[art meta] my art specs and go-to brushes!
14 hours, 34 minutes
i've had a period of shifting sands mentally that's left me feeling kindof shrouded, so to find my writing voice again, i thought i'd start easy by sharing my art setup, the brushes and other assets i use, and the parts they play in my work process. i figured at least someone would find it interesting, but i also like to do my part in sharing what resources or inspirations i use; i think everyone benefits when we don't make ourselves out to be a guy per island, and we allow our ideas and the tools we use to proliferate.
my device and program of choice for 3 years now has been an ipad with the apple pencil and procreate, for reference. i don't have any affinity for apple, but i needed something simple to get me started on tablet-drawing after a lifetime of using either mice or a trackpad, and getting a slightly older model combined with procreate being a one-time purchase made it surprisingly affordable, especially without resorting to something cheap that i'd need to project to my PC; i've tried non-display tablets before, and couldn't get over the dissonance from drawing with a pencil while looking away at my screen. i get part of the benefit with a plug-in tablet is enabling better posture, but that's easily mitigated with a decent articulated stand (which i do use). as well, trying to understand the epic nuances of display tech between different brands and models makes me want to dig a den to live in in the ground. so unfortunately, the aggressive anti-consumer user-friendliness of apple has won me over in this realm. if you're looking to get into display tablets, i'd highly recommend seeing if you can get your hands on an older ipad with the pencil!
when it comes to brushes and textures, my focus has always been to find things that are tangibly analog, that is, things that "feel" very physical and pop out from the page in their own right. i don't do much painting or blending, really only to enhance the depth of an existing area of colour. instead, i do a lot of lineart and hatching and designing shapes. i just grew up drawing too much with ballpoint pens on lined notebooks and falling in love with cel-shaded artstyles (like that of Persona or LOZ: WindWaker).
i'll also likely keep this updated and will find a way to note somewhere when i've added or changed something.
so, here's my procreate loadout!
liners + hatchers:
- HB pencil liner, from Dawner's procreate brush pack (pretty sure it's vol I, one of the personal HB brushes?). dawner is a multi-fandom artist who makes tons of super boldly textured brushes, and the gritty pencil liner is such a lifesaver for me; lots of procreate "real pencil" brushes just looked the same to me when i tested them early on, or they don't stand out against a full-coloured illustration. i really like my lineart to be immediately scrutable. enter the chad sharply textured pencil liner. really obsessed with this thing, my most-used brush by a wide margin. also works really well for hatching
- flood pencil, from Jingsketch. i actually can't find the brush on this artist's store anymore, so it might be discontinued or just buried in a pack? but this liner has a nice texture, changes its opacity with pressure, and is circular/uniform rather than having an ink-brush type stroke pattern, so i sometimes will line sections of my art with this over the dawner's pencil. at slightly bigger sizes i'll prefer it entirely for different objects - like, i love drawing foam lines on water surfaces with this one. i'll hatch with this one sometimes as well.
- ballpoint pen brush, from Sadie Lew. i can't believe this brush is free!! like i mentioned, shitty school pens were my bread and butter growing up for art, and this is absolutely the best digital replacement i've found. i don't use it as frequently but will pull it out sometimes when the mood is right
colouring
- deadline pencil, from Jingsketch. another seemingly discontinued one i can't find on the site anymore, but i'll note it for posterity.. no particular reason for using this other than it's basically an opaque version of flood pencil, so the brush having just slightly textured edges is handy for my method of colouring (outlining the area and then using the fill tool). this is because drawing with a hard edge makes inconsistencies or unevenness much more visible, so having a textured brush allows you some wiggle room when colouring in an area (unless any messiness is intentional, of course).
- i'll also occasionally use Dawner's HB liner to edge a colouring area, for added texture or to add hatching at the same time.
- blackburn, default procreate brush. i find this one helpful in limited circumstances, despite the very flat texture. i also like using it as an eraser since it can be Enbiggened a lot and it leaves a more natural looking edge than just a solid round brush
- canvas + triforce brushes, from Esben Lash. pretty sure these are very well-known brushpacks. i'm mostly using these at the moment to feather out edges of a solid colour-area, since they have some fade to them along with texture, and i'm having moments lately where i felt that i didn't want every area of something lined but also didn't want it to look too unfinished or stark.
texturing + blending
- chisel smooth, from True Grit Texture Supply's Kolormarc pack. TGTS is a little spendy, but their stuff is fucking awesome. they also have a free sampler you can use to test out some of their stuff before you commit to buying. i like using this mock copic marker brush to make parts of a colour look more washed out while applying a subtle grainy look.
- watercolour brush, from Esben Lash. i don't think this makes for very striking watercolour personally, but i've really been loving this for making a certain area look more painterly.
- GrainShader, from True Grit Texture Supply. i use this to make gradients mostly.
- Halftone Stamp, from True Grit Texture Supply. tons of other brushpacks have halftone stuff but so far, i think this one looks the most analog.
- Draft Page, Tone, and Canvas overlays from Dawner. dawner coming in clutch again with a bunch of really good texturing brushes
- Main Brush from Katsia Jazwinska's Watercolour Studio. my previous art suite of several years was Paint Tool SAI, which has an "edge" feature you can turn on for a given layer to give it a darkened fringe. this is excellent for creating a watercolour effect, and i was devastated to not see this feature in procreate. i spent a few hours searching for a watercolour brush that actually mimicked this property of the IRL paint that wasn't just like.. a very "wet" brush, and this is the only one i've found so far. i haven't used it much lately but it's nice for adding a splash of texture to something.
standalone textures
- tons of stuff from True Grit Texture Supply. all of it is good probably. i'm only just now getting into their standalone textures but they all look pretty awesome so it's hard to pick a favourite
- a few things from texturelabs.org. i'm not very well-versed on where to find free creative commons texture assets and stuff, but i discovered this site recently which has at least a modest pool. a lot of user-made brushes and assets online have different price points for personal vs. commercial use and even "extended" commercial use, which as someone who's done everything from very small merch runs to creating art for a large NGO's project site - it can be a real pain in the ass. having leniently-licensed stuff to fall back on is huge.