Here’s the Way I Use My Brush Set: Drawing & Painting

Hi everyone, here’s a brief explanation of how I use each brush in my set.

Drawing

Pencil Oh - Line Art
This is the brush with which I often start sketching. I really love its main curved shape and the traditional texture pencils have. It helps me create loose curved lines that I later refine, whether using the same brush or a cleaner one.

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Clean – Line Art
I use this brush mostly to tidy up rough sketches. I don’t apply it to the entire sketch, only on the spots I choose as focal points (eyes, head silhouette, a specific item or detail).

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Numerouno
I created this brush to replace Pencil Oh. I must confess I haven’t used it lately, not because of any issue with the brush, but simply because I forget.

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Cubo1, Cubo2 and Cubo3
These brushes were an experiment to establish a quick framework in which I could later develop shapes with perspective inside the cubes. Since my approach isn’t very technical at first, I don’t use them often, but I find them useful when exploring. You know more about this brush here: I've Created 3 Brushes for Perspective - Do They Work for Anatomy?

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Perspective Point
I use this brush to define the horizon line and the focal point for perspective. I usually make a single stroke as a guideline.

Painting

Limberto – Hard Shapes
I created this brush because I wanted a hard-edge brush to block shapes quickly once the drawing phase is done. I use it for anything requiring a very clear silhouette distinction during painting, such as base colors or shadow shapes. Besides Pencil Oh, it’s my most used brush. It’s named after Alberto Mielgo, since many artists tend to use hard-edge brushes distinctly in their work.

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Hard Shapes
This brush serves the same function as Limberto but with a softer, rounded silhouette.

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Soft Shapes
I use this brush to soften strokes made by any hard-edge brush. It’s very useful for refinement and rendering, to create the three-dimensional range of values found in reality, boosting volume from a flat render.

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Texture brushes

The set above makes transitions between values more interesting and complex. I do this by making strokes right on the silhouettes whether from one color to another or one value to another. These brushes aren’t just for capturing material surfaces but for adding personality to the render a little touch I add mostly at the end of the process.

Soft Texture Shapes: A version of the soft edge brush with little dots. I often set its hardness to zero so I can create soft skin or metal like materials. For any theme with small surface dots this brush is useful.

Sampled Brush 19 10: I use this brush to paint complex intricate shapes quickly multiple holes organic patterns small highlights fur metal and so on instead of drawing them one by one.

Sampled Brush 2 1: I use this brush to redo spots of the shadow silhouette and overall large shapes. It creates diffusion through lines depending on the stroke direction.

Hard Round 35 2: I use this brush mostly for small details or themes requiring repetition with clean circular shapes. I like adjusting the spacing to bring the circles closer or move them apart.

Flat Bristle 2: Useful for achieving a traditional painting look.

Aufgenommener Pinsel 1 1: Traditional texture. I used this brush to brainstorm ideas by spotting faces bodies or objects within the strokes like guessing cloud shapes. More about that in this article: Creating From Imagination! - A Pattern Recognition Exercise!

Soft Round 394 1: A soft transition brush with a bit of texture. In the real world surfaces aren’t 100 percent clean perhaps some distant metals but usually there’s imperfection. This brush helps me capture that imperfection while keeping it smooth.

Stencil Sponge Wet 7: Useful for rusty surfaces. I often use it with a very dark tone and just a few strokes.

Cater: This brush is useful for transitions between dark and mid tones making them more intricate and interesting.

Sampled Brush 1 41: A rougher version of the Cater brush. I use it to add slight accents of shadows and highlights with a chaotic feel.

尖角: This brush is similar to Hard Shapes with a curved form and pressure sensitivity so you can mix hard edges with soft ones. It helps achieve a traditional painting look.

If you find this post useful consider purchasing my brush set here: https://www.patreon.com/ramonn90/shop/ramonn90-brush-set-1760642

If you already have it and still don't know how to use them, consider upgrading your subscription to access the process videos where you can get a more complete view of my brush approach.

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Lastly, in this article I delve more into how I use Photoshop: Here's How I Use Photoshop: Everything About Canvas, Resolution, Brushes, Filters, and More!

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