (December 11th, 2008, 11:57 pm)

WOW, this is the greatest collection. thx!
25.

kidsinhalf (December 12th, 2008, 12:03 am)

And I think to myself… What a wonderful shape !
26.

Daniel (December 12th, 2008, 12:10 am)

Thank you very much for this great collection!
27.

Marcel (December 12th, 2008, 12:32 am)

You surpise me… every day. Thanks!
28.

Hilde (December 12th, 2008, 1:01 am)

How weird to skim through a SM post and see five of my own shape collections =)
(I’ve made one of the skater collections, the ribbon collection, the voters collection, the skyline collection (my most popular creation to date) and the revolution collection.

I hope some of you will enjoy them!
29.

Sasa (December 12th, 2008, 1:07 am)

Very useful! Thank you.

It would be even more useful, though, if there was a zip file with all these shapes included for one simple download. I sure don’t have the time to visit so many websites and to do this myself. Not now anyway. Also for archival purposes, because today most of them will be there, but in 6 months from now, when I might need them, the one I really must have will be gone. For whatever reason.

Anyway, just a thought about how you could smash us even harder in our collective faces ;)

Keep smashin’
30.

tct (December 12th, 2008, 1:15 am)

Great collection. Thanks for the post, appreciated.
31.

Cisco (December 12th, 2008, 1:26 am)

Amazing!
32.

Leigh Taylor (December 12th, 2008, 1:30 am)

Impressive list
33.

Markus (December 12th, 2008, 1:56 am)

<3 wonderful collection.
34.

Bruno (December 12th, 2008, 2:08 am)

Without words…. thx!!!

Br1
35.

Andrei (December 12th, 2008, 2:11 am)

Wooooo !!!! … are you kidding me ? … handing it over on a silver platter … tx u guyz … SM rulez
36.

dsmith (December 12th, 2008, 2:24 am)

good selection, but not many football related shapes!
37.

Skyhigh (December 12th, 2008, 2:25 am)

Fantastic collection!

* Although a single Zip** would be nice, the reason that there probably isn’t one is that ‘the least we can do’ for these free resources is visit the suppliers site, although yes, it does take a bit of time - it’s saving people a lot of cash for some quality resources :)

** Unless someone starts collecting all the resources, zipping them, putting them on somewhere like RapidShare…then posting the link in the comments…
38.

linh (December 12th, 2008, 2:34 am)

whoa, this is the best ps stuff collection i have seen.
thanks
39.

cosmo (December 12th, 2008, 2:59 am)

great collection - thx
40.

crypta (December 12th, 2008, 3:10 am)

UNBELIEVEBLE!
41.

Curt Simon Harlinghausen (December 12th, 2008, 3:23 am)

Sensationelle Sammlung. Sensational. Great Collection.

Get infected . . . and stay tuned . . .
42.

francesca (December 12th, 2008, 3:30 am)

fantastiche!
thank you!
43.

LuLu (December 12th, 2008, 3:42 am)

WOOOOOOOOW !!!!!! Thanks a lot !!!!!!
44.

neil (December 12th, 2008, 3:56 am)

wooowowowo! smashed with greatness again!
45.

Pet Memorials and Coffins (December 12th, 2008, 4:05 am)

This is amazing!

Thankyou
46.

Rafie (December 12th, 2008, 4:26 am)

This is really good for the Christmas break holiday. Cheers!
47.

niall (December 12th, 2008, 4:32 am)

It’s funny how these have just appeared, I was looking everywhere online for a set of photoshop shapes in order to make buttons for a website, representing commercial businesses or services such as food related shapes that would represent and restaurant, but to no avail. this set also doesn’t appear to have anything like that.
48.

v8webdesign.com (December 12th, 2008, 4:34 am)

Great Shapes!… very useful … thx guys!
49.

Matt (December 12th, 2008, 5:00 am)

@ Niall:

You’re absolutely right. Although the shapes are great, there’s not much that could be used for normal everyday (non-funky) businesses.
50.

Bones (December 12th, 2008, 5:28 am)

Wooow ! a über mega Collection. It will be very Usefull ! Thx !
51.

Steven Snell (December 12th, 2008, 5:41 am)

Sasa,
I’m not sure that a zip file with all of the shapes would be possible. Some of the makers state that no redistribution is allowed and I believe that would qualify as redistribution.
52.

Julie - On the Dot Creations (December 12th, 2008, 5:44 am)

Ultimate Collection is right! I’ve got to Twitter about this! Thanks much!
53.

