Importing Brushes Into Procreate

Procreate is a really great app for digital painting because of its affordable price point, and because an iPad has the convenience of being super portable. And while the brushes that come with the program work really well, there are also tons of brushes online that you can add to your brush library. Get the app here.

The biggest downside to this, however, is that it can be a little confusing to go through the process of importing new brushes. Today, we’re going to break down the process so you can start to build up your collection!

Importing brushes in and of itself is pretty simple, but most Procreate brushes you download will come as a ZIP file. If you’ve used an iPad before, you know you can’t open ZIP files on them, so you have to find a workaround for this little hiccup. This involves you having a Dropbox account (which is quick and free if you don’t have one already) and access to your computer.

Your first step is to find the brushes you want to import. There are tons of options online, and a good resource to start at is Gumroad.com. With some exploring, you’ll find both free brushes and very inexpensive ones. Keep in mind that there are tons of other websites as well, so a quick Google search is a good place to start!

Once you’ve downloaded your brushes, your next step is to get them somewhere where you can access them from your iPad. This is where your Dropbox account will come in. On websites like Gumroad, there is an option to download them directly to your account after purchase, which is the easiest option. You can also download them directly to your computer, then go to your Dropbox account and import them there manually, but this creates an extra step for you.

Now you can switch over to you iPad, which will also need to have Dropbox installed onto it. Make sure you’re logged in and the brushes are imported correctly into your Dropbox account.

Getting to this point is the most complicated part – now we can jump to the Procreate app and actually import them. You’ll need to have a document open in order to access your brush menu, so either open an existing drawing or create a new document.

At this point, tap on the brush icon at the top of the screen, then tap the plus sign in the upper right hand side of the brush menu that drops down. Next, tap “Import” on the upper right hand side of the next menu that pops up.

This will take you to a new menu of possible locations to import from. Choose Dropbox, and all the downloaded files in your account will appear on the right hand side. Just tap on the brush you want to add, and it will automatically import into your Procreate brush library. All done!

Keep in mind that the brush will import into whatever brush set you currently have selected, so if you want to import an inking brush, make sure you’re in the “Inking” brush set before you import. You can also create a new brush set, if for example you’d like to keep all your downloaded brushes in one place. Simply go to your list of brush sets and tap the plus sign at the top.

You’re all set! Have fun exploring and experimenting!

Do you have a favorite brush set you’ve downloaded? Or have you made your own? Share down in the comments below, and check out RB on Instagram for more daily inspiration!