Paid vs free Procreate Brushes

Ever wondered if there’s any value in buying brushes for Procreate when so many of them are available for free, and you can find a whole library of brushes within the app itself? In this quick article, I will go through some pros and cons of using free and paid brushes for Procreate. Hopefully, it will help you decide whether to buy some yourself or stick to the free ones!

Standard Procreate Brushes

Procreate brushes are divided into 18 categories, 200+ brushes in total. Seems like more than enough to create beautiful artwork, and to be perfectly honest – it is! To tell the truth, you can create a great piece of illustration using only one simple brush.

You can choose from a variety of brushes that simulate traditional media or use textured brushes. Texture brushes will add extra interest to your work and speed up your workflow (so you don’t need to paint everything by hand). In each category, you will find several brushes to choose from. You might want to familiarize yourself with them first before finding the ones that suit you best. In many cases, these brushes will let you produce quality artwork without having to use any custom ones.

I have a few reasons why I personally don’t use the standard brushes:

I’m a long-time Photoshop user – Procreate brushes (especially the ones for painting) feel a little too heavy and difficult to control, compared to Photoshop brushes that I’m used to. It felt a little frustrating. For me, a big part of creating an artwork is the pleasure in drawing every line and stroke. If I don’t feel the satisfaction in the process itself, I will definitely not like the result of it!
In many cases I will look for the right brush but not find it at all. Then I end up going online to look for a specific brush I need.
No specific theme brushes – especially in painting environments, I like to use brushes that simulate the look of bushes or tree leaves, the texture of the ground. I couldn’t find enough organic texture brushes among vanilla Procreate brushes.

Free custom made brushes

There are many free brush packs available for download. If you find the desired brushes among them then good for you! You can forget about paying for brushes at all. Free custom brushes, as well as paid ones, usually come with sample artwork or a graphic showcasing the brushes so it is easier to imagine whether the brushes can achieve the desired effect in your work. The only downside to free brushes is that you might not find the exact brush or set you are looking for!

Check out our free to download Pencil brush!

Self-made brushes

You might want to try making your own brushes, which is quite fun in itself. This, however, requires investment of your time in learning the mechanics of brushes. There are many options that you can tinker with and it takes time to create textures and shapes for your custom brushes. Sometimes, it is way more cost effective, to spend a couple of dollars on an already made set.

Paid brushes

Finally, we have the option to purchase brushes. Those are often high-quality brushes created with custom textures and shapes. They are often picked and sorted into a specific theme or type of medium they represent. Most of the time they are made by real artists who create them for themselves first, so they make sure that the brushes are useful and functional. There are many brushes available for purchase and you have a high chance of finding the right ones for you.

Bottom line

In the end, whatever brushes you choose, as long as they help you achieve the desired look in your work it doesn’t matter whether they are free, paid or self-made. Sometimes, it might be worth investing a little bit of money to get the perfect brush.