Justin Floyd (December 12th, 2008, 5:58 am)

I’m going to have to hire myself to create make-work jobs just to have an excuse to use all of this great stuff. Thanks SM!
54.

Raj (December 12th, 2008, 6:07 am)

WOW! nice collection..ThanQ Smashing magazine
55.

Mike (December 12th, 2008, 6:25 am)

This is just amazin’

I’ve been looking for ages, for a compilation of this size!
Thank you so much!
56.

Dylan (December 12th, 2008, 6:41 am)

Simply Fantastic!
57.

mikey (December 12th, 2008, 7:07 am)

nice list. i didn’t realize that there was such a call for so many slutty silhouettes.
58.

Omar (December 12th, 2008, 7:18 am)

awsome collection!
59.

Brian (December 12th, 2008, 7:21 am)

Greatness
60.

c1b3rd4ng3r (December 12th, 2008, 7:22 am)

wow nice collection!
61.

Patrick Budowski (December 12th, 2008, 7:45 am)

Very nice! Can’t wait to start playing
62.

Davin (December 12th, 2008, 8:28 am)

Fantastic Collection.
63.

GREAT STUFF (December 12th, 2008, 8:37 am)

I’ve noticed a few comments about every day applications. Aside from all the fun stuff and ads I’ll do with these, I will actually use a lot of the people’s silhouettes in news graphics, as silhouettes are notoriously hard to find in good quality.
64.

dragoshell (December 12th, 2008, 9:20 am)

Wow! Thanks for this amazing collection.
65.

Coberloco (December 12th, 2008, 9:28 am)

Awesome collection. I just wish I had even the slightest bit of graphic design ability.
66.

Aaron Ortiz (December 12th, 2008, 10:01 am)

WOW, I love Smashing Magazine!
67.

Cosmi (December 12th, 2008, 10:05 am)

Amazing collection ! Thank you very much !
68.

Scott (December 12th, 2008, 10:08 am)

Are these all royalty free to use?
69.

Paddy (December 12th, 2008, 10:18 am)

Fantastic list as usual SM!

So handy to have all these :)
70.

Sam Dunn (December 12th, 2008, 11:35 am)

This made me royally excited. Awesome collection.
71.

sedmonds (December 12th, 2008, 11:51 am)

Thanks to Deviant Art for the inspiration and Smashing Magazine for the summary. Thanks guys and gals.
72.

smitha (December 12th, 2008, 12:11 pm)

amazing collection. you guys rock!!!! thanks for such a thoughtful post.
73.

marv (December 12th, 2008, 12:30 pm)

Blender in assorted logo hoh hoh hoh - an amazing set!
74.

Dave (December 12th, 2008, 1:37 pm)

Heh… NY skyline still has the twin towers in it…
75.

Lucas521 (December 12th, 2008, 1:57 pm)

you guys are incredible!!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!
76.

Hilde (December 12th, 2008, 2:48 pm)

Dave: I created that one, and if you went to the DevientArt page where it’s downloadable, you’d be able to read why I kept the twin towers in.

And - as one of the creators, I can confirm what Skyhigh and Steven Snell wrote - I feel I deserve to have you spend half a minute visiting my profile in return for the hours I spent making my share of these shapes…
77.

Ahmed Graphics (December 12th, 2008, 3:21 pm)

Wonderful Collection..
Thank You Very mush Smashing mag.
Keep your way..
waiting for more great posts..
78.

Daniel (December 12th, 2008, 7:38 pm)

super cool… love the 50s shapes!
79.

espi (December 13th, 2008, 2:06 am)

such a huge collection! thanks for sharing them. just what i need right now.
80.

Min Thu (December 13th, 2008, 2:47 am)

Very nice collection! Thank you.
81.

Chinmoy kumar Das (December 13th, 2008, 3:07 am)

Great wide range of collection… Thanks a ton!!!
82.

Michal (December 13th, 2008, 3:24 am)

i do not post a lot of commets, but this topic is great! Much respect for this one!

Thanks.
83.

oniduke (December 13th, 2008, 5:57 am)

microsoft office’s cliparts are far more good

lol
84.

Pete (December 13th, 2008, 6:17 am)

Thank you soooooooo much…a whole new creative world opened for me!!!
85.

Esaul Daris (December 13th, 2008, 6:29 am)

I’m new in Vector images. How to install these vector’s on to my photoshop?
86.

chipushka (December 13th, 2008, 6:31 am)

That is great! Thank you!
87.

