Digital Art Brushes: A Personal Favorites List
As a digital artist, having the right tools can make all the difference in creating stunning pieces of art. In this article, we'll dive into my personal favorite digital art brushes, including the ones I swear by and those that didn't quite make the cut.
Wash Blender
Although I've never personally used the Wash Blender brush, it gets a high rating by default thanks to an endorsement from Cosmic Spectrum in one of her videos. It's definitely one to try out in the future.
Custom Hard Round Brush
I downloaded this brush from the Clip Studio asset store and modified it to allow for easier control of line weight. It's perfect for my personal drawing style, as I have a "death grip" when holding the pen, and it allows for clean, thin lines.
Horse Oil Brush
While this brush blends well, the texture doesn't look great. It's best used with a G Pen to achieve the desired results.
Custom G Pen Brush
I created this custom brush by combining the hard round pressure opacity brush with the shape of the G Pen. I added color jitter, making it a versatile brush for painting. It's great for creating dynamic shapes, cell shading, and editing.
Lasso Brush
This brush is super versatile and great for separating objects, editing shapes, and creating dynamic shapes. Although I don't use the liquify tool much, it's still a useful brush to have in my arsenal.
Sharp Brown Opaque Brush
Unfortunately, this brush isn't a favorite of mine, as it's difficult to use. I wouldn't recommend it to others.
Copic Brush
This brush is fun to use, especially on sketches. However, it requires playing around with it to make it look like traditional media. It's a solid brush for beach and mixing.
Awful Brush
As the name suggests, this brush is not good. It smudges and smears, and doesn't mix well. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Clip Studio G10
Although this brush is okay, it's not great. The line weight is hard to control, and it can produce thin, wispy lines. It's not a favorite of mine, but some people swear by it.
Follow The Line
This brush is good for geometrical shapes and backgrounds with straight lines. It's a B-tier brush that gets the job done.
Paint and Apply
Unfortunately, this brush is garbage. It smears like an Expo marker on a whiteboard. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Pencil Brush
This brush is decent and looks like a pencil. I used it for a bit, but it's not a favorite of mine. The color is good, though, and better than the blend tool.
Blur Tool
I use this tool to soften edges and blend colors when painting. It's a solid tool that's effective in its purpose.
Airbrush
The airbrush is a double-edged sword. It can be very useful in experienced hands, but beginner artists often misuse and abuse it. It's a solid, high-mid tier tool once you get the hang of it.
Awesome Thing Sizes
This brush is not completely trash, but it's very niche. I'm not sure when or if I would use it.
Digital Art Brushes and Tools
Picasso Studio Brush
This studio brush tries to mimic the style of Picasso. It's very similar to the G10 brush, with almost no differences. It can be difficult to use, with a high skill floor, but produces amazing results once mastered.
Modified Milli Pen
I modified the Milli pen to allow for cursor control without filling the entire circle. This enables the use of small lines on Clip Studio without the cursor disappearing, creating a thin line that resembles calligraphy.
Three-Tier Flash Brush
This brush can be challenging for computers to handle, causing lag and crashes. It blends well, but can be problematic to use.
G Pen and Real G Pen
The G Pen and Real G Pen are similar, with the Real G Pen having a texture. The Real G Pen might be preferred for its soft, round brush effect.
Soft Round Brush
This brush is similar to an airbrush, but harder to control. It's difficult to use for softer paintings or blending, resulting in harsh edges and blending.
Mapping Pen
This pen is a rip-off of the G Pen, but harder to control line weight. It's more difficult to use than the G Pen.
Painting Brush with Color Jitter
This brush has a color jitter effect added, producing a unique, automatic filling effect when used. However, it can be a broken tool, not always working as intended.
Erase Along the Edge Tool
This tool enables erasing along the edge of a shape or line. It's unclear how it works, but it can be a useful feature when it functions correctly.
Digital Painting Brush Tier List
Erase Brush
This brush is useful for erasing along edges, and the clutch feature helps prevent erasing inside lines. Rating: Clutch.
Blend Tool
Unfortunately, this tool is terrible and makes artwork look muddy. Rating: F Tier.
Thick Oil Paint Brush
This brush looks cool, but it causes program crashes and lag. Rating: D Tier (unusable).
Finger Brush
This brush is S Tier, but considered "cheating" as it does the work for the artist. It's useful for web comics and saving time. Rating: S Tier (but not recommended for learning to draw).
Noise Brush
This brush is good for backgrounds, ads, and textures. Rating: Mid-Tier.
Droplet Brush
I expected more splatter from this brush, but it creates weird diagonal shapes. Rating: Mid-Tier.
Detail Brush
This brush is the most underrated tool, creating dynamic shapes. It's underutilized and highly recommended. Rating: S Tier.
Ellipse Brush
This brush is useful for backgrounds and geometric objects. Rating: Solid C Tier, rarely used.
Paint Bucket Tool
This tool is actually really good, useful for flattening process. Rating: A Tier.
Rectangle Brush
Unfortunately, this brush is useless and can be replaced by Shift + D. Rating: D Tier.