How to Make Procreate Brushes
Learning how to make Procreate brushes gives you far more control than relying on the default library.
With the right brush source, settings, and testing workflow, you can create custom tools for sketching, inking, painting, texture, and lettering.
Procreate’s Brush Studio lets you turn simple artwork, scanned marks, or texture samples into expressive digital brushes.
The process is straightforward once you understand how brush shape, grain, and dynamics work together.
What a Procreate brush is made of
Every Procreate brush is built from two core image components and a set of behavior controls.
Understanding these parts makes custom brush creation much easier.
- Shape: the stamp or silhouette repeated by the brush stroke.
- Grain: the texture that appears inside or beneath the stroke.
- Rendering settings: how the stroke blends, builds opacity, and responds to pressure.
- Apple Pencil dynamics: tilt, pressure, taper, and size variation.
The shape and grain images are usually grayscale.
Darker areas affect how the brush deposits color, while lighter areas reduce it.
This is why a well-made source image matters so much.
Before you start creating a brush
Before making brushes in Procreate, decide what the brush should do.
A brush for loose charcoal shading needs different settings than a brush for crisp line art or textured lettering.
Gather a few reference materials first:
- A scanned drawing, ink mark, or paint texture
- A clean black-and-white shape source
- A grain texture or paper scan
- A clear use case, such as sketching, shading, or stippling
If you are using your own artwork, make sure the source has strong contrast and minimal noise.
Cleaner input usually creates more predictable brushes.
How to make Procreate brushes from scratch
The fastest way to create a custom brush is to build it inside Brush Studio from a shape and grain source.
You can start with a default brush and edit it, or make a brush from imported images.
1. Create or prepare the shape source
The shape source determines the visible edge of the stroke.
For a clean brush, use a simple black mark on a white background.
For textured brushes, use a rough stamp, splatter, or brush dab.
Helpful shape source tips:
- Use high contrast so Procreate can read the silhouette clearly.
- Keep the canvas square for easier brush behavior.
- Remove unwanted gray noise unless you want a softer edge.
- Rotate or edit the source if the brush stamp looks uneven.
2. Create or prepare the grain source
Grain controls the internal texture of the stroke.
This is where you can simulate paper, canvas, charcoal, dry pigment, or stippling.
For grain images, choose textures that are detailed but not overwhelming.
If the grain is too busy, the brush can look muddy or inconsistent at larger sizes.
3. Import the images into Brush Studio
Open Procreate, tap the Brush Library, and duplicate an existing brush or create a new one by importing a shape and grain source.
From there, open Brush Studio and review each tab carefully.
The most important sections for beginners are:
- Stroke Path: controls spacing and streamline.
- Shape: controls rotation, scatter, and count.
- Grain: controls movement and scale of the texture.
- Apple Pencil: controls pressure sensitivity.
- Properties: controls brush size limits and preview behavior.
Which Brush Studio settings matter most?
Some settings have a much bigger effect than others.
If you only adjust a few controls, focus on these first.
Spacing
Spacing determines how closely the brush stamps are placed along a stroke.
Low spacing creates a smoother line.
Higher spacing produces a dotted or segmented look.
Scatter and rotation
Scatter spreads the stamps randomly.
Rotation changes the angle of the shape source.
These settings are useful for natural media brushes, stipple brushes, and textured effects.
Jitter and falloff
Jitter introduces variation.
Falloff makes the stroke fade as it moves.
These controls can help create organic, hand-drawn results.
Pressure response
Apple Pencil pressure can affect size, opacity, and flow.
For line art, a pressure-sensitive brush often feels more natural.
For washes or shading, gentler pressure response can keep the stroke controlled.
How to make different kinds of Procreate brushes
The same workflow can produce many brush styles.
The main difference is how you configure the source images and settings.
How to make a sketch brush
Use a slightly textured shape and a light grain source.
Keep spacing low so the stroke feels continuous.
Add moderate taper and pressure sensitivity for a pencil-like feel.
How to make an inking brush
Choose a clean, solid shape with minimal grain.
Reduce scatter, keep spacing very low, and increase stabilization or streamline if you want smoother curves.
Inking brushes often benefit from strong opacity and consistent edge behavior.
How to make a painting brush
Painting brushes usually rely more on grain than shape complexity.
Use a softer shape with visible texture and experiment with blending, wet mix, and opacity variation.
This works well for gouache, oils, and dry brush effects.
How to make a texture brush
Use a highly detailed grain source and a shape that allows the texture to show through.
Adjust grain movement and scale so the texture stays visible at different brush sizes.
Texture brushes are useful for backgrounds, shading, and surface detail.
How to make a lettering brush
Lettering brushes need smooth pressure transitions and predictable taper.
Use a clean shape, stable stroke path, and minimal randomness.
This keeps downstrokes and curves consistent.
How to test and refine your brush
Testing is where a brush becomes usable.
A brush may look good in the studio but behave differently on the canvas.
Test the brush at multiple sizes and with different gestures:
- Short strokes for edge behavior
- Long strokes for consistency
- Fast swipes for lag or breakage
- Heavy pressure for opacity and width
- Light pressure for taper and subtle marks
If the brush feels too repetitive, adjust scatter, grain movement, or shape source detail.
If it feels too blotchy, reduce grain intensity or lower spacing.
How to save, duplicate, and organize Procreate brushes
Once a brush works well, save it as a new custom brush so you do not lose the original.
Duplicating brushes also lets you create variations without rebuilding everything from scratch.
- Duplicate a brush before major edits.
- Use clear names based on function, such as “Soft Charcoal,” “Fine Inker,” or “Dry Gouache.”
- Organize brushes into custom sets for sketching, painting, lettering, or texture work.
Good naming and organization save time when you are working on larger illustration projects or building a reusable brush library.
Common mistakes when making Procreate brushes
Many brush problems come from source image quality or settings that are too aggressive.
Avoid these common issues:
- Using low-contrast shape or grain images
- Making the brush too complex before testing basic behavior
- Setting spacing too high for line art
- Using excessive scatter on a brush that needs control
- Ignoring how the brush behaves at small and large sizes
If a brush feels unpredictable, simplify it first.
A clean, usable brush is usually better than one with too many effects.
Tips for better Procreate brush design
Good brush design is part technical and part artistic.
The best custom brushes reflect the medium you are trying to imitate, but they also need to feel comfortable on the iPad and Apple Pencil.
- Build brushes around a single purpose.
- Use real-world texture references when possible.
- Keep the source art clean and intentional.
- Test on different canvas backgrounds and colors.
- Save multiple versions as you refine settings.
As you experiment, you will notice that small changes in spacing, pressure, or grain scale can dramatically change the final result.
That is what makes custom brushes so powerful in Procreate.
