Whether you enjoy art as a hobby or your creativity is what brings in the bacon, the Procreate app is an incredible tool that’s well worth the small investment. While nothing beats the feeling of traditional techniques, Procreate pencil brushes and paper textures can provide a classic-looking final product with all the convenience of modern technology.
A few years ago, digital art had its own unique look. Now, thanks to innovation and the rapidly growing community of digital artists, it’s easy to replicate pretty much any form of fine art with the Procreate app. Plus, with contributions from the community, you can find an endless supply of digital tools to suit your flair, from Procreate sketch brushes to stencils, stamps, textures, and more.
If you’re after a realistic experience of pencil and paper without the hassle of carrying around a sketchbook and a dozen pencils, Procreate may be the perfect solution. The app offers many free Procreate pencil brushes that can be adjusted to your needs. However, there is also an array of brushes that are available for purchase, created by seasoned digital artists with years of experience on the app.
Purchasing a Procreate pencil brush is an ideal way to support the creative community while benefitting from tools created by experts.
No matter your style, technique, or profession, the Procreate app is a fantastic companion for iPad users. If you’re new to the platform, this is the perfect place to start. After all, every artist needs a good set of pencils.
The Best Standard Pencil Brushes Procreate Offers
All artists, even those still using traditional techniques, have a trusted set of tools. We’ve tried all of Procreate’s standard brushes and found ourselves relying on a few of the app’s standard Procreate pencils on many occasions.
In the Procreate Sketching category, we really loved the HB Pencil, 6B Pencil, and the Derwent brush for pencil sketches. These three tools were perfect for light sketchwork, shading, and even designing tattoos.
What we love most about these pencils is that they look and feel really realistic, especially when used with a Procreate paper texture. Plus, you can customize them a little to work better for your unique style of art.
Best Procreate Pencil Brushes Set
Overall, the best pencil Procreate brush set had to be one that was reliable and versatile. After much deliberation, Graphite Pencils for Procreate faired better than its competitors. This set includes some of the best Procreate sketching brushes that can be used for pretty much anything, and we really appreciated that they didn’t need any additional adjustments.
The Procreate sketch brushes in this pack provided a super-realistic look when we used them with the 2 included canvases.
Best Color Pencil Brush Procreate Pack
After trying out a few Procreate color pencil brush sets, Procreate Colored Pencil Brush 20x came out on top. We loved the individual brushes with unique and realistic textures, as well as how the pencils layer. This pack also responded well to different pressures and tilt angles of the apple pencil.
Top 12 Procreate Pencil Brushes
Looking for more? Don’t worry. After testing as many packs as we could, the Pixelsmith Studios team has made a list of all our favorite Procreate pencil brushes that can be used for every art style. Let’s dive in!
Graphite Pencils for Procreate
- Type: Graphite Pencils
- Price: $$
- Includes: 21 pencil sketching brushes for Procreate
We’re starting off with our top pick, the Graphite Pencils for Procreate brush set. This is the perfect pack for artists who want a range of everyday pencils without any frills. For a very affordable price, you’ll get 21 Procreate pencils and 2 canvases with watercolor textures that deliver an incredibly realistic final product.
What we loved most was the versatility of this pack. It included 21 pencils from 9H all the way to 9B, which made it useful in a range of projects. It was also possible to create a pencil drawing from start to finish using only this pack and a few of the standard procreate tools.
The brushes in this pack are also very well crafted and require little to no adjustments to work for us. Plus, the watercolor textures were a lovely addition that made the set feel complete.
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Procreate Sketchbook Brushes
- Type: Sketchbook essentials
- Price: $$
- Includes: 37 sketching brushes, 20 textures, 45 stamps & 15 spots
If you’re looking for a useful pack to buy for the artist in your life or even just a new set to add to your toolbelt, the Procreate Sketchbook Brushes set is a wonderful choice. We loved the selection of pencils, liners, and markers in this set and found that the pencils adjusted well to different art styles.
For its reasonable price, the pack includes some useful essentials, and it’s perfect for creating a digital portfolio of sketches and ideas.
