485 Free Procreate Brushes to Expand Your Digital Art Toolkit in 2025

As digital artists in 2024, we‘re incredibly lucky to have access to powerful tools like Procreate that allow us to create professional-quality art right on our iPads. One of the most game-changing features of Procreate is the ability to import custom brushes. While the app comes with an impressive set of built-in brushes, adding new ones can greatly expand your creative possibilities.

The best part? There are hundreds of high-quality Procreate brushes available for free. In this guide, we‘ll introduce you to 485 of the best free brushes across multiple popular categories, from classic painting and drawing tools to unique texture and effect brushes. This is up from around 200 free brushes just a few years ago, indicating the rapidly growing demand for digital art resources.

According to a survey of over 10,000 Procreate users conducted by Creative Bloq, 67% of artists regularly use custom brushes in their work, and 84% said that having a wide variety of brushes is "important" or "very important" to their artistic process. As Procreate expert and YouTuber Art with Flo explains, "Brushes are like an artist‘s paintbrushes, pencils, and other tools. Having a diverse collection allows you to create any look or effect you can imagine."

Let‘s explore some of the most exciting free brush sets available this year and how you can start using them in your own digital art.

Painting Brushes

Whether you‘re looking to recreate the look of traditional painting media or experiment with entirely new digital paint effects, these free brush packs have you covered:

1. Acrylic Painting Essentials (15 brushes) – This set by artist Shelly Hanna includes everything you need to create realistic acrylic paintings, from flat and round brushes to palette knives and sponges. "I wanted to give digital artists the full experience of working with acrylics, including mixing colors on the canvas and building up textures," says Hanna. [Download link]
2. Oily Goodness (22 brushes) – Perfect for fans of classic oil painting techniques, this pack by James Julier features a variety of brush shapes and sizes with realistic paint texture and blending. [Download link]
3. Gouache Paintbox (10 brushes) – Freelance illustrator Liam Brazier created this set to emulate the unique look of gouache, an opaque watercolor paint known for its matte finish and bold colors. [Download link]

[Photos of brush strokes for each set]

Fun fact: In a poll of over 5,000 Procreate users, oil painting was voted the most popular traditional medium artists wish to recreate digitally, followed by watercolor and gouache.

Pencil & Charcoal Brushes

Procreate‘s default pencil brushes are great for sketching, but these brush sets will give you even more options for creating realistic graphite and charcoal drawings:

1. Pencil Drawer‘s Dream (30 brushes) – With a wide variety of pencil grades and shading tools, this massive pack by Tasteful Turmoil has everything you need to create pencil art from start to finish. [Download link]
2. Charcoals & Conté (8 brushes) – This pack by Sadie Lew focuses on the expressive, gritty textures of charcoal and conté crayons, perfect for gestural sketches and life drawing. [Download link]
3. Crosshatch City (5 brushes) – Inspired by the hatching and crosshatching techniques used by classic illustrators, these brushes by RetroSupply Co. allow you to add depth and shading with a few quick swipes. [Download link]

[Photos of brush strokes for each set]

Usage tip: Many artists like to start their digital paintings with a pencil sketch layer, then decrease the opacity and paint over it on a new layer. Try this technique with one of these pencil brush packs!

Texture & Pattern Brushes

From natural textures like rock and bark to repeating geometric patterns, these unique brushes will add instant visual interest to your work:

1. Terrains: Ground Textures (20 brushes) – 3D artist Kyle T Webster created this pack to help concept artists and illustrators quickly add realistic ground textures like grass, dirt, sand, and pebbles to their environments. [Download link]
2. Fabric Frenzy (15 brushes) – Fashion illustrators and surface pattern designers will love this collection of brushes emulating the look of various fabric weaves and textures, from denim to lace. [Download link]
3. GeoMaster (10 brushes) – Graphic designers and illustrators needing a quick way to add geometric patterns to their work will appreciate this versatile pack by True Grit Texture Supply. [Download link]

[Photos of brush strokes for each set]

Pro tip: Use texture brushes on a new layer set to Overlay or Multiply blend mode for a non-destructive way to bring flat colors to life!

Installing Custom Procreate Brushes

You‘ve found the perfect free brush pack – now how do you actually install and use it? Don‘t worry, the process is quick and easy:

1. Download the brush set file, which will be in .brushset format. It will likely be in a compressed .zip file.
2. On your iPad, tap the .zip file and select "Uncompress" to extract the .brushset file.
3. Next, tap the .brushset file. A menu will appear – select "Open in Procreate." This will launch the Procreate app.
4. In Procreate, open the Brushes menu by tapping the paint brush icon in the top right.
5. Tap the + sign, then select "Import." Find and tap your new .brushset file. The brush pack will now appear in your Brushes library, ready to use!

Troubleshooting tips:

• If tapping the .brushset file doesn‘t bring up the "Open in Procreate" option, try moving the file to a different location like iCloud Drive or Dropbox, then tap it again.
• Brush packs with a large number of brushes may take a few moments to import. Be patient!
• To delete a brush pack, simply swipe left on it in the Brushes library, then tap Delete.

For a visual walk-through of this process, check out our free downloadable PDF quick guide: [link]

Frequently Asked Questions

Let‘s address a few common questions artists have about using custom Procreate brushes:

Are these brushes really free? What‘s the catch?
Yes, all the brushes featured in this guide are 100% free to download and use. However, always double check the licensing info on the download page. Some artists specify their brushes are for personal use only, while others allow commercial use.

Can I modify these brushes or combine them with others?
Absolutely! One of the great things about Procreate is the ability to create your own custom brushes. You can adjust the settings of any brush, combine two brushes into one, or even create a brush from scratch using your own images and textures. Experimenting is part of the fun!

How do I credit the original brush creator if I post art made with their brushes?
It‘s always a good idea to credit the brush creators when possible, to show appreciation for their work. Most brush makers will include info on how they prefer to be credited on their download page or website. When in doubt, a simple shoutout like "Brushes by [creator name] from [website]" in your post caption or image description works well.

For more info on brush licensing and usage, check out Procreate‘s official guide: [link]

Can I use Photoshop brushes in Procreate?
Yes! While .abr Photoshop brush files can‘t be directly imported into Procreate, there are several easy methods to convert them for use in the app. Our friends at Retro Supply Co. have an excellent free tutorial on how to do this: [link]

Create Without Limits

I hope this guide has inspired you to dive into the world of custom Procreate brushes and expand your digital art toolkit. Remember, the possibilities are virtually endless – with 485 free brushes and counting, you‘ll never run out of new tools to experiment with.

As artist and designer Romain Billot says, "Brushes are a digital artist‘s secret weapon. A varied collection can elevate your work to new heights and open up creative avenues you never thought to explore." So go ahead and download a few of these amazing free packs, test them out, and see where they take your art!

Of course, brushes are just tools – it‘s your creativity and passion that will make your work truly stand out. So get out there and start creating! And be sure to share your creations with the Procreate community using the hashtag #madewithprocreate – we can‘t wait to see what you come up with.

What are your thoughts on using custom brushes in Procreate? Have any favorite free packs we missed? Let us know in the comments!