The first Procreate GrutBrushes are now available with many more to come. You can buy Procreate Unlimited for a bargain right now
It’s just $10 today but it will go up as more brushes are added! You will get access to download all the Procreate brushes published in the next 6 months.
Once there are enough of them, I will start bundling them into sets (inks, pencils, watercolours, etc) but until then, purchasing GrutBrushes Procreate unlimited is the only way to get them for now
Even though there are some similar brushes (I will try to reproduce some favourites) These are not the Photoshop brushes converted, these are ALL NEW exclusively Procreate. (If I could convert them, there would be a lot more than just 25 to start with)
You can “try before you buy” with the free Procreate brushes available as well. Install them right onto your iPad from the web page!
“Penelope Isn’t Possible” Painted by Jesse VanWagner using the Impasto Brushes
I’m thrilled to add this portrait by artist Jesse VanWagner to the GrutBrushes Gallery. Jesse used the Stump Trough oil impasto brush from the free Sampler set, among others, to paint this lovely digital painting in Photoshop. To see more of his work, head over to his blog where he frequently shares his work as well as his thoughts That’s where I found this piece and immediately asked Jesse if I could share it in the GrutBrushes Gallery. He also often posts interesting timelapse gifs that show the evolution of his paintings from sketches to finished paintings for those who like to see how it got there. More that just open and talented, he also comes across as a very nice, genuine person. Needless to say I subscribed to stay in touch with his art adventures.
It’s been a little while since I put out a watercolor brush so here’s a gritty one for you. ‘Sip Dream’ is a very grainy Photoshop watercolor brush with a tendency to pool paint in small sections. This brush has a Fairly wide range in tone with about a 70% opacity at the top range of pressure.
Photoshop Watercolor Brush strokes drawn with the ‘Sip Dream’ digital artist’s tool preset
Multi talented Danica Jokic does wonderful work in traditional media but is just as adept in applying her talents to digital media. I’ve been a fan of her oil paintings for a while so I was beyond thrilled when she used my impasto brushes to paint this fantastic portrait in Photoshop! She really shows how well traditional oil painting techniques can be applied to digital painting. Her talent makes it look easy but seeing what can be done is an inspiration to me to work harder at improving my skills. You can see much more of her paintings and illustrations on instagram instagram.com/danica.jokic/ Catch up with her work there, I think she’s one to watch and hers will be a journey worth following. You can find the impasto Photoshop brushes Danica Jokic used here: grutbrushes.com/impastos
Painted By Keve Kepes, Freelance Artist, Illustrator
I’m delighted to add this new piece by Keve Kepes in the GrutBrushes Gallery today. Thanks very much for sharing this Keve! To see more of Keve’s work visit his Artstation portfolio.
Have some artwork created using GrutBrushes that you’d like to share? Submit your best today (if you don’t want to share it, send it anyway and let me know it’s not to be published, I love to see what you’re making)
Painting with the ‘Spent Pestle’ Photoshop brush (paper texture added)
This week’s free GrutBrush ( grutbrushes.com/freebrush ) is a specialty brush which mostly means that it doesn’t quite fit perfectly into any of the traditional media categories like charcoal, ink, watercolour, etc. Nor does it quite fit into my catch-all category “Natural Media” where I normally place brushes that behave and look like traditional media. This is what I call a ‘Specialty’ brush. Tthey tend to have a look that is quite unique that makes them suitable for one particular tasks rather than general drawing or painting. you wouldn’t chose a specialty brush to take a message while on the phone or draw a map to your house.
Making this image
To create this drawing I alternated between black and white a lot (using the ‘x‘ key shortcut) and used the white to carve away at the black lines, sometimes shaping them into finer points than the brush weight allowed. When I was done, I turned the layer into an overlay, over the paper texture and toned down the white parts of my drawing using hue/saturation to the point where it is still just slightly visible, almost as if it’s a faint water stain, like wet sand off a shoreline. I then added a tetxured overlay of the paper on top of the black areas to give it a more ‘lived in’ look and integrate it a bit more with the paper backing. A flat layer of colour on a natural background always looks too artificial to even be a part of it’s own background, nothing in real life is one single colour or tone.