Undead_OFF (December 13th, 2008, 6:33 am)

Uowww great job man *-*

Very good o/
88.

Aaron Mills (December 13th, 2008, 8:36 am)

Wow that is a really good set of shapes.. I have to say you really do find the best content!
89.

MacRankin (December 13th, 2008, 12:15 pm)

Oh crap, I wish I spotted this earlier — much earlier. *rollseyes* I’ve been having the time of me life with the old pen tool in Illustrator creating hand-guns and skulls.

If I can only master the pen tool, then I will be able to do anything. Having said that, your resource is most blinking awesome, so perhaps I will not have to master everything.

Thank you big-time for finding this stuff — it really helps. :D
90.

Andy Gongea (December 13th, 2008, 2:06 pm)

Simply awesome!
91.

Finn (December 13th, 2008, 3:58 pm)

Sweet ! thnx
92.

tripdragon (December 13th, 2008, 4:20 pm)

In Illustrator we call these vectors!
93.

Oliver Saguibo Jr (December 13th, 2008, 8:36 pm)

wow.nice post. i can use a lot of these. this topic needs some respect. its great
great collection. thanks for the upload. keep up the good work. take care
94.

Reality (December 13th, 2008, 10:53 pm)

Huh…. The hard work of others and Money for smashingmagazine.
95.

knottylindsi (December 13th, 2008, 11:12 pm)

What an excellent list! Much appreciated!
96.

Darkorigins (December 14th, 2008, 2:11 am)

thanks. my respect * bow *
97.

santos (December 14th, 2008, 7:04 am)

Oh my God! what a post. good work! pliz keep it up.
98.

Leon (December 14th, 2008, 8:04 am)

thanks - allready on my favorites (-.-)
99.

John (December 14th, 2008, 12:08 pm)

Yet another brilliant post - top quality links and posts mean I keep Smashing as a permanent fav link.
Keep it up - your site is a great resource.
100.

ashvin (December 14th, 2008, 1:11 pm)

awesome :o
101.

David (December 14th, 2008, 2:03 pm)

Absolutely amazing! Thank you so much!
102.

Jeremy (December 14th, 2008, 7:56 pm)

Very nice collection. Good Job.
103.

Marcin (December 14th, 2008, 9:21 pm)

Awesome awesome AWESOME!! That’s all I have to say.

oh and AWEEESSSOMMMEEEE!!
104.

NicO (December 14th, 2008, 9:50 pm)

Wow. And wow. And wow!
105.

aSeed (December 15th, 2008, 12:17 am)

Tanks for that, it will be so usefull!
106.

Smylo (December 15th, 2008, 3:08 am)

Thanks for this great collection!
107.

KA (December 15th, 2008, 10:23 am)

HOLY SHAPES!!!
108.

Stanislav (December 15th, 2008, 12:34 pm)

It’s a pity that you did’t include mine - Allsilhouettes.com. It is 100% related to sharing HQ vector silhouettes and Custom Shapes… ;-(
109.

aNGEL (December 15th, 2008, 2:20 pm)

You seem to have the ability to read my mind XDDD i was looking for this ages ago, and finally find something with quiality :D
110.

Vinícius Alencar (December 15th, 2008, 4:09 pm)

Congratulations to smashingmagazine.com…!!!

is a very well website…

very nice post and shapes…!!!
111.

Gabriel Tucunduva (December 16th, 2008, 3:21 am)

amazing collection!!
thanks for share ;)
112.

Chris W (December 16th, 2008, 4:09 am)

Nice but you’re missing ’stars’ - it’s Christmas, after all!
113.

speedcu (December 16th, 2008, 4:40 am)

YEAH!!!! excactly what I was looking for!!!! thank you sooooooooo much!!! juhuuuu
114.

surfsup (December 16th, 2008, 4:53 am)

Yeah, but is web-design art…??
115.

Dinesh (December 16th, 2008, 5:48 am)

Thank you very much… I ‘ll be grateful to u
116.

FIERMnz (December 16th, 2008, 6:52 am)

i luv u so much. . . . . . . . . .

you roCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
117.

bootsrutman (December 16th, 2008, 7:10 am)

Any shapes where the woman don’t look slutty? Even the “Business Girls” look vampy. Not really useful in my workplace.
118.

