TOP 5 Best Default Sketching Brushes in Procreate

So for today's video, let's talk about sketching and sketching is such an important part of any illustration and sometimes is also the part that is mostly overlooked whenever we're starting an illustration and we're really, really looking towards the end where we should be actually focusing on having a really solid base. So because of that, I really want to make a video where I list my top five sketching brushes that already come out of the box from Procreate 5 so you don't have to spend a dime in getting any other brushes or like looking around the internet for more brushes because these are really high quality brushes and we're going to go through all of these brushes and its best features. So this is a video that you definitely don't want to miss. My name is Leo and you're watching Ghost Paper, so now let's get to it. All right, now that we're here on Procreate 5, we're going to be taking a look at the sketching section on the Procreate 5 brushes and we're only going to take a look at brushes that come with Procreate. So the very first sketching brush that I want to show you is actually the topmost option is the brush called Peppermint. So in terms of size, we're going to be first starting with something around 18% and I'm just going to draw a little circle here and move this a little bit down. And now I want to show you why Peppermint is such a versatile brush. As you can see, it makes a very fine line, a very fine sketching line, but, and I can also draw here, but one of the most versatile things is that if you tilt your Apple Pencil, you also get a really nice shading brush. So you almost get two brushes in one, in one sketching brush. So by doing this, I can draw a really nice shading onto the circle so that it becomes a sphere. And by coming back and drawing on top, this brush also has a really nice blending of the sketching element so that it gets darker and darker as you keep drawing on it. So now we're going to just increase to about 36% so that I can get, I don't have to tilt it as much and I'm just going to try to get something a little bit more faint and transparent and I'll show you why. So now that we have this, I'm just going to use the smudge tool and we're just going to smudge this sphere. So one of the best things about this brush, Peppermint, is that with a little bit of smudging, you can actually get a really nice result, a really nice shading result and you don't have to change through a lot of brushes to get to this point. So now I'm just going to try to erase the border more or less. I'm just going to move this down a bit and probably try to increase it just some something around this. And as you can see, this is what Peppermint can do for us. You can get two kinds of brushes in one, a really nice sketching brush and you can get a nice texturing which allows you to then further use the smudge tool in order to get a really nice shading to it. Now let's talk about the second brush. And the second brush, my second favorite one, is actually the second one on the list. And don't worry, we're not going to go through from the first to the bottom option like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. It's actually going to, we're going to skip a few. So why is this brush so versatile as well? Well, for this one, we're actually going to start at 36% and I'm going to try to get a circle about the same size as what we had before. So this second brush is the Derwent and also produces a really nice kind of a sketch line. This one has way more texture right from the get-go. So probably you can see it from the finer line. It allows you to have thinner lines as well as really nice shading once you tilt your Apple Pencil. However, what I really like about Derwent is that the texturing is stronger. So with this one, we're going to do the same things, but this time I'm actually going to create a new layer. It's probably going to give me a better result because now it's going to be separated in two layers. Once again, I'm going to come back and add some shading. So it really adds a really nice effect. And this one, I'm actually going to play with the opacity so that I can try to get something a little bit more transparent for these parts. And I'll increase the opacity and get more or less like this. So I guess what I'm trying to say with this one, let me just use the erase tool once again, try to find that circle. Yes, this is going to be a way better job than the first one because now we have separate layers. So with this one, I'm inclined to say that using the smudge tool, it's not going to make a lot of sense because the beauty of this one is the amount of texturing that's actually coming from the brush itself. So you can use peppermint and actually add a little bit of smudging if you want to create something that has this kind of a look. So you get some really fine lines with a really nice smooth shading. But if you want something that has more of a pronounced texture, you should definitely go with Derwent. So now let's go into my favorite number three. And this sketching brush is the one that I use in 99% of my drawings at the sketching phase. And that one is called the Technical Pencil. For this one, we're probably going to go to about 36% as well on an HD canvas. Everything that I'm doing here is on a canvas of 1920 by 1080p. So let's draw another circle, try to once again make something that is similar in size. I think I got that right. And we're going to set it about here. And the beauty about Technical Pencil on Procreate is that it's basically a very nice sharp pencil, almost like comparable to a 2B pencil. And what it does, it creates just like a really nice set of lines, which still allow you to play with pen pressure. So this one doesn't really have a lot when it comes to tilting your Apple Pencil. It gives you a little bit, but it doesn't