Procreate has rapidly become the app of choice for creative professionals and hobbyists alike. Not only is it affordable, but it’s also much more beginner-friendly than the industry-standard Adobe Photoshop.
Apple and Procreate’s intuitive technology makes drawing and sketching an absolute breeze for digital artists. The app comes with a myriad of powerful tools to bring your vision to life. While Procreate has over 200 incredible brushes already loaded, you’re free to download and import as many Procreate brushes as your creative heart desires.
Creativity is at its peak when there are no boundaries. And, with the ability to import brushes into Procreate, you’ll truly know no bounds. With the quick guide below, you’ll have the latest watercolor brush set downloaded and installed before your digital canvas dries.
How to Download Procreate Brushes
The first step to adding brushes to Procreate is finding the best brush or brush sets to download. There are plenty of online creative marketplaces where you can purchase Procreate brushes to download.
Pixelsmith Marketplace is the perfect platform to connect with, and find brushes created by, South African and international creatives. You can also earn an income by selling your own creative assets on the marketplace.
Procreate Free Brushes
Some artists choose to sell the brushes they make (you can too), while others gladly share them for free. You can find some of the top Procreate brushes on Pixelsmith Marketplace.
Adobe Photoshop (.ABR) brushes are completely compatible with Procreate – so there’s genuinely no limit to the brushes you can download. This is especially convenient for those who are thinking of migrating to Procreate but don’t want to lose their favorite Photoshop brushes.
Note: Unfortunately, for those who’d like to use their favorite Procreate brushes in Photoshop, the brushes aren’t compatible. If you’re curious about drawing in Adobe Photoshop, have a look at these affordable drawing tablets.
How to Import Brushes Into Procreate
Once you’ve found and downloaded the brush(es) you want, you’ll have to import these into Procreate. There are different ways to do this.
If you’ve downloaded your brushes on your computer, you need to transfer them to your iPad. You can do this by adding your Procreate brush downloads to either iCloud or Dropbox. Once you’ve uploaded to the cloud, you can download the brushes to your iPad.
You’ll find your downloaded brushes (.brush/ .brushset) in your iPad files. Many brushes and brush sets will download as a zip file. To unzip the files, simply tap on it, and the iPad should create a duplicated unzipped file.
If for any reason your iPad can’t unzip the file, you can download a third-party app to do it.
Single Brush Import:
If you’re only importing one brush, the following process works best.
Once the brushes have been located and unzipped in the files app, all you need to do is select the brush you’d like to import and press the (i) icon next to it. This will bring up a list of options; select ‘Open in’, then ‘Open in Procreate’ from the options screen that follows.
The Procreate app should open by itself, but if it doesn’t, simply go ahead and open the app yourself. To find your newly imported brushes, select the brush icon in the top right of your screen. The Brush Library will appear.
Scroll down the list to the ‘Imported’ tab in the Brush Library and you’ll see all of your imported brushes.
Import Multiple Brushes:
If you want to import multiple brushes, the best way to do this is to start in the app. This method is excellent for keeping your brushes organized in the Procreate app.
Click on the brush icon in the top right corner of your screen in Procreate to open the Brush Library. At the top of the list of brushes, click the + icon to create a new folder and name it.
Select your folder and select the + icon in the top right corner of the brush library. This will take you to the Brush Studio. Select the ‘Import’ option, which will take you to your files app.
From there, you can select the (unzipped) brushes you’d like to import into the created brush folder in Procreate. After that, you’re free to let your creativity run wild.
Tip: To make things even easier, you can import and export your brushes to and from the files app by dragging and dropping them. To select multiple brush files at a time, hold one brush to pick it up, then tap on the additional brushes you’d like to import and drag them into Procreate.
How to Make a Brush in Procreate
If you can’t find the brush that suits your needs, you can create your own in Procreate Brush Studio. You can also make adjustments to any brushes already in your library.
With the vast amount of adjustments available in the Brush Studio, creating your own brush can seem very intimidating. But once you get the hang of it you’ll appreciate the extensive amount of control you have in creating a brush tailored to your needs.
Our comprehensive guide on how to create your own brushes in Procreate will have you creating marketplace-worthy brushes in no time.
Final Tips on How to Install Procreate Brushes
Procreate puts a lot of effort into creating an app that allows unlimited creative liberty. The app not only allows you the freedom to import brushes to help you achieve your creative vision. It also allows users to create and share their brushes with the Procreate community.
With so many free and paid options available, finding the best Procreate brushes online can be a daunting task. It’s hard to know which ones are truly worth it. Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of the 20 best Procreate brushes to get you started.
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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.