Brush Wizardry in Procreate: Custom Brushes and Settings That Instantly Upgrade Your Art

Why Brush Settings Matter More Than Brush Hoarding

In this article, we’ll treat Procreate’s brushes like we’re in a studio workshop. You’ll learn to:

• Understand the personality of a brush
• Tweak built‑in brushes instead of endlessly hunting for new ones
• Build your own texture, inking, and painterly brushes
• Save brush sets that match specific projects

We’ll walk through step-by-step brush experiments, so have Procreate open and be ready to tweak as you read.

1. Start with Three Core Brush Roles

Before we get fancy, set up a minimal “core set” covering three roles:

Open Brush Library and star these as a starting trio:

• 6B Pencil (Sketching → 6B Pencil)
• Studio Pen (Inking → Studio Pen)
• Round Brush (Painting → Round Brush) or Soft Brush (Airbrushing)

We’ll turn these into custom variants, not replace them.

2. Sketch Brush: Feel Like Paper, Not Glass

A. Duplicate and Rename

1. In Brush Library → Sketching, swipe left on 6B Pencil → Duplicate.
2. Tap the duplicate, rename to 6B – Rough Sketch.

B. Adjust Grain and Texture

1. In Brush Studio, go to Grain.
2. Lower Grain Scale slightly (e.g., from 40% to ~30%) for a subtler texture.
3. Raise Grain Depth a bit for more tooth.

Draw a few lines—does it feel scratchier? Adjust until it feels like a slightly rough sketchbook.

C. Tweak Opacity and Flow

Go to Apple Pencil tab:

• Increase Opacity response to pressure so light strokes are faint and hard strokes are solid.

Try this test:

1. Draw a gradient bar from whisper-light to press-hard.
2. Aim for a visible range without sudden jumps.

Use this brush on a mid‑gray background to sketch; the texture will show better than on white.

3. Inking Brush: Smooth, Confident Lines Without Over-Smoothing

A. Clone Studio Pen for Control

1. In Inking, duplicate Studio Pen.
2. Rename: Studio Pen – Organic Lines.

B. Stabilization vs Personality

In Stabilization tab:

• Stabilization/StreamLine: Start at ~15–25%.
• Draw long swoops and tight curves.

If your lines wobble, nudge it up; if they feel like “vector plastic,” bring it down.

C. Pressure Curve for Expressive Line Weight

Open Settings (wrench) → Prefs → Pressure Curve.

• Make a gentle S‑curve: slightly up in the middle, down near the ends.
• Test on your brush: aim for thick‑to‑thin variation without having to press too hard.

D. Taper Your Strokes

In Brush Studio → Taper:

• Enable Tip Taper on both ends.
• Keep taper amounts moderate (20–40%) so strokes don’t vanish completely.

Practice:

• Draw 10–20 quick strokes, lifting your pencil at the end of each.
• Adjust taper until line ends feel elegant, not chopped.

4. Painterly Brush: Build Your Own Soft‑Yet‑Textured Workhorse

We’ll customize a Round Brush into a versatile painter.

A. Duplicate and Rename

1. In Painting, duplicate Round Brush.
2. Rename: Painter – Soft Grit.

B. Add Texture via Grain

In Grain:

1. Tap Edit → Import → Source Library.
2. Pick a paper or speckle texture.
3. Adjust Scale so texture is visible but not screaming (20–35%).

C. Opacity & Flow Control

In Rendering:

• Choose Uniform or Intense Glaze for buildable paint.

In Apple Pencil:

• Let Opacity respond to pressure.
• Let Size respond slightly to pressure (10–20%) so strokes feel lively.

D. Anti-Mud Strategy

To avoid muddy colors:

• Keep Opacity 60–80% for laying color.
• Switch to 20–40% for blending.
• Use the Smudge tool with this same brush at low strength (10–20%) for softer blends.

Do a simple sphere study: base color, shadow color, highlight color. Practice blending with limited strokes.

5. Create a Texture Brush from a Photo

Let’s turn a real texture (like concrete or paper) into a custom brush.

A. Capture a Texture

1. Take a photo of a textured surface: paper, sidewalk, wood.
2. Import into Procreate (Add → Insert a photo).
3. Desaturate via Adjustments → Hue, Saturation, Brightness (Saturation to 0).
4. Increase contrast (Brightness down a bit, Contrast up a bit).

B. Make It a Grain Source

1. Select the texture area.
2. Three-finger swipe down → Copy.
3. Open Brush Library → Textures (or any set) → + to create a new brush.

In Grain:

1. Tap Edit → Import → Paste.
2. Set Grain Behavior to Textured.

Now in Stroke Path:

• Adjust Spacing to ~10–20% for rough stripes or 1–5% for continuous texture.

C. Use as Overlay

Set this new brush’s Blend Mode in the layer (not inside the brush) to Overlay or Soft Light and lower opacity. Brush over areas where you want subtle surface grit.

6. Build Project-Specific Brush Sets

Instead of one giant chaos library, make small, focused sets.

A. Create a New Brush Set

1. Scroll to the top of the Brush Library.
2. Tap + → rename to Comic Inking, Painterly Portraits, etc.

B. Populate with Purpose

In Comic Inking, include:

• An expressive line brush
• A solid fill brush (basic round, no opacity change)
• A halftone or texture brush

In Painterly Portraits, include:

• Your 6B – Rough Sketch
• Studio Pen – Organic Lines
• Painter – Soft Grit
• One extra textured brush for hair or fabrics

Rule: Each set should have 5–10 brushes you actually use. If something sits unused for a month, remove it.

7. Visual Thinking with Brushes: Assign Roles, Not Just Looks

Think of each brush as a team member with a job:

• Sketch brush: problem‑solving and exploration
• Line brush: clarity and design
• Paint brush: volume and light
• Texture brush: mood and storytelling

When you’re tempted to grab a random new brush, ask: What job am I trying to do? Then pick from your core team first.

Try this exercise:

1. Draw a simple object (a mug or a plant).
2. Force yourself to use only three brushes: one sketch, one line, one paint.
3. Notice what you actually missed. That tells you what kind of brush to design next.

8. Save and Share Your Brush Experiments

A. Back Up Your Favorites

1. In Brush Library, swipe left on your custom set → Share.
2. Save to cloud storage.

B. Version Your Experiments

When you’re about to heavily alter a beloved brush:

1. Duplicate it.
2. Add version tags: Painter – Soft Grit v1, v2, etc.
3. Keep your favorite, archive the rest in a folder called Archive – Brushes.

9. Your Next 15-Minute Brush Lab

To really own these tools, do this mini-workshop:

1. 5 minutes – tweak one sketch brush and do a page of gesture scribbles.
2. 5 minutes – tweak your inking brush, fill a page with line variations and simple shapes.
3. 5 minutes – tweak your painter brush, paint a simple fruit or sphere with three values.

By the end, you won’t just have brushes—you’ll understand them well enough to make them work for your style.

And that’s when Procreate starts feeling less like an app and more like your personal art studio.