Procreate is a great app for designing on the go, and there are free brushes for every occasion!
If you’re already using Procreate for portable design and animation, you need the right virtual brushes to match your style. Fortunately, there are a ton of free and affordable brush sets available at your fingertips, and they can provide you the tools you need to create stunning compositions.
Lots of designers, even ones who primarily work in Motion Design, are hopping on the Procreate bandwagon. It's one of the most enjoyable creative apps you can possibly use, and you can carry it around with you as long as you have an iPad and an Apple Pencil.
You can easily combine it with Photoshop to work it into your existing design workflow. You can even use it to paint directly onto 3D models!
Whether you’re a seasoned pro, just starting out, or haven’t even downloaded the app yet, you’re going to need quality brushes to set your work apart. That’s why we’ve put together this comprehensive guide to our favorite sites for free brushes for Procreate.
How to Install Procreate Brushes
Since Procreate is an iPad app, it's a little funky to download and install new brushes. There are a few steps involved, but it's relatively painless. Here's a great video from Design Cuts that explains the process in less than 5 minutes.
10 Sites for Free Procreate Brushes
1. Bardot Brushes
Lisa Bardot wants to make brushes that look and behave like the real deal, empowering digital artwork with Procreate. These brushes have handcrafted textures and are tested extensively to be extremely versatile. Each collection covers a variety of brush types through each medium.
Bardot Brush is an incredible asset for the artist on the go.
2. Your Great Design
Your Great Design offers some amazing brushes for all types of design work. From simple textures to complex kits, as well as curated megapacks, you’ll find something worth your time in this collection.
3. Speckyboy
Procreate comes with 200 great brushes, but speckyboy wasn’t satisfied. They saw the limitless potential of the app and decided to put together a collection of brush sets all their own. With a huge gathering of free brushes, you’ll have more room to experiment and find what works best for you.
However, some of the licenses for these brushes aren’t so cut and dry. Make sure you read through any link you follow, as some of these brushes aren’t fully free to use.
4. Paperlike Dynamic Brush Set Pack
This is a very cool pack released for free by Paperlike, a company that makes paper-feeling screen protectors for iPads. Here you’ll find an incredible set of digital brushes for the Paperlike community, which you can’t get anywhere else.
This set contains 34 unique brushes aimed at showcasing dynamic movement. Find new ways to add life and action to your artwork.
5. Jingsketch Procreate Brushes: Basic 10
10 Procreate brushes put together (and given away!) by Jingsketch. These are great starter brushes for mimicing various types of markers / pencils. a versatile set of 10 essential brushes that will serve as a great introduction to the world of Procreate. It took me years to develop a set of Procreate brushes that felt natural and effortless, and I'm confident that you will find them as easy to use as I do.
6. MattyB's Brush Pack for Procreate: Hatch Effects
MattyB has made a really great set of hatch texture brushes. Lines, dots, scribbles, you name it! Custom brushes for Procreate, the amazing iPad sketching app!
Hatch Effects: Fine-tuned for use with styluses, there's enough lines, dots, scribbles and marks to liven up any drawing. 35 brushes included in the brush pack zip file.
Click here to see brush examples. I've also included the option to download each brush separately.
If you can, PLEASE DONATE to download! I can't tell you how grateful I am for your contributions. They help fund future brush development, and make it worthwhile to continue to offer these brushes to those who can't afford it otherwise. I'm willing to keep this grand experiment alive for as long as I can do it: having your support is crucial.
7. Free Brushes from GrutBrushes
Are you looking to mimic real-world brushes? Then GrutBrushes has a collection for you. There are a ton of great brushes on this page, including a finger painting brush, charcoal, watercolors, and more.
8. Librium Free Brushes
Librium rounded up tons of free Procreate brushes from all over the internet. All Procreate brushes in this category are completely free, however Librium is not the copyright holder. If you intend on using some of these for paid work, check the brush’s site for any copyright information.
9. True Grit Texture Supply
True Grit is one of our favorite places to buy premium Procreate textures and brushes, but they also have a selection of free brushes (and other assets) for you once you sign up for their email list.
10. Pixelbuddha Texture Brush Pack
Sometimes you need to get Zen. That's when you head to Pixelbuddha. If landscapes and nature scenes are your jam, check out this useful pack for getting organic foliage, sky, and ground textures.
Want to learn how to Animate?
Creating great art is just the first step in the animation process. What, you’ve never thought of bringing your doodles to life? Maybe it’s time you had a look at After Effects Kickstart!
After Effects Kickstart will introduce you to the fundamentals of Adobe After Effects in the easiest and most fun way possible. You'll dive head first into Adobe After Effects and begin creating animations from day one. By the end of this course, you'll be able to animate a full :30 spot.
For in-depth illustration training, check this out.
If you’re not sure if your artwork is ready for animation, then you need to think about the design process a little differently. Check out Illustration for Motion!
In Illustration for Motion you'll learn the foundations of modern illustration from Sarah Beth Morgan. By the end of the course, you'll be equipped to create incredible illustrated works of art that you can use in your animation projects right away.
