Pushing your art outside of the box can help you make new and unexpected creative discoveries. Just like seeking out new inspiration or breaking your self-imposed rules, using new materials in your art—like different Procreate paint brushes—can help you explore new creative avenues. 

If you’re a minimalist digital artist who focuses on clean creations, you might try using a sketchy pencil brush to add a little bit of texture to your art. If you love to make your art using pixel brushes, you could try using a soft brush to make a gradient background for your creations. 

Even if you’re not looking to enhance your art or make new artistic discoveries, checking out cool Procreate brushes is a part of any Procreate how-to and will help push your Procreate skills even further. 

Speedup Your Art Journey with Procreate Brushes

Some of Procreate’s most advanced brushes can help take your art to new and interesting places and speed up your art process. For example, instead of trying to mimic the look of spray paint with a regular brush, you can use one of Procreate’s spray paint brushes. 

Procreate also offers Industrial, Abstract, Texture and Organic brush categories, which can produce textures like concrete, metal, rust, grass and bark. If you were painting a nature scene in Procreate, you could simply use the bark brush to add a realistic look to all of your trees instead of painstakingly drawing the shadows, light and texture of the bark. 

You can also create your own Procreate Brushes to insert a texture you’d like the brush to mimic. Creators use the brush studio to make brushes that mimic the texture of hair, fur, water and more. 

Best Procreate Brushes to Use

Procreate has eighteen different brush categories filled with dozens of different brushes. One way to learn the best Procreate brush packs for you is by exploring them through your own art. But by diving into twelve of the best Procreate brush categories, some of their corresponding brushes, and what they’re used for, you’ll have a better idea of how to use them for your next work of art. 

1. Sketching

An iPad open to Procreate sits on a black table. A hand holding an apple pencil is clicking on a brush called Peppermint. 
Still from Procreate 5 Brush Studio - Create Custom Brushes by Jon BrommetThe Peppermint brush has a pencil-like stroke. 

The sketching brush set is made for artists who want to do practical drawing, sketching and rough outlines. You’ll get brushes that feel like pencils, pastels and crayons. Both the HB Pencil and the 6B pencil mimic realistic pencils and are some of the best Procreate brushes for illustration.

2. Inking 

With the inking brushes, you’ll have the chance to quickly clean up your work. They’re great for artists who like the look of ink brushes, gel pens and markers. The Studio Pen and the Technical Pen both work well for line art and have tapered ends, giving them a realistic look.  

3. Drawing

A swatch of pencil and pastel brushes is open in Procreate. The names of the brushes and an example of each are visible. 
Still from Skillshare Class Digital Texture 101: Get to Know Your Procreate Brushes by Kristina HultkrantzSwatching a bunch of different brushes can help you decide which you’d like to use.

These popular Procreate brushes are a good choice for artists who want to add lighting, shadows and texture to their pieces. With both wet and dry mediums, the drawing brush set offers brushes like Gloaming, which offers a noticeable grain, and Oberon, which is nice for smudging and erasing.  

4. Painting

The painting brush set has brushes that mimic both real paint types—like acrylic, oil and stucco paint—and real tools—like an old paintbrush and a dry paintbrush. You’ll find brushes that work for you whether you want realistic or digital painting effects. The Tamar Brush makes it look like you’re painting on high-quality paper and Wet Glaze makes a great watercolor brush. 

5. Artistic

These brushes are meant to create texture in any piece. Built to look like each stroke was done on paper or canvas, the artistic brush set is for artists who want to mimic that real-life, textured look. With texture taking center stage, Leatherwood has a natural, leathery texture, and Aurora has a color-changing, splattery grain. 

6. Calligraphy

If you’re looking to write clean and smooth calligraphy or other text, the calligraphy brushes have Streamlined enabled, which means they’ll help you create even letters. Brushes like Blotchy provide a more watery look, and Monoline is super clean and sleek. 

7. Airbrushing

Artists often use the airbrushing brushes when they’re looking to create pure color or a seamless gradient. A softer version of spray paints, the Hard Blend brush only has a light airbrush at the end while the Soft Airbrush has a blurred look around all of its edges. 

8. Textures

A mountain landscape is open in Procreate. The artist used the Bardot Brush Texturrific Shaders to create the landscape. 
Still from Skillshare Class Digital Texture 101: Get to Know Your Procreate Brushes by Kristina HultkrantzYou can also swatch your brushes in a fun way by using them to create a simple landscape or scene. 

If you want to create texture without hand drawing every little detail, the texture brush set provides brushes that mimic different surfaces and patterns. You can paint in equal-sized squares with Grid, medium-sized circles with Decimal and fingerprint-like, interlocking patterns with Tessellated

9. Abstract

Procreate is known for its unexpected and unique brushes. The abstract brush set will provide a range of unexpected brush effects like brushes that change color and paint chaotic shapes. With the Polygon brush you can paint and draw using cubes and can paint with a triangular shape by using the Triangulum brush. 

10. Charcoals

Artists often used charcoal for its soft, distinctive quality, which works great for studies and portraits. The same goes for Procreate’s Charcoal brushes. Brushes like 4B Compressed offer a smooth, crayon-like experience and Carbon Stick will make you feel like you’re drawing with the side of a thick stick of charcoal.  

11. Elements 

Smoke, clouds, water, and flames are all some of the elements this Procreate brush set tries to recreate. With the element brush set you can use the Water brush to create the reflections that appear on the top of a body of water and the Crystals brush to draw in a crystallized form. 

12. Spraypaints

Procreate is open to a drawing of a bottle. The artist is adding a little pink splatter to the cork using a spray paint brush. 
Still from Skillshare Class Mastering Minimalist Illustration in Procreate: Uncover Your Artistic Voice and Signature Style by Sandra StuabThis artist adds texture to her minimalist drawing using a spray paint effect. 

While spray paint might be a classic medium used to cover the sides of buildings, you can use it in your digital art for realistic spray and splatter effects. Both edgy and versatile, you can use brushes like Splatter and Flicks for a splotchy look. 

Unleash Your Creativity with Procreate Brushes

Make your own brush swatch, build a landscape out of a few of your favorite brushes, or just draw a subject you love using a new brush to discover the right brush for you. To continue experimenting and learning how to create artwork in Procreate, Skillshare has the best class selection for beginner to advanced Procreate users.

Written By
Calli Zarpas

Calli Zarpas

Producer & Writer by occupation. Ceramicist & Newsletter Editor by avocation.

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