- Hello iPad Letterers,
It's so nice to see you!
In today's video I am going
to show you my all time favorite thing
and that is making Procreate brushes.
I've made thousands of custom Procreate brushes
in the last five years
and I'm really obsessed with it.
One of the questions I get a lot
is how to you make these brushes?
And since it's not a super simple answer
I thought I'd put this video together for you
and show you my exact process
but before we get started,
I want to ask you,
if you have any of my brushes?
Which one is your favorite?
Let me know in the comments
and I'm super curious to know which one you like the best
and if you were to ask me the same question,
then my answer normally is
my favorite brush is my newest brush
because every time I make a new brush
I find new and interesting ways of creating the brush
and that's why it usually is my favorite.
So now let's grab your iPad and Apple pencil
and let's see if we can make
your new favorite brush together.
Of course you will need that procreate app,
so let's stir the procreate app in this Creative Canvas
and the canvas I'm using here
is the screen size default canvas,
it doesn't matter too much,
you just want a surface
so that you can try out your new brush.
So we're going to open up that brush library
and let's start by creating a new library.
You can pull down on all your brush sites here
to reveal the plus sign
you tap on plus and then we can call this "my brushes,"
and now you can see it's empty
if you tap on any of the other brush sets
you can see it's got lots of brushes
and these are all the brushes that I have already made
but I usually like starting with a fresh brush set
so that I know where the brushes are
and then it makes it much easier to see your new brushes.
Then tap on the plus sign to bring up the brush studio
and you can see there is so many options here.
So what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna walk you through my exact process
of how I make brushes.
It doesn't mean I'm gonna go through
all this different settings
and that's because I'm actually not using all the settings
all the time
and also making brushes is very much
a trial and error process
but I'm gonna give you a starting point
of your own trial and error process
so that you find it much easier to create your own brushes.
So you'll see that we have the different categories here
and then if you tap on one of the categories
you see the properties within each of the categories
and then here on the right hand side
we have got that drawing pad
and this is super useful
because this is where you can try out the brush
that you're currently working on.
You can tap on that drawing Pad to choose different colors.
And so this is super handy to try out different colors
and different shapes of the brushes that you're working on.
You can also clear the drawing pad like this
to start from scratch.
So the first thing we are going
to look at are the Shape Source
and then also the Grain Source
and these two settings are really the basis
of all procreate brushes.
Let's start with the Shape Source
and that shape source is what determines
the outline of your brush.
A stroke is created by a series of shapes
and the way it works
is that you drag your Apple pencil over the screen
and then procreate will connect
all these individual Shapes Sources to make this path.
It's a little bit easier to see if we amend that path
so you can increase the spacing of your stroke
and now you can see
how a path consists of these individual shapes.
So now let's change that shape source
to see what happens when we do that.
So you tap on edit and then tap on import
and you can see there's a few different options of how
to import your shape source,
so you can use a photo, can import from a file
but then there's also their Procreate Source Library
and this is a really good starting point
because it gives you so many different options
so you can scroll through this and you can see
that there is so many different shapes to choose from.
So now for the brush that we are going to create,
let's select this Acrylic Stamp here and then tap done
and I can see how the preview has changed
and we can now see the individual stamps
of the source that we have selected.
So now let's have a look at some of that shape behaviors.
The first option here, lets use scatter the brush
and that randomly rotates the brush,
you can also rotate that source
or at that same angle, if you would like to.
And then count is an interesting setting
because this determines how many brush stamps
are gonna get placed on top of each other
in order to form the stroke.
So now let's see what happens if we increase this
and you can see now how the shape changes it's form
even so slightly because it's got all these stamps
placed on top of each other.
And then you can randomize this as well
if you want with the jitter
or you can also completely randomize
the shape source placement like this,
you can flip X and flip Y
and then you also see here, there's azimuth setting
you can turn this on or off.
And this is important if you create calligraphy brushes
with the angle of your Apple pencil matters
because with the azimuth setting,
you can make sure that the stroke always follows the tilt
of the Apple pencil.
For the brush that we are going to make today
we don't need it
so we're gonna leave it off.
And then here you've got some other options
of rotating the source
or you can even make it a little bit more narrow or wider
so definitely try out all of these different settings here
and then next step you have that Grain Source
and this works pretty much the same way as the Shape Source
you also have these different options of how to input grains
so we're gonna go Source Library
and then we're just gonna choose one
of the existing grains here and then gonna tap done
and you can see now how the grain has been applied
to our brush.
So now what we're gonna do is decrease the spacing again
and so now we can see the grain of the brush come through
and then again, you have different options here
of how you want those grain to behave.
You can zoom it in or out
and then you can make it bigger or smaller inside that shape
another you can do is choose texturized
and this means that grain always stays behind the shape
and doesn't really move with it
but I never used the setting
I always used the Moving Grain Source like this.
and then I usually don't touch any of the other settings
but definitely feel free to play with them
if that's something that you're curious about.
