Fire and flames are notoriously tricky elements to master in digital art. While practicing the proper techniques is vital to your success, you also need exceptional resources to create the most realistic and fiery effects. Even if you already know how to digitally draw fire, timer-savers like prerendered assets can be a boon when you’re up against the clock.

We’ve searched high and low for the top resources an aspiring pyromancer might use. When wielded correctly, these assets, brushes, and bundles will give you an edge in bringing that mighty dragon or raging wildfire to life. 

RM Smoke & Fire FX

Where there’s digital fire, there’s digital smoke. This effect brush kit for Photoshop CS5+ CC+ produces stylus-responsive smoke and cloud textures to make fiery elements feel more realistic. Manually creating smoke effects can be unpredictable, and their dynamics are challenging to master—but not when you have this bundle at your fingertips. The roughly 50 brushes in this set save time by automatically mimicking the unique properties of smoke. You can even use them to render explosive effects!

Shrineheart’s Fire and Flames Colors

Hannah Miller’s gradients for fire and flames are exclusive to Clip Paint Studio and Manga Studio, but that doesn’t make them any less eye-catching. This set of more than 400 fire-based colors will make your next manga or comic book illustration roar off the page with palpable heat. The product includes a single color set for achieving a truly toasty look.

Fire and Flame Overlays

Sometimes you need a quick, isolated overlay to blend into an existing photo. These fire and flame overlays can add a fiery blaze to highlight critical areas and bring out powerful emotions. At 300 DPI, the 35 JPG images in this set give you stunning, high-quality elements compatible with any application that allows you to work with layers (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc.). Turn up the heat on your next photo project, and try these fiery photo overlays!

Yellow Fire Color Swirl Background Textures

If you want an exciting flame texture in the background of your next piece, this bundle is for you. These vibrant and detailed backdrops could serve as the canvas for your next project, a fun texture to add depth to an existing element, or the epicenter of a hurtling fireball. The 16 PNGs are hi-res (300 DPI) images that swirl in fiery reds, oranges, and yellows to fuel your next fire-based illustration. With their ready-to-use RGB transparency, you won’t need any masking to start setting your art ablaze.

Violet Flames

Learning how to digitally draw fire and natural flames is one thing, but magical energy with fiery effects can be a tough subject. Fortunately, this exclusive illustration featuring the original character Violetta walks you through the process of crafting arcane fire that radiates with pure energy. The bundle includes a PSD with all the layers, so you can easily follow the video of the process and achieve a similar look. You’ll also receive a hi-res JPG of the completed illustration.

4K Fire Flares

Fire in motion can be difficult to capture for the most seasoned digital artist. Fortunately, these 100 prerendered overlays have transparent backgrounds, making them easy to drop into any artwork. Intensify a scene with dramatic streaks of fiery brilliance, or create a sense of speed by adding flaming trails. Like the Fire and Flame Overlays above, they’re compatible with any software that lets you work with layers. 

Fire and Lava Textures

Does your next piece see a band of heroes descend into an active volcano? It can now! These 125 fire and lava textures are the perfect assets to bring out the heat in your fire-inspired projects. At the hi-res mark of 3000x3000, these JPG images can save money, speed up results, and simplify your process. Each texture was handcrafted to be unique and organic, giving you nearly infinite possibilities for combining, blending, texturizing, and lighting. 

Bela-Designs’ Fire Reference Pack 1 + 2

Hannah Worley’s collection of more than 400 royalty-free fire images comes in two bundles. Reference Pack 1 and Reference Pack 2 both contain roughly 200 images captured with a DSLR camera using a wide range of settings. Sporting a high resolution of 6000x4000, these reference bundles will inspire and educate artists learning to master how to digitally draw fire. 

Wielding Fire Like an Expert

Learning how to digitally draw fire and flames can be challenging, but with the right resources, it’s exponentially easier. From brushes that mimic the unique traits of smoke to gradients that make your manga art radiate heat, these resources are invaluable for artists of any skill level. Cubebrush provides a diverse and rich marketplace for artists to share their tools and knowledge. It’s the perfect platform to ignite your creativity and find fuel for your next fire-inspired project. 

Ready to light the way with Cubebrush? Let’s get fired up!