Found out most 'hand-brushed' digital art is actually a custom brush trick

I was looking at this artist's workflow on YouTube last night and they showed how they get that textured oil painting look. Turns out they aren't hand painting each stroke at all. They built a custom brush in Procreate that mimics the grain and edge of a real brush, then just layer it over their base colors. Blew my mind. I always thought those super realistic pieces were hours of manual work. Has anyone else discovered a shortcut like this that changed how you approach your art?

3 comments

3 Comments

gibson.avery1mo ago

Oh man, that's the thing that really opened my eyes too. Once you realize most of those "brush stroke" textures are just clever layer tricks or custom brushes, you start seeing it everywhere. It's crazy how much time you can save once you figure out the tweaks instead of trying to do it all by hand.

charles_mitchell1mo ago

Figure out the scatter settings. Is that the main thing that makes it look legit or is there another trick that seals the deal?

the_harper1mo ago

wait, you mean people actually thought those were hand painted stroke by stroke? lol yeah i found out about this like a year ago when i was messing with photoshop brushes. i felt so dumb for spending hours trying to fake texture by hand when you just need the right brush settings. it's wild how much time you can save once you figure out the dithering and scatter settings. honestly makes you realize half the "technique" in digital art is just knowing the right shortcuts.