Watercolor brushes from Photoshop
Watercolors are my favorite traditional technique, so it is a natural thing that I would like to achieve this softness, lightness, and interesting textures also in digital painting. I finally discovered software that manages it beautifully (you can read about it in these posts: Rebelle review and Rebelle landscape painting).
But shortly after, I bought an iPad and it revolutionized my way of working completely! I avoid working behind the desk as I only can. I complained hundreds of times that Rebelle, unfortunately, doesn’t have a mobile version.
When I saw Max Ulichney watercolor brushes with interesting textures and grainy looking strokes, I wanted to have them. The price wasn’t so attractive. But you have to remember I am very sparing (some evil people even say I am stingy as Scrooge McDuck!). And I would buy them without doubts, if not the fact that since Procreate 5 we can import Photoshop brushes. And I have an amazing watercolor brush set for Photoshop already!
Before Rebelle I loved to use Kyle T. Webster brushes for Photoshop. You could buy them a few years ago (and I did, I also bought Megapack set). Today they are available exclusively for Creative Cloud users. So if you are one of them, you can have it for free! Well, ok – for ‘free’. Since you already pay a lot for a subscription 😉
The site with Kyle Brushes is visible only for logged in users of Creative Cloud.
Photoshop Brushes in Procreate
All you have to do is to import your .abr set to Procreate!
When I first tried Kyle watercolor set in Procreate I was a bit disappointed. When you open the same set in Adobe Fresco, you will see why (you can see it on the process video). Fresco is a painting app from Adobe, with wonderful brushes, high price, and nothing more so far…Free for CC users.
Photoshop brushes work there exactly as in the desktop version! But they don’t look so interesting in Procreate. The textures aren’t so visible, wet edges don’t look so wet… Luckily all you have to do is to play with brush settings a bit to achieve similar effects.
For this illustration, I used another stunning brush. I made the line art with one of the ink brushes from Inkdup set by MattyB. You can download it for free or for a donation for the creator. And it is really worth to donate because MattyB shared a lot of gorgeous brush sets for free on the Gumroad. I recommend especially Flora set. Irreplaceable in the case of painting landscapes. But getting back to the point…
Watercolor look in digital illustration
The easiest way to achieve a traditional look is to imitate the watercolor process. It means:
- start with the lightest colors and use darker and darker shades to add details
- remember that watercolors are transparent paints. It means that lighter color won’t cover already painted darker color, but it will create another layer of color, with a darker shade
- that is why I choose brushes with multiply mode from watercolor ser. It means every next stroke will be darker
- I try to not add too many colors. In the case of watercolors, water joins and mix colors with each other. It creates interesting textures and shades. In Procreate we have to choose colors carefully to not make a mess. That is why I try to not use too many colors in areas of water and grass and keep it light and clean.
- That is why I try to not use too many colors in areas of water and grass and keep it light and clean
Color it yourself!
I have a little gift for you! You can also color this illustration by yourself.Â
You can:
- print it and color it with color pencils
- print the light gray version it on a watercolor paper and color it with watercolors (the lightest line art won’t use too much ink and won’t dilute so much as darker ones)
- open it in graphic software (desktop or mobile) and paint it digitally
In all cases, I will be so happy if you will share it on your social media and tag me!
All you have to do to get it is to subscribe to my newsletter. I promise there will be more of coloring pages to come!
Do you know other cool brushes for Procreate? Share links in comments! I love to discover new brushes!
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