Creating Procreate Brushes - Step by Step Guide

If you want to use custom brushesin Procreate, it is essential to understand the structure of these brushes. Brushes are more than just colors on a canvas; they consist of two essential components: a shape source and a grain source. Below, I will show you stepby step how to createyour own brushes in Procreate.

Main Findings

• A brush in Procreate consists of a shape source and a grain source.
• Shape and grain sources can consist of existing templates or your own designs.
• Make sure your sources are square and saved in PNG format.

Step-by-Step Guide

To create your own brush in Procreate, you start by understanding the two sources that define a brush. To illustrate what that means, let's first look at an existing brush.

Navigate to a category in your brush collection, for example, “Calligraphy”, and select the “Monoline Brush”. In the bottom right corner, you will see the shape and grain source of this brush.

The shape source is a solid filled white circle, while the grain source is also a completely white area. When you tap on the canvas, you will get a round shape with the selected color, whether red or black.

To create your own sources, you can either insert a photo or select an existing shape or grain source from the Procreate library. Let's change the shape to a hexagon while keeping the grain source the same.

If you now tap on the canvas, you will see a hexagon instead of the circle. Now we will also change the grain source, as this is the pattern with which the shape will be filled. Select a different pattern from the library, such as “Grid” or checkered pattern.

Now you have a hexagonal shape with a gridded grain source. To make this more visible, change the size limitation of the brush so that it becomes a bit larger.

If you want your brush to return to its original state, you can simply reset it. Swipe left and tap “Reset” for this. In the brush collection, you can now distinguish between original brushes and copied brushes.

To copy a brush, simply tap “Duplicate”. Note the small icon in the upper right corner, indicating that this is a copied brush.

The Procreate library has many different shape and grain sources available. Therefore, you should first check if you already have the required pattern before you start creating your own source.

However, if you decide to design a brush from scratch, you will need your own shape and grain source or both. Make sure to create your sources in a square format, as distortions can occur if they are not square.

Another important point is that you paint with white what should be visible, and turn off the background color when exporting. Only the white pixels should be saved in the image. Export the image in PNG format, as this format supports transparent pixels.

Once the image is exported, you can insert it into Procreate. Click on “Insert Photos” and select your image to define it as a shape or grain source.

After defining your sources, you can experiment with additional brush settings to customize the settings to your liking. Now you have created your own brush.

If you tap on the new brush and wait a moment, you will have the option to move it to another category.

Summary – Create Your Own Brush in Procreate

Creating your own brushes in Procreate is a creative and effective process that allows you to elevate your artistic vision to a new level. You have learned how shape and grain sources are defined and how to customize them to create unique brushes that reflect your style.