Making a brush from scratch in Procreate

You create a brush in Procreate by opening the Brushes panel, tapping the plus icon, and choosing whether to build from a blank brush or duplicate an existing one. A new brush starts with default settings — you then adjust the shape, texture, dynamics, and behavior to match what you want to paint. Most custom brushes take five to ten minutes to set up if you know what you're changing.

The fastest route is to duplicate a brush that already does something close to what you need, then modify only the parts that differ. For example, if you want a chalky brush with more texture, find a chalk brush you like, duplicate it, and increase the texture opacity. This is faster than building from nothing because the brush already has the right size range and pressure response.

You can also create a brush from a custom image — a photograph, a scanned drawing, or a shape you made in another app. Procreate reads the image as a stamp and uses it as the brush tip. This is how you make brushes that paint with a specific texture, pattern, or silhouette.

Key Takeaways

  • Open the Brushes panel, tap the plus icon in the top right, and choose "New Brush" to start from scratch or "Duplicate" to modify an existing brush.
  • The Shape section controls the brush tip itself — you can use a circle, a custom image, or a procedural shape — and the Texture section adds surface detail on top of it.
  • Dynamics settings let the brush respond to pressure, tilt, speed, and rotation, so the stroke changes as you paint instead of staying the same thickness.
  • You can import a custom image as a brush stamp by tapping the Shape thumbnail, selecting "Import", and choosing a PNG or JPEG from your photo library or files.
  • Save your brush by naming it and tapping outside the brush editor — it appears in your custom brushes folder and stays there until you delete it.

Understanding the Shape section

The Shape section defines what the brush tip looks like. By default, new brushes use a circular shape, but you can change this to an image, a procedural shape, or a preset. Tap the Shape thumbnail — the colored circle at the top of the brush editor — to open the shape menu.

If you want to use a custom image as your brush tip, tap "Import" and select a PNG or JPEG from your files. Procreate reads the image as a stamp: black areas paint, white areas stay transparent, and gray areas paint at partial opacity. A straightforward approach is to take a photograph of a texture (tree bark, fabric, sand) and use it directly. You can also draw a shape in Procreate on a transparent canvas, export it as PNG, and import it as a brush.

The Size slider sets the maximum brush size in pixels. The Hardness slider controls how soft the edges are — 100% is a sharp edge, 0% is completely soft. Rotation lets the brush tip rotate as you paint, which matters if your shape is not symmetrical (like a leaf or a splatter).

Adding texture with the Texture section

Texture sits on top of the shape and adds surface detail. You can use one of Procreate's built-in textures or import your own image. Tap the Texture thumbnail to choose a texture, then adjust the Scale slider to make it larger or smaller and the Opacity slider to make it more or less visible.

A common setup is a soft round brush with a canvas texture at 20% opacity — this mimics painting on textured paper without making the stroke look broken. If you want a rougher, more natural look, increase the opacity to 40% or 50%. If you want barely any texture, keep it at 5% to 10%.

You can also import a custom texture image the same way you import a shape. A grayscale image works best — white areas add texture, black areas stay smooth. Many artists read texture packs online or photograph surfaces like concrete, leaves, or fabric and use those as textures.

Setting up dynamics so the brush responds to how you paint

Dynamics make the brush change as you paint — thickness can increase with pressure, opacity can fade with speed, or the brush can rotate based on tilt. Without dynamics, every stroke looks identical. With them, the brush feels alive and responds to your hand.

Open the Dynamics section and you'll see rows for Size, Opacity, Angle, and Scatter. Each row has a dropdown on the left (currently set to "Off") and a slider on the right. Tap the dropdown to choose what controls that property. The most common choices are Pressure (how hard you press), Speed (how fast you move), Tilt (the angle of your stylus), and Rotation (how much the brush rotates).

For a natural pencil or brush, set Size to Pressure so the stroke gets thicker when you press harder. Set Opacity to Speed so the stroke fades if you slow down. For a splatter or texture brush, set Scatter to Pressure so more particles appear when you press. Experiment with one or two dynamics first — too many at once makes the brush unpredictable.

Adjusting Behavior settings for how the brush paints

The Behavior section controls how the brush applies color and interacts with layers. The most important setting is Blending Mode — by default it's set to Normal, which means the brush paints opaque color on top of what's underneath. You can change this to Multiply, Screen, Overlay, or dozens of other modes that blend the brush color with the layer below.

Opacity sets how transparent the brush is overall — 100% is fully opaque, 50% is half-transparent. This is different from dynamics opacity, which changes as you paint. If you want a brush that always paints semi-transparent, lower the Opacity slider here.

The Spacing slider controls how often the brush stamps as you move. At 1%, the brush stamps constantly and creates a smooth line. At 20% or higher, the brush stamps in visible steps, creating a dotted or dashed effect. For most brushes, keep spacing between 1% and 5%.

Saving and organizing your custom brushes

When you finish editing a brush, tap outside the brush editor or tap the back arrow to close it. Procreate saves the brush automatically with the name you gave it. Custom brushes appear in a folder called "Imported" or "My Brushes" depending on your Procreate version — they stay there until you delete them.

To rename a brush later, long-press it in the Brushes panel and tap "Rename". To delete it, long-press and tap "Delete". You can also create custom brush sets by long-pressing in the Brushes panel and tapping "New Set", then dragging brushes into the set to organize them.

If you want to share a brush with someone else or back it up, long-press the brush and tap "Share". Procreate exports it as a .brush file that another person can import by tapping the plus icon and selecting "Import".

Common mistakes when building a brush

The most common mistake is making the brush too complex too fast. If you set Size, Opacity, Angle, and Scatter all to Pressure at once, the brush becomes hard to control. Start with one dynamic — usually Size to Pressure — and add others only if you need them.

Another mistake is using a shape image that's too small or too large. If your imported image is smaller than 100 pixels, it will look pixelated when you paint at normal size. If it's larger than 2000 pixels, it will slow Procreate down. Aim for 500 to 1500 pixels for most brushes.

A third mistake is setting texture opacity too high. At 80% or 100%, texture makes the stroke look broken and grainy instead of smooth. Most painted brushes look better with texture at 10% to 30%. If you want a heavily textured brush, use a textured shape image instead of adding texture on top.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use a photograph as a brush?

Yes. Import the photograph as a Shape by tapping the Shape thumbnail, selecting "Import", and choosing the image file. Procreate converts it to grayscale and uses it as a stamp. Black areas paint, white areas stay transparent. The photograph should be at least 100 pixels wide and ideally 500 to 1500 pixels for best results.

How do I make a brush that gets thinner when I paint faster?

Open the Dynamics section, find the Size row, tap the dropdown on the left, and select "Speed". The slider on the right controls how much speed affects size. Move the slider left so faster strokes make the brush smaller, or right so faster strokes make it larger.

What's the difference between Shape and Texture?

Shape is the main brush tip — the outline and form of what you paint. Texture is a surface detail that sits on top of the shape. A brush can have a circular shape with a canvas texture, or a leaf shape with a paper texture. You can have a shape without texture, but texture always needs a shape underneath.

Can I duplicate a brush from another artist and modify it?

Yes. If someone shares a brush file with you, import it by tapping the plus icon in the Brushes panel and selecting "Import". Once it's in your library, long-press it and tap "Duplicate", then edit the copy. The original stays unchanged, and you can modify the duplicate however you want.

Why does my custom brush look pixelated?

The shape image is too small. If you imported an image smaller than 200 pixels, it will pixelate when you paint at normal size. Re-import a larger version of the image — at least 500 pixels wide — or draw the shape at a larger size before exporting it as PNG.