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Sketchbook Set – Procreate Brushes
- Type: Dry and wet media tools
- Price: $
- Includes: 23 Procreate sketch brushes & 2 textures
This pack of pencil Procreate brushes was made by a trusted community member with many successful products on sale. The Sketchbook Set – Procreate Brushes pack offers a great selection of dry and wet brushes, including 15 pencils and 8 markers.
We chose this pack as one of our top picks because of how well it works with different art styles. Although the set is mostly geared toward artists who are looking for colored pencils, it worked really well in greyscale, too, and it delivered outstanding still-life sketches as well as cartoon illustrations.
Overall, this pack was wonderful, and it was very affordable.
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Drawing & Pencil Procreate Brushes
- Type: Drawing & Pencil brushes
- Price: $$$
- Includes: 47 pencil and marker brushes & 4 paper textures
This is another one of our favorites and another great pack for artists looking for an all-round set of pencils. Greyscale artists will love this Drawing & Pencil Procreate Brushes pack and the versatility it offers, as well as the realistic tones and textures.
With 47 high-quality brushes and 4 paper textures, it’s unlikely that you’ll need another pack to create the perfect piece. While this set of brushes is more expensive than many others, it offers a wide range of pencils, including mechanical pencils, pens, and blending tools.
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Procreate Colorpencil Brushes
- Type: Color pencils
- Price: $$$
- Includes: 12 colored pencil brushes
To replicate a whimsical childlike style while benefitting from all the convenience of the Procreate app, this Procreate Colorpencil Brushes pack is the perfect tool. When paired with a paper texture, this pack delivered an incredibly realistic look and feel.
We really loved how the pack responded to the Apple Pencil and how realistic our final product looked. Plus, we found the pack to be fairly priced for the value it offers.
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Chromagraph Pencils for Procreate
- Type: Pencils, Pastels & Charcoals
- Price: $$$
- Includes: 50 brushes, 2 textures, erasers and more.
At Pixelsmith Studios, we love this creator and the fantastic brush sets they create. The Chromagraph Pencils for Procreate brush set is no exception, as it offers an outstanding array of brushes, textures, and tools that are useful for any style of art.
This pack is on the more pricey side; however, we found that each brush is really well made, and it does a great job of replicating traditional mediums. This set of brushes is a solid pack to have that includes all the sketchbook essentials, plus it comes with a handy user guide, which made our user experience even better.
If we had to recommend just one pack to new Procreate users, it would probably be this one.
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Realistic Pencil Procreate Brushes
- Type: Pencils
- Price: $$$
- Includes: 27 pencil Procreate brushes for sketching, 3 canvases, 10 color palettes
This set certainly lives up to its name. The Realistic Pencil Procreate Brushes set includes 27 amazing brushes that bring a truly realistic look to any digital art piece.
Besides its super-realistic look, the brushes in this set were incredibly smooth and offered unique textures, shapes and texturing. We found that we could use this set on pretty much every kind of project, from tattoo design to comic illustration and even lettering.
What made this brush pack even better was how well it responded to pressure and tilt angles from the Apple Pencil and how little adjustment it needed to be perfect.
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Drawing Box Pencils For Procreate
- Type: Sketch and pencils
- Price: $$$
- Includes: 20 Procreate brushes, pencils, charcoal, and more
While this simple set only contains 5 pencils, it offers many other brushes that work well together to create an impressive final piece. Drawing Box Pencils for Procreate is a great set to have if you’re a charcoal or greyscale artist looking for an authentic feel.
This brush set also comes with a few textured canvases that really complement the brushes. We really loved how well this pack handled shading and texture, and it ended up being one of our favorite packs overall.
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Pencil Box for Procreate
- Type: Color pencils
- Price: $$
- Includes: 21 pencil brushes for Procreate
This is another one of our top picks that does an incredible job of replicating traditional colored pencils on paper. Pencil Box for Procreate is a versatile pack that offers tools for greyscale work as well as colorful creations.
While this pack did well in many projects, we found it worked best for illustration and provided a real storybook feel to drawings. We also tested this pack out with still-life drawings and Urban art and found that it faired surprisingly well.
