6 Free Procreate Texture Brushes For Retro-Style Illustration

Download these custom digital brushes to create grainy effects and mimic analog drawing techniques on your iPad

Incorporating textures into your digital illustrations is a fantastic way to create a retro feel in your drawings. Grainy or rough textures can help add subtle “imperfections”, giving a distressed or aged look to your artwork.

Illustrator and graphic designer Brad Woodard (@bravethewoods) creates handmade, analog-style texture brushes for Procreate using everyday objects. In his new analog-style digital illustration course, he teaches you how to make your own custom brushes. To help you get started, here he shares six retro-style texture brushes for Procreate to create grainy effects.

The co-founder of creative agency Brave the Woods, Brad has worked for clients including Penguin Random House, eBay, and Microsoft, using Procreate to design bold and colorful branding and commercial illustrations. He also teaches the Domestika Basics course Procreate for Beginners, where he introduces students to the basics of digital illustration from scratch.

Using texture brushes for analog-style illustration

One of the main features of digital illustration is that it can look “perfect”. Software tools like Procreate have functions to help you create perfect straight lines and shapes.

However, analog drawing and retro designs—for example, old prints—often feature small “imperfections” that give them a very different aesthetic. This is where texture brushes and other custom textures can help you recreate these real-world effects that make your artwork look a little “less digital” or “less computerized” by roughening some edges.

“Textures are a way to support our art and make it have a certain feel, like it’s been handmade or add a little character to it,” explains Brad. With this in mind, he also emphasizes the importance of being thoughtful about why you’re using texture. Rather than adding textures everywhere, think about how it helps with the overall visual.

Download a Procreate texture brush set for retro-style illustration

After clicking on the button below, you will find a ZIP file in the Downloads folder on your computer containing the free brushes titled Procreate Texture Brushes for Analog-Style Illustration, by Brad Woodard. You will need to use software such as WinZip to unzip the file before adding the brush set into Procreate.

These brushes will be available to download until Oct 5, 2022. If you want to access the material after that date, you can sign up for Brad Woodard’s course, Analog-Style Digital Illustration with Procreate. Through the course, you’ll learn how to combine traditional techniques with digital media to create nostalgic works of art.

More online digital illustration resources

- Get started with digital illustration in Brad Woodard’s first Domestika course Procreate 101, where you’ll learn all the tools and features the app has to offer.

- Access free Procreate tutorials to learn new digital drawing and painting skills.