So now we've already looked at stroke path a little bit
but this is what I usually work on next.
You've already seen how it can adjust
the spacing in between the different shapes like this
but then we can also amend the jitter
and this now moves that shape sideways as well.
So this can give some really interesting effects
and then here at the end we have fall off
and this determines how quickly your stroke fades out
but this is a setting I usually don't use
and I just keep it at none.
So now let's move on to that taper settings.
So this determines the start and the end of the brush,
how they behave.
One of the things you'll notice
with the Apple pencil is that is very pressure sensitive
and in order to help with the start and the end
of the brush stroke a little bit
you can use the taper settings.
So you can taper this tab and the in of the brush
and I usually set it to just a little bit here
at the start at the end, not too much.
And I also like to set the brush tip to blunt
and then that makes sure
that I've got a nice start and ending to my brushes.
Now let's move to that next setting, which is rendering
and this makes a huge difference
to the outcome of your brushes.
And so again, this is a lot of trial and error here
so I recommend that you just try it out
and then see what the result is that you're getting.
So we can sort of go through all these
different settings here
and for this brush, I'm going to choose uniform blending
because I wanna show you some of the other options as well
and it works best when you say you're rendering work
to uniform blending.
So now what we're gonna do is tune on the wet edges
and then we're also gonna tune on the burnt edges.
And this now creates a super cool effect.
Let me clear up my drawing pad
and I'm gonna choose a different color
so you can see what this looks like.
So now the edges of the brush are ever so slightly darker
and this creates just a really nice effect.
And then I also wanna show you what happens
when we change the blend.
so now let's draw a few shapes to start with
and I wanna make them overlap a little bit as well like this
and you can see how the overlap, creates some darker paths.
So now, if you changed the blend mode of this
you'll see how in the shapes interact with each other
they create some different colors
and now what we're gonna do is set this to screen
and this creates a super nice effect
where the edges are really dark
and then the inside is lighter
and then you can keep painting
and this creates a really cool effect.
All right, so next step is that we mix settings
and this is how it can create water color brushes.
The dilution determines how much water
you're gonna put on your page.
And you can already see in the preview how this creates
a really nice water color effect
and then charge here determines
how much paint do you have on your brush
and how quickly it should run out of color.
And then the attack setting here determines
how much color gets put on the canvas
if you draw a little bit faster like this
and with pull you can determine
how much of the color should get pulled along
but for the brush we are making today
we are actually not going to use these settings.
I just wanted to show you that they're here,
so that you know to try them out as well.
So now we're just gonna decrease dilution back to zero
and then all the other settings
are not going to get applied.
Now, next step is color dynamics
and this is such a cool setting.
I really love playing with this
and again there's so many different options,
so I very much recommend that you play
with these settings yourself
but I just wanna show you one setting that I like to use
which is color pressure.
I don't like the strokes colored jitter in this theme.
Color jitters too much for the brushes that I make
but I can see how that can be useful
for different applications.
it's just not something that I use
but I do use the color pressure quite a lot.
So you can change the hue for example
and I can see already that the brush changes it's color
and it changes it with the pressure,
so you can put more pressure on and it makes it lighter
and then you put a little bit less pressure on
and then it makes it a little darker, which is pretty cool
and then another option you have is to
bring in a secondary color
and now in the preview, it brings in black
but when you're actually using the brush
you can choose the two colors that you want to mix together
but for our brush
we are not going to use color pressure for now.
So I'm just gonna pull it back to the way it was.
And then we have dynamics
and this is actually very interesting as well.
So you can achieve some super interesting effect
by changing the dynamics of your brush.
So, the jitter is cool
because you can see how we can create
some more irregular shapes like this.
So let's set this to about 39%
and then we can also increase the opacity jitter
a little bit
and again, this creates a super cool effects,
so we're gonna see it today.
And then of course, Apple pencil settings.
This is super important.
This is what determines the pressure settings of your brush.
So we have to correct the setting and the setting stroke.
This is the setting that you have to change.
So we can set the size
and you can see how the shapes are already starting
to change.
Now let's clear that pad and lemme show you what this means.
So now I only start with light pressure
and as I draw, I'm just starting to put on more pressure
and you can see now how this creates this super nice effect.
And then if we decrease this
you can determine the size change, depending on the pressure
that you're putting on your Apple pencil.
And then there's lots more settings as well
that you can play with
but for the brush that we are going to make
We're not gonna make any of these changes.
And then here we have that brush properties,
one of the things I recommend you do
is actually change the maximum size
depending on the brush that you're creating
you might like it to be able to go a little bit larger
and then also the minimum size.
