Brushes used: my "Cartooning Monoweight"; Procreate's standard "Wet Sponge"
I'm a user of Procreate, a fabulous drawing app for the iPad. One of the great features is that you can create your own brushes using custom shapes and/or textures.
I'm having a great time making brushes to use in my own illustrations and hand-lettering, and I'm delighted to share them with anyone who wants them. Check 'em out below!
(Note: These are .BRUSH files, which will only work with Procreate. You can download them and then either put them in Dropbox, or email them to yourself. On the iPad, click on the file either in Dropbox or in your inbox, and select "Open in Procreate." Or if you're already in Procreate, tap on the brushes menu, tap the plus sign in the upper right, then tap "Import" in the upper right. Navigate to where you've saved the .BRUSH file, and tap on it to load it in!)
New link: If you want all of 'em, you can visit the Dropbox folder that all of these brushes live in, instead of having to grab them one at a time. Here's my whole free Procreate brushes folder!
Thick and Thin: just like it says, this lettering brush goes from heavy and thick to delicate and thin when you vary the pen pressure.
Download Thick and Thin (Dropbox)
MM Rough Dry Brush: designed to look like a brush or marker going a little bit dry in spots.
Download MM Rough Dry Brush (Dropbox)
MM Super Dry brush: Even drier than the rough dry brush, this sucker is that moment JUST before you have to re-load your brush or just throw away that marker.
Download MM Super Dry Brush (Dropbox)
Chalkboard Chuckles: my improved chalk brush, perfect for those chalkboard art projects. Made from a standard Procreate shape and grain, so it's quick loader. Moderate pressure sensitivity.
Additional freebie: the 2048x2048 chalkboard background I created in order to test the brush. Perfect for Procreate's square format!
Download Chalkboard Chuckles! (Dropbox)
Charlie Chisel: a rounded-corner rectangular brush, meant to mimic a chisel-tip marker.
Download Charlie Chisel! (Dropbox)
Dearest Dotty is a weird brush shape: a circle made up of random-sized dots. I came up with the idea in the middle of the night and wrote a note to myself to make it the next day. I had no idea what it would end up looking like. I especially like it in curves -- it makes a cool retro Spriograph look! (Do you remember the Spirograph? Or am I just old?)
Download Dearest Dotty! (Dropbox)
Filmstrip: a set of rounded rectangles arranged and spaced just so, Filmstrip works best when writing at a slower speed -- it'll make it easier for the film pattern to follow your curves.
Download Filmstrip! (Dropbox)
Big Blobby Brush: it's big, it's blobby, it's a big blobby brush. Drastic thick-to-thin pressure sensitivity!
Download Big Blobby Brush! (Dropbox)
Cartooning Monoweight: this one was inspired by the comic strip "Peanuts." The later ones, when Charles Schultz's hand was getting shaky. No pressure sensitivity, so you'll have a consistent line.
Download Cartooning Monoweight! (Dropbox)
Chalky Lettering: the name pretty much says it all. It has a chalk-ish look, and can be used for lettering! (Or writing out "I will not chew gum in class" 50 times, I won't judge.)
Download Chalky Lettering! (Dropbox)
Crusty Old Brush: this little fella not only has a custom brush shape; it also comes with a custom grain (made from a photograph of the bark of a tree). I was going for a . . . well, a crusty old brush look. Like you forgot to clean it before you put it away, but you can't bear to throw it away, because it's your favorite.
Download Crusty Old Brush! (Dropbox)
Crusty Old Brush 2: (Electric Boogaloo) the sequel! A very similar brush shape to the original Crusty Old Brush, now with a new grain (created from some rolled black ink). Even crustier than the first, with built-in distressing.
Download Crusty Old Brush 2! (Dropbox)
Faded Depth Strokes: pressure on this one not only affects the line width, it also affects the opacity, which gives a cool 3-D look where the lighter strokes fall into the background. Works best with lighter text on a darker background.
Download Faded Depth Strokes! (Dropbox)
Fancy Finesse Lettering: my personal favorite, and my go-to for all sorts of lettering and illustration. It's a simple brush made from a standard Procreate shape and grain combo, but I have it dialed in just the way I like it.
Download Fancy Finesse Lettering! (Dropbox)
Inky Streaky Brush: a popular favorite with a few Instagram letterers, this custom shape can make for some weirdly cool angles on your curves, and irregular gaps in the ink.
Download Inky Streaky Brush! (Dropbox)
Streaky Fading Ink: another one that does pretty much what it says on the tin. Random rotation on the shape makes for a nice variation in streaks and saturation.
Download Streaky Fading Ink! (Dropbox)
Random Starfield: a random field of stars! As the brush size goes up, the stars grow farther apart. At the right opacity, this could also give you some bokeh effects.
Download Random Starfield! (Dropbox)