SHANEKA (December 16th, 2008, 11:28 am)

OMG.. YOU ALL HAVE EVERYTHING! THANKS..
119.

patocr (December 16th, 2008, 1:21 pm)

just amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
120.

Towelie (December 17th, 2008, 12:39 am)

Wow, thanks very much for all the effort, much appreciated, how i wish i would have stumbled this site a long time ago.

Towelie.
121.

Mysportfolios (December 17th, 2008, 3:56 am)

This is great! thanks so much for compiling this list of shapes.
122.

jo (December 17th, 2008, 4:04 am)

thanks generous folks! much appreciated
123.

Jk (December 17th, 2008, 6:55 am)

Wow!
124.

baltaweb (December 17th, 2008, 8:41 am)

Excelente, muchas gracias por el aporte y la información…
125.

Emre Ekinci (December 17th, 2008, 11:38 am)

Absulutly amazing…
126.

Sidnei Dasilva (December 17th, 2008, 4:26 pm)

Thanks
127.

Ehud (December 18th, 2008, 12:43 am)

Truly awesome.
Thanks
128.

Onurkuru (December 18th, 2008, 1:02 am)

Thanks a lot really its wonderfull archive
129.

Mainak (December 18th, 2008, 9:00 am)

awesome.. thanks guys..
130.

tom (December 19th, 2008, 9:09 am)

Very cool shape, but can u help me, i dont know how to use them in Ps CS3. Pls Help Me
131.

Gaga (December 19th, 2008, 9:55 am)

Thanks bgt
132.

pwren (December 19th, 2008, 7:34 pm)

awesome … thank-you so much! Seasons Greetings,

pwren
133.

umesh (December 19th, 2008, 10:19 pm)

good web site for photoshop user….
134.

Juliana (December 22nd, 2008, 7:47 am)

Adooorei…
obrigada ; )
135.

rickylounge (December 27th, 2008, 7:34 am)

No word to say…:Awesome post!
136.

kym (December 28th, 2008, 7:46 pm)

hello… thanks for the free shapes and brushes…..
137.

Erik M Kubitschek (December 31st, 2008, 6:02 am)

Goodness, thanks again!!!
138.

Khalid (January 2nd, 2009, 4:01 am)

Nice & beautiful collection of photoshop shapes
139.

aline (January 2nd, 2009, 11:28 am)

i loved…i go linked in my favorite and my blog
thank you
140.

EgaN (January 4th, 2009, 11:39 pm)

really…it’s cooL & awesome..
Thanks dudE’>
141.

Kris (January 6th, 2009, 9:33 pm)

thank you very much for these
142.

CKAJBOKEP (January 28th, 2009, 5:39 pm)

BEST PS Site EVER!!!!:) GREAT JOB PEOPLE… U just saved my life…:) <3
143.

Raul Liborio (March 1st, 2009, 2:50 pm)

I LOVE YOU!
144.

Billie (March 17th, 2009, 11:29 am)

You Are A STAR!!!!! Thank you soo much for the links to how to make these custom shapes.

I will now go investigate this site. It was my first visit, but it won’t be my last

Thanks again

Billie
145.

thanks (March 25th, 2009, 6:40 am)

Thankssssss :P:P:P
146.

Fran (April 12th, 2009, 1:15 pm)

Genial!!! Exelente articulo.
147.

Graham (April 17th, 2009, 5:59 pm)

this might sound silly to most of you but photoshop isn’t my area of expertise.

anyway i don’t know how to use these, i’ve downloaded one, so how do i apply it to photoshop and then how do i use them in photoshop?

any help?

thanks a lot
148.

robot head (May 6th, 2009, 7:35 pm)

absolutely amazing!!! what a score!!!
149.

Carmel Fox (May 18th, 2009, 9:19 am)

I’m new to Stumble, all is looking good. Hopefully I’ll master the wonderful info available here. :)
150.

Orlandina (May 26th, 2009, 12:08 pm)

Greatest collection ever! )) Thanks!
However… several links do not work. Random People Shapes (11 shapes) and the 2nd set of horses. Could you fix them please? Please, please :)
151.

Riaz (May 28th, 2009, 9:43 pm)

Amazing Collection.And even i need some web 2.0 button shapes…
152.

منتديات ماى بكتشرز (June 8th, 2009, 4:54 am)

thanx alot

Link [www.my-picz.co.cc]
153.

Ali (June 30th, 2009, 5:56 am)

Thanks guys for letting us download somethings for FREE but worth too much