Free Procreate Brushes for Fantastical Digital Illustration

Download this free set of brushes compatible with Procreate to add texture and atmosphere to your digital art projects

Digital art is like a key to a new creative world. Not only can you work with a far wider range of materials and tools than the average person has available, but you can also explore fantasy worlds beyond the realm of physics, and into the magical and surreal.

In this free download, Michael Relth (@michaelrelth) helps you take crafting digital art and alternate magical worlds on your iPad to the next level, with a Procreate brush set featuring a range of hardnesses and textures.

Michael is a freelance animator, illustrator, and concept artist based in LA. After graduating from ArtCenter College of Design with a BFA in Illustration, he turned his passion for art into a full-time career.

Throughout his freelancing journey, Michael has worked in character animation, illustration, and visual development for a number of motion graphics studios as well as for clients including Procreate and Warner Animation. He also illustrated and published a book, Picture Book by Dog. Finally, he shares sketches, paintings, and illustrations with tens of thousands of followers on Instagram.

With such a range of work required, artists like Michael need to be able to move flexibly between tools to create artworks that reflect a different moods and atmospheres.

Why is a range of brushes key to mastering Procreate?

All artists are on a journey, Michael says. We have feelings we want to express, ideas and emotions. Perhaps we also have a goal, such as working for clients, writing your own comics, or personal fulfillment and fun. The path to any of this is the same: you’re trying to build confidence in your visual communication.

Becoming confident means understanding each step of the process, and recognizing that each element of your work feeds into its overall meaning and impact. Your color, texture, shapes, and more all feed into the mood and message that viewers will receive.

Unique brushes and custom brush sets are a great way to add a unique feel to your work. Understanding the different weights and textures of your brushes will help you see when and where to use them to optimal effect.

How do I get started with these brushes?

Michael provides an example for how to install the brushes easily on an iPad.

1. Start by adding them to Dropbox, then go to your iPad’s Dropbox app and locate them.

2. Tap the ellipsis icon next to them and tap "Share", then "Export file". Procreate should appear, and when you tap it the brushes should be easily imported within a minute.

3. Once you have the brushes loaded in Procreate, you’ll see they are organized top down from hardest to softest in your brush library. So, at the top you find a pencil, and near the bottom an airbrush.

At the end, Michael has also included some special effects brushes that can add speckles and dashes easily. Remember that these brushes will work with more than your brush tool for laying down color: you can also apply them to your eraser tool, so negative space can be made with textures too.

Download the Procreate brush pack for free

After clicking on the button below, you will find a ZIP file in the Downloads folder on your computer containing the free brushes, called Free Procreate Brushes by Michael Relth. Unzip the file before importing the brush set into Procreate: as explained above, the Dropbox app can help you do this easily.

If you want to learn more, you can sign up for Michael Relth’s course, Fantastical Illustrations with Procreate. In his course, you'll learn the essentials of storytelling, composition, and color, and how to build magical imaginary worlds using just your iPad and an Apple Pencil.

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