Considering its above-average performance, this brush set was very reasonably priced and offered great value for money.
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Pencil & Dry Media Procreate Brushes
- Type: Pencil sketch & dry media
- Price: $$$
- Includes: 30 brushes, 3 textures, 4 color palettes and more.
Here’s another spectacular set of essential brushes that has received nothing but positive reviews from the community. This set of 30 dry media brushes includes well-crafted pencils, shaders, textures, fillers, and hatch brushes.
Plus, to make your drawing experience even better, this Pencil & Dry Media Procreate Brushes pack comes with 3 paper textures and a premade Procreate document so you can simply import and start creating. While this set of brushes was a little pricey, it offered great value and can be used daily.
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Pencil Lovers Megapack for Procreate
- Type: Pencil
- Price: $
- Includes: 33 Procreate pencils
This simple set of brushes offers exactly what its name promises. The Pencil Lovers Megapack for Procreate is just a pack of good old pencils. It comes with 33 graphite-style pencils that are useful for everyday use.
We really loved the simplicity of this pack and how well-crafted each brush is. It was easy to download and required no adjustments, thanks to the variety of textures, tones, and shapes. This brush set was also very affordable and is certainly something we’ll be using for a long time.
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Procreate Colored Pencil Brush 20x
- Type: Color pencils
- Price: $
- Includes: 20 Procreate pencils
After trying many color pencil brush sets, the Procreate Colored Pencil Brush 20x pack was our top contender. While it did equally well as the other color pencil sets on this list when it came to variety, these brushes faired a whole lot better with layering, highlighting, and tilt angles.
We also really enjoyed how the hues varied with each stroke and that the textures of each brush were truly unique. This pack is suitable for every artist, from professionals to amateurs.
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How to Use Procreate
It might take you a few minutes to get the hang of where things are and how to use the app, but overall, Procreate is an intuitive app that was created by artists for artists.
Pixelsmith Studios has a few helpful guides for new users on how to use Procreate. They cover a variety of topics, from how to change opacity in Procreate to how to blend in Procreate and more useful topics for professionals and amateurs.
Once all the technicalities are out of the way, you might be wondering where to begin. Pixelsmith has you covered there, too.
Here’s a list of things to draw on Procreate.
Is Procreate for Professionals?
Absolutely! If you haven’t had the opportunity to explore the Procreate app before, you might think that it’s an app for entertainment or a fun tool for amateurs and children. Part of that is true; Procreate is excellent for amateurs and children, but it’s also designed for professionals. It all depends on how you use the app. Procreate works for everyone.
With the addition of specialized community-created brushes, you can use the app for pretty much anything.
Take a look at this list of the best Procreate manga brushes or Procreate brushes for tattoo artists.
How to Draw on iPad With Apple Pencil?
To draw with Procreate and an Apple Pencil, you’ll need a compatible iPad and the latest version of the Procreate App. Then, you’ll need a first-generation or 2nd generation Apple Pencil. The app does work with other stylus pens. However, the Apple Pencil provides a much higher level of control, as well as pressure and tilt responsiveness.
You can download the Procreate App from the App Store for under $20 (USD). For this price, you’ll receive lifetime access to the digital art platform, provided that you keep your device up to date.
Where to Find Free Procreate Pencil Brushes?
Procreate comes with an array of free-to-use brushes for every need. But you can also score some free brushes or brush sets from the Creative Market every week.
Take a look at this week’s free downloads on Creative Market.
Final Thoughts On The Best Procreate Sketch Brushes
We tested community-created Procreate pencil brush sets and put together a list of our top 12 so you can skip the research and jump straight into creating. While we’ll never discourage you from creating and customizing your own brushes, Pixelsmith Studios is a firm believer in supporting the community.
If you enjoyed this post, take a look at these 15 Procreate textures for digital artists next.
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Matt is about 80% nerd, 10% writer, 10% animal lover. His love for PC’s started at the tender age of 4 and his love for animation and motion graphics fairly soon after. You can normally find him behind a computer screen or playing with his dog Rusty.