I do try to replicate traditional media at times. For example, I have made Procreate brushes that look like Micron pens, Posca pens, Prismacolor pencils (all of them are newsletter freebies!), and I think my all-time favorite brush set that I’ve made is my soft pastels. But I have dozens of classes and I’ve made hundreds of brushes and mostly, I just like achieving a less digital look rather than trying to make something look like I did it on paper!
Here’s a simple example of more and less digital-looking.
There are lots of tips for getting a less digital look. Using less saturated colors. Using overall textures on your canvas. Using textured brushes, for example, using a monoline with a crisp clean edge will look more digital than a pencil brush. And not zooming way in to draw every detail, just like you wouldn’t use a magnifying glass as you paint on paper!
There are times when it’s fun to attempt a traditional look though! Oil paint, watercolor, gouache, pastels, even linocut or mimicking a vintage painting! Here are some of my examples, all done in Procreate! In case you’re interested, I also have classes on these (I wasn’t kidding when I said I have dozens of classes🥰)!
FREEBIES!
For some fun freebies to try, you can access loads of free brushes as a newsletter subscriber and I have the micron, Posca, and Prismacolor brushes there as well as a mini set of soft pastels and even some gouache (plus loads more).
Here’s the link to my main website to sign up for the newsletter. Your freebies link and password will be in your welcome email! Once you’re in the Freebies, you’ll want to scroll back to some older freebies in the 2022 and 2021 sections to find all of those!
For pastels, here’s the link to the Pastel cat on YouTube. I also used the pastel set on this acorn lesson. The chickadee is from class where the full brush set is. For gouache, here’s one of the links for a very beginner gouache lesson on YouTube but if you see the ladybug lesson, I also use those brushes for that (it’s a lesson Brenda Bakker and I did on Instagram originally).
BRUSH-MAKING
Making brushes for procreate is like solving a puzzle for me. With the soft pastel set I watched countless YouTube tutorials on traditional pastels and made notes about the different looks I needed to achieve with brushes. It worked!
Here’s what I did for Prismacolor, not only did I make a brush that looks and feels like the pencil, I also made accurate palettes! Some might say it’s a healthy obsession. Others might say I’m just crazy.🤪 Hey, at least I didn’t do ALL of the pencil colors, right? So maybe I’m just a little bit crazy. 😉 Also, there is a certain teal pencil that is impossible to replicate (accurately) in the sRGB color palette that I work in but is easily done in Display P3. I found that fascinating! The real pencil is too saturated!
And of course the Prismacolor pencil freebie comes with a small palette of 24. Be sure to view the palette in Card form to see the Prismacolor names! I don’t have a free lesson out there for this pencil but if you’re in the membership, the mushroom class has a lesson AND more colors!
That’s all for now! I hope you find something to experiment with and that brings you joy!
-Jennifer Nichols