give you those really broad texturing strokes that you get from the first two, either the Peppermint or the Derwent. So on Technical Brush, you almost want to draw your shadows with the etching effect or like the drawing lines. And by using the technique of pen pressure, you almost get this really, really cool effect that I'm trying to replicate here of just getting shadows by drawing lines. And I hope the camera can capture that. So maybe that's how you want to actually draw your sketching illustrations. You want to keep everything with lines, you want to make it really stylish and clean. So in that sense, what I mean by clean is like without a lot of the texturing side of like the heavier kind of shading onto your sketches. So if you want to do something like this, or if you're just starting on Procreate, I highly, highly recommend you to first play with the Technical Pencil. Now I have to make some space here in order to able to continue. And my next favorite brush, it's going to be the 6B pencil. So this one has the strongest effect of them all. In fact, I'm just going to redo this pencil also about 36% because I just noticed I was at the biggest kind of size. So this one is for some really, really heavy sketching, almost like you're trying to make a statement with your drawings. So let's make another layer to make things easier if you want to kind of delete the shading part of it. But this one, you can also tilt your pencil and produce some really nice effects. I would say this is the most raw of all of these sketching pencils. So if your idea of sketching, if what you want to achieve is almost like that really dark like charcoal drawing that we do, like in one of those drawing classes where you're really just drawing the human figure and you have about like two minutes, five minutes to draw the human figure. You're doing those like studies on anatomy and you really love to work with brushes to have this kind of a personality and character, then I definitely recommend you to start with the 6B or use this brush into your illustrations. So this one, I will also not smudge because I think the beauty of this one comes from, again, the raw factor and I'm not even going to clean up around the edges as I've done with some of these other brushes because I think the fact that this is like bleeding and giving some really nice kind of a real texture to what it would be if you would actually be drawing with almost like charcoal. Once again, I highly recommend you to play around with this brush, which is the 6B. And now for my last sketching brush, I'm actually going to go back to Peppermint here, set it about 18% just to get first my circle. I would say about this size, let's just double check, something about that, something around this one. And now for my last one, it's actually a shading brush. So the one we're going to be looking is the Soft Pastel. And the reason why this brush is also so good is for the texturing itself. It's going to give you a really nice result out of the box because of the components, because of like how this brush is actually built, which if you go here into the options of Soft Pastel, you have the shape, which is just like, you know, a regular kind of a brush image. But the beauty of this brush comes in the grain source. That's why we get the effect of the pastel actually comes from here. So the best part about this, about having control that Procreate gives you with the brush studio is that if we go back here into our illustration and we see that the scale in relation to what we want, if we feel it's a little too big, we can always go back into the brush studio, go into the grain section and make sure that the scale is set, let's just say to 20%, which is now half of that size. And now if I draw the same shape, I'm now getting a way smaller grain. And in fact, it might be more interesting for you and it gives more quality, looks more high resolution if you actually diminish the scale of your brush. So what I'm trying to say is that once you're illustrating, don't be confined by the numbers that Procreate is giving you in these brushes. You can go into the brush studio, you can change the sizing of the brushes, you can try them out at different sizes, see what different results they can give you in your illustrations. So let's go back now with this smaller size, and I'm just going to paint some shadows here. I'm actually going to do this once more. I'm just going to bring down the opacity and just go slower and kind of compound the effect by drawing a few times. So probably keep it like that. It's a really, really interesting brush and I'm just going to make it super faint now because we can even texture the whole circle. And I guess what the point that I'm trying to say here with this brush is, if what you're trying to achieve is something that has a lot of texture, then I also highly recommend you to give this one a try. If you're trying to make your drawings kind of stand out by not just letting them be just like sort of lines, but also having a really nice shading, then by all means, try the soft pastel one. So that's it for this video, guys. I hope you guys enjoyed it. And if you did, a like would be super appreciated, as well as make sure to hit the subscribe button and the bell notification icon so you don't miss any of these tips, reviews, speed paint videos, and that is all for you to become a better digital illustrator. Now, let me know in the comment section down below, what are your favorite sketching brushes for Procreate? What is the brush that is always your go-to whenever you're starting your illustrations? Let me know in the comment section down below. Now, on the right side of the screen here, there's more content for Procreate 5, and I highly recommend you to click on it so that you can learn more. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you on the next one. Ciao.