I am currently using photoshop CS4
As for the brushes, I found them all over Teh Internet, I would just see a brush and would be like: Woah that one looks Cool!
....
....I only looked once for a special brush for the animation of the broken glass
As for the techniques, I just experiment A LOT. But you guys are more than welcome to suggest any idea of animation!...My creativity isn't really admirable =_="