You might not like this to go very small
so you can change it here as well.
With your opacity settings
I usually leave them at maximum
but I'm not using opacity in my brush settings that much
and that's why I just leave it at the default.
And then here last but not least,
you can also name this brush.
So usually what I do,
I give it a prefix so that people know that it's my brush
and the prefix for all my brushes is I-P-L
for iPad Lettering.
And then I'm gonna call this brush avocado
and you'll see why in a second.
And then you can set your logo here.
So let's do that now,
let's select my logo and then type your name
and then we can sign it as well like this
and now we can tap done.
And so now this is that very first brush that we create
but now let's try it out
so I've a got a dark green color, selected here
and I'm gonna try it out, starting around 20% size
and I'm gonna draw an avocado
and the reason why I called this brush,
this name is because I really feel this is the brush
that you wanna use to paint and avocado.
Let's see how it looks like.
So I'm gonna just paint it in
and you can see how this brush
has this super nice texture now.
So now if you wanna make this a little bit smoother
we can just paint over it
and this looks really cool.
So now you can use this brush, not just to paint with
but you can actually use it to smudge with as well.
So what you wanna do now is long tap on that smudge tool.
So now you can smudge with the same brush
and so we can use those as well.
And you can see how this works really nicely
as a smudging brush as well.
So now one of the things I don't like that much
about the brush is that it's quite rough around the edges.
So now it's time to refine the brush a little bit
and see how we can make this a little bit smoother
so that we can paint our avocado a little bit faster.
So we're gonna go back to the brushes.
We're gonna tap on avocado
and now we are going to make some changes.
So the first change that we are going to make is the jitter
this creates kind of a sideways motion
with your brush strokes.
So we're gonna turn this all the way down to the bottom
and then we are also going to go back to shape
and we are going to decrease that scatter a little bit
and what we can do here is decrease the spacing
so that the shapes become a little bit closer together.
And we can see how the brush is already
becoming a lot smoother now
and then the next setting
that we wanna change is the jitter here,
I wanna decrease this even so slightly
to make it a little bit smoother as well.
So now let's see how these changes have affected the brush.
So I'm gonna go back, I'm gonna create a new layer,
I'm gonna try it out again
and you can see how this is already much smoother.
So let's see if we can make a bit
of a better avocado this time.
So we're gonna paint this in
and these creates a much better shape already.
Let's try this smudging as well.
And this works very nicely.
So I'm actually quite happy with this.
So now, if you think the edge
are still too frazzled for you,
the next thing that you wanna try out
is actually change their shape source.
As you can see that this brush really creates
those jagged edges
and that's because of the shape source
so if you don't like it so much,
you can now go
and you can change it to a different shape source.
So maybe let's choose this crayon here instead
and let's see what this does.
And you can see already how the edges of the brush
are a lot smoother now.
So now let's try that again
I'm gonna create a new layer
and we're gonna try and paint our avocado again.
And now it's so much smoother.
So this is how you can try out different settings
of your brush, try out different shapes sources.
And then of course, if you don't like the grain
you could go in and change it as well.
So now this looks pretty cool, but as you can tell
we have some pretty wobbly line,
so let me show you how we can fix that.
This is something that I really like
for my lettering brushes.
And you might like to turn this on
for your painting brush as well,
but that really depends
you can also get some weird effects when you do that.
There's the streamline setting here
and if you turn this up,
then you can really smoothen out the strokes
and you can see the difference
just from sliding this backwards and forwards,
how much this has an effect
on the smoothness of your stroke.
So what I recommend you do is actually put it all the way
to the mix,
just to see the effect that you get when you do that.
So now let's try this out
and you can see how it's got a little bit
of a bounce back effect.
And this is probably not something that you want
for your painting brushes,
but for the lettering brushes this is what we want.
So now I recommend that you try this out
to see which setting that you like.
I just wanted to show you that this is an option
and you see now 50% is probably a really nice setting
because now it's much easier
to make a bit of a nice such shape avocado.
If you wanted to
and to keep your strokes a little bit smoother.
And now over to you
it's time for you to start playing with all
that brush settings in procreate
and create your own procreate brushes.
Now if you find this overwhelming
because there's so many different settings
I've actually got a whole course about Procreate 5
where I'm going super in-depth
with all the settings of the brush studio.
In the course, I'm showing you how to make a variety
of different brushes for different applications
which includes calligraphy brushes and painting brushes
and all sorts of different brush settings
that you can use for your own projects.
So make sure you're checking out the course
if you're interested in learning in more detail
how to make your own procreate brushes.
I really hope you found this video useful.
Give me your thumbs up if you like this
subscribe to my channel if you haven't already.
And then I'm also going to bloop up another couple of videos
where I'm going to show you some more procreate 5 features.
Thank you so much for watching
and I'll see you in my next video.