Having more fun with the brush of the week demo doodles
This drawing is also the start of a bit of a departure from the usual demo images, not in the content or style, which is my usual doodley sketch style, but in the rules I set for myself when creating it and it’s something I hope to be doing more of from now on. For the past year, I usually set myself pretty tight rules on how I present the demo images, I try to make sure I only use that one brush, ‘as is’, I don’t change the width, I don’t manipulate the appearance of the lines, I used to stick to only one that brush for the whole piece. In the beginning I even tended to restrict myself to black and white to present what I felt was the most accurate depiction of what the lines look like so that you know exactly what you’re getting when you download the brush. This year I am going to try (spare time permitting) to relax my self imposed rules and have a bit more fun with the brushes for a few reasons:
You can always click through to the brush page on the website and see all the technical details there including an animated preview showing exactly what it’s like to draw an unadultarated brush stroke in black on a white background.
It’s a free brush, so I am not sure why I feel like I’m doing a bait and switch just because I used an eraser to tidy up a splotchy area of one line or added a texture, or changed the line width. I realise that I shouldn’t shy away from showing unconventional uses of the brushes the point is to show you what you can do with an art tool, and part of that should be to get creative with it, I’m not making a schematic for a medical device!
The final reason is mostly for me. While following strict rules may be a reliable way to immediately showing what the brush looks like, that’s not very conducive to creativity or fun. I always tell myself “Just stick to using the brush as is, consider this drawing a product demo and then later you can have some fun with it and do something more creative” but in reality, later never comes. Making the brush of the week is often the only time all week that I actually do any doodling so If I don’t use the ‘free brush of the week’ in a creative and fun way when making the demo image, I may never get to it again! It does me good to remind myself that I started making these brushes was a way to add creativity back into a stressful work life, and I hope I can share some of the benefits with you.
So from now on I’m going to try to be a little looser with the brushes and play around a bit more. Hopefully I’ll take advantage of my relaxed rules and start having a bit more fun with the brushes, and Im sure you’ll forgive me if I add in a few flourishes with other brushes and take a few liberties with the technical details. I promise that the images will always be primarily driven and inspired by the brush I am giving away.
Painted with the ‘Scatter Mat’ Photoshop brush (wash with ‘Moth Wing’ brush)
This week’s free Photoshop brush is “Scatter Mat” a gritty wiry natural media brush that starts with a relatively uniform mid toned line but ends in a powdery mess at the highest pressure range. This brush brings a chimney sweep’s broom to your sketchbook. As always, you can download it on the free brush of the week page until Monday when there will be a brand new free Photoshop brush to download.
Normally I’d be announcing the free brush of the week today (Week #52…1 full Year or free brushes!), but I was waiting until some really serious website problems were resolved. That doesn’t seem to be happening so my post announcing the free sampler set of 10 brushes and tools (6+4) which I’m releasing as a “Pay What You Want” product (i.e. free!) is delayed. While waiting for someone to help me fix it I made this quick video shows how to install them into Photoshop using the plugin. Come and download it at your own risk as the site seems to be in danger of going down at any moment but while it’s up, you can get them here
This is all native Photoshop by the way, all the oil paint texture comes from the brush itself, there are no layer effects or post processing of any kind.
Here’s a Photoshop painting that uses about 8 of the impasto brushes (this also has no layer effects or filters)
Photoshop oil impasto painting
These are actual brush strokes of the 10 brushes in Impastos 01:
10 Photoshop Impasto oil brushes for digital artists. Realistic pressure responsive Photoshop oil paint brushes that simulate the look of traditional oils without the use of layer effects or any post processing.
