Introduction

When I need new brushes, I look for those that fall into one of the following categories:

-Pattern brushes: to generate a pattern suitable for clothing, wallpaper, floors, etc.

-Natural brushes: Brushes that make creating backgrounds easier, as there are those with grass, stones, clouds, trees, bushes, textures, etc.

-For line art: I mainly look for brushes for sketch lines (pencils) or for lineart (pens or markers)

-For painting: I look for brushes that more accurately imitate real materials, especially those that imitate watercolors.

 

However, once you have chosen and downloaded an Assets package, the first thing is to know how to incorporate them into Clip Studio.

First, you need to know where these materials are. They appear in the "Downloads" file of the materials section.

 

To install these brushes and place them in an accessible location, you must click on the material and drag it to where you want to place it.

• Inside an existing folder. you must have the destination folder open, or drag the already added tool to the destination folder

• In a new folder

 

Notice that the location where you are dragging the tool is highlighted in red.

 

*Keep in mind that generally, each brush has a logo that helps interpret what type of brush it is.

 

*You can modify both the identifying logo and the brush name! It's very important to configure them to identify them well. Right-click on the tool and press "Sub Tool Settings"

 

1) Change the name

2) Change the logo drawing

3) Change the logo background color

 

So, now that we know how to organize them, let's see what I have in my brush library! (Many of them are free!)

 

- Pattern Brushes

I really like drawing kimonos, and when it comes to giving them personality I always have problems because drawing neat patterns freehand is quite difficult.

To solve this problem, I downloaded the following brush packs, which have floral or geometric motifs. Many are interesting on their own, but very interesting patterns are also generated when combined.

 

Let's look at the brushes I use the most... It's free and the ID is 1730439. In case it helps more, I'm sharing the link:

 

This same pack contains other brushes, more designed for making combinations than for standing alone:

 

Examples of combinations between these brushes could be:

 

These brushes are very beautiful!! but generally using such predefined patterns has a significant weakness: the patterns are flat and straight, but clothing is not!

To help give a bit of a sense of movement with the pattern so that it adapts more to the position of the clothing and the movement of the pose, we have the "Mesh Transformation" layer-selection editing mode available. To use it, go to the Edit / Transform / Mesh Transformation menu.

What this tool does is apply a mesh divided into 9 parts over the content of the selected layer. This mesh allows us to modify the image with more freedom than the other options. It is used by moving the vertices and intersections of each square area of the mesh to modify its shape.

 

This tool works both directly on the selected layer and on any selection that has been made. This allows for more precise retouching of shapes in specific areas.

 

 

Asset packs very similar to this one but with different patterns:

 

 

-Natural Brushes:

I find it hard to dedicate myself to backgrounds, and at the same time, I like detailed backgrounds. This combination is quite problematic because I don't have the patience to create the number of details I'd like to put into a background. This is where natural Asset brushes come in.

 

The pack I use the most (costs 80CP) is:

 

It has two different types of foliage and two different types of grass. I'll show you examples of my two favorite combinations of these brushes:

 

This pack also includes two pen tips ideal for drawing finer or thicker grass by hand.

 

A more abstract version of this type of brush can be:

 

Extra pack for bark (costs 80CP):

Extra pack for loose leaves in the wind (costs 20CP):

-Brushes for sketch, ink, and watercolor:

Clip Studio has many very good brushes in this section, but the following pack particularly surprised me with its sketch brush (or at least I use it for that!)... and it's also free!

 

In fact, this same pack simultaneously has: a sketch brush, brushes that give a water-like feel, three different types of brushes for mixing colors, and an action to add textures.

 

A) Sketching brush: This brush looks quite similar to a mechanical pencil (or lead pencil), which is what I usually draw with by hand, making it very comfortable for me. It has perfect stabilization for quick strokes, and the stroke is quite uniform, although it widens slightly at the tips (just like a mechanical pencil!)

 

B) Triangular watercolor brushes: These brushes combine the texture and transparency of watercolor. They are ideal for giving different nuances to a color so that it doesn't appear so flat.

The pack has three different brushes in this format:

1) Single-color triangular brush. Opacity varies with pressure.

2) Two-color triangular brush. With the top color selected, it will combine with the color underneath. Greater pressure also means greater opacity.

3) Triangular brush for mixing colors and creating gradients. Ideal for adding texture to color gradients!!

 

C) Square watercolor brushes: They basically have the same effect as the triangular ones, although the pack does not include a square-based blending brush.

1) Low-opacity square brush that combines (in the repetition of the square module, both colors are interleaved) the foreground color with the background color. The greater the pressure, the greater the blend.

2) Low-opacity square watercolor brush that blends the foreground color with the background color (real blend, both colors combine to create a new one, for example, if you have red on top and blue underneath, the result will be violet).

 

D) Round brushes with particles. These brushes generate texture by leaving small areas without color. They are ideal for making combinations with the background color, as when painting over with these brushes, the color of the underlying layer is visible through the transparent particles.

1) Round brush with single-color particles and soft edges.

2) Round brush with particles that combines two colors and soft edges.

3) Round brush with particles and strong edges of a single color.

4) Round brush with particles and strong edges that combines two colors.

 

E) Round brush with irregular edges, low opacity, with fine and uniform texture. These brushes have a beautiful finish due to their texture, suitable for all uses.

1) Single-color round brush with irregular edges.

2) Two-color round brush with irregular edges.

 

F) Brush for creating water stain effect.

G) Square blender with texture.

H) Water stain blender with soft, textured edge.

I) Action that adds a group of watercolor paper textures.

 

This pack is really very complete… I highly recommend it!

Acknowledgements and Contact:

And these are the Assets brushes I use the most!! especially the one that imitates a mechanical pencil is my favorite…

Thanks for reading and I hope it was useful!!

Don't hesitate to tell me in the comments if this information if you have any criticism or suggestion that helps me improve!

 

If you like my work, you can find me on my social media:

Instagram: @barbara_brutti_ilustraciones

Furaffinity: @barbara_brutti

Deviantart: @Attaroa

 

I also want to thank my friend Malvina who always helps me correct the tutorials! you can see her work on Instagram @malvilustra