Used to obsess over brush packs, now I just use one brush for everything

For about 3 years I collected like 200 custom Procreate brushes. Thought I needed a different texture for every piece. Then around last spring I did a commission for a client in Austin and for some reason my iPad glitched and I could only use the basic round brush for 2 days. That piece ended up being the best thing I made all year. Now I pretty much only use a modified version of that one brush with some opacity tweaks. Makes my workflow faster and my art looks more consistent. Anyone else go through a brush hoarding phase and come out the other side?

3 comments

3 Comments

valh322mo agoMost Upvoted

200 brushes is a lot... I only got to like 80 before I gave up.

loganl222mo ago

My collection sits at 312 brushes as of this morning, @valh32, and 80 sounds like you barely got started. I swap between 15 different brushes on every single piece because variety keeps my style from going stale. People say consistency matters but I see it the other way around - having one brush makes everything look like it was cranked out in an assembly line. For the client work I do in Chicago, clients actually ask for different textures and finishes across their campaigns. If I used one brush for a gritty urban scene and then a soft botanical illustration, both pieces would feel hollow and samey.

julia_patel1mo ago

Yo same thing happened to my friend Mia actually! She had this whole folder of like 400 brushes she bought on Etsy and Gumroad. Then her tablet pen broke and she had to use her finger for a week. She was so mad at first but then she just used one basic round brush and her sketches looked way more natural. She said it actually helped her find her style instead of hiding behind all those different textures. Now she only uses like 3 brushes tops and her work is way better. I think she even deleted most of her brush folder last month and said it felt freeing.