Brushes

Brushes let you stylize the appearance of paths. You can apply brush strokes to existing paths, or you can use the Paintbrush tool to draw a path and apply a brush stroke simultaneously.

There are different types of brushes in Illustrator: calligraphic, scatter, art, pattern, and bristle. You can achieve the following effects using these brushes:

Create strokes that resemble those drawn with the angled point of a calligraphic pen and are drawn along the center of the path. When you use the Blob Brush tool, you can paint with a calligraphic brush and automatically expand the brush stroke into a fill shape that merges with other filled objects of the same color that intersect or are adjacent in stacking order.

Disperse copies of an object (such as a ladybug or a leaf) along the path.

Stretch a brush shape (such as Rough Charcoal) or object shape evenly along the length of the path.

Create brush strokes with the appearance of a natural brush with bristles.

Paint a pattern—made of individual tiles—that repeats along the path. Pattern brushes can include up to five tiles, for the sides, inner corner, outer corner, beginning, and end of the pattern.

Scatter brushes and Pattern brushes can often achieve the same effect. However, one way in which they differ is that Pattern brushes follow the path exactly, while Scatter brushes do not.

See a video on using brushes.

Brushes panel overview

The Brushes panel (Window > Brushes) displays brushes for the current file. Whenever you select a brush in a brush library, it is automatically added to the Brushes panel. Brushes that you create and store in the Brushes panel are associated only with the current file, which means that each Illustrator file can have a different set of brushes in its Brushes panel.

Show or hide a type of brush

Change the view of brushes

Change the order of brushes in the Brushes panel

Duplicate a brush in the Brushes panel

Delete the brushes from the Brushes panel

Work with brush libraries

Brush libraries (Window > Brush Libraries > [library]) are collections of preset brushes that come with Illustrator. You can open multiple brush libraries to browse through their contents and select brushes. You can also open brush libraries using the Brushes panel menu.

Copy brushes from a brush library to the Brushes panel

Import brushes into the Brushes panel from another file

Create new brush libraries

Apply brush strokes

You can apply brush strokes to a path created with any drawing tool, including the Pen tool, Pencil tool, or basic shape tools.

Draw paths and apply brush strokes simultaneously

Paintbrush tool options

Double-click the Paintbrush tool to set the following options:

Controls how far you have to move your mouse or stylus before Illustrator adds a new anchor point to the path. For example, a Fidelity value of 2.5 means that tool movements of less than 2.5 pixels aren’t registered. Fidelity can range from 0.5 to 20 pixels; the higher the value, the smoother and less complex the path.

Controls the amount of smoothing that Illustrator applies when you use the tool. Smoothness can range from 0% to 100%; the higher the percentage, the smoother the path.

Applies a fill to the path. This option is most useful when drawing closed paths.

Determines whether Illustrator keeps the path selected after you draw it.

Determines whether you can change an existing path with the Paintbrush tool.

Determines how close your mouse or stylus must be to an existing path to edit the path with the Paintbrush tool. This option is only available when the Edit Selected Paths option is selected.

Remove brush strokes

Convert brush strokes to outlines

You can convert brush strokes into outlined paths to edit the individual components of a brushed path.

Create or modify brushes

You can create and customize calligraphic, scatter, art, pattern, and bristle brushes depending on your requirement. For scatter, art, and pattern brushes, you must first create the artwork.

Follow these guidelines when creating artwork for brushes:

• The artwork cannot contain gradients, blends, other brush strokes, mesh objects, bitmap images, graphs, placed files, or masks.

• For art and pattern brushes, the artwork cannot contain type. To achieve a brush-stroke effect with type, create an outline of the type and then create a brush with the outline.

• For pattern brushes, create up to five pattern tiles (depending on the brush configuration), and add the tiles to the Swatches panel.

Create a brush

Modify a brush

• To change the options for a brush, double-click the brush in the Brushes panel. Set the brush options and click OK. If the current document contains brushed paths that use the modified brush, a message appears. Click Apply To Strokes to change pre-existing strokes. Click Leave Strokes to leave pre-existing strokes unchanged, and apply the modified brush to new strokes only.
• To change the artwork used by a scatter, art, or pattern brush, drag the brush into your artwork and make the changes you want. Then Alt‑drag (Windows) or Option-drag (Mac OS) the modified brush onto the original brush in the Brushes panel.
• To modify a brushed path without updating the corresponding brush, select the path and click the Options Of Selected Object button in the Brushes panel or select options of selected object from the Brushes panel menu (flyout menu).

Brush options

You can specify different options for the different types of brushes. To change the options for a brush, double-click the brush in the Brushes panel.

Scatter, Art, and Pattern brushes all have identical options for colorization.

To customize a stroke instance for Art Brushes or Pattern Brushes, click the Options of Selected Objects icon in the Brushes Panel and set the stroke options. For art brush you can set the stroke width along with flipping, colorization, and overlapping options. For pattern brush, you can set the scaling options along with flipping, fitting, and colorization options.

Calligraphic brush options

Determines the angle of rotation for the brush. Drag the arrowhead in the preview, or enter a value in the Angle box.

Determines roundness of the brush. Drag a black dot in the preview away from or toward the center, or enter a value in the Roundness box. The higher the value, the greater the roundness.

Determines the diameter of the brush. Use the Diameter slider, or enter a value in the Diameter box.

The pop‑up list to the right of each option lets you control variations in the shape of the brush. Select one of the following options:

Creates a brush with a fixed angle, roundness, or diameter.

Creates a brush with random variations in angle, roundness, or diameter. Enter a value in the Variation box to specify the range within which the brush characteristic can vary. For example, when the Diameter value is 15 and the Variation value is 5, the diameter can be 10, or 20, or any value in between.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the pressure of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful when used with Diameter. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet. Enter a value in the Variation box to specify how much more or less than the original value the brush characteristic will vary. For example, when the Roundness value is 75% and the Variation value is 25%, the lightest stroke is 50% and the heaviest stroke is 100%. The lighter the pressure, the more angular the brush stroke.

Creates a brush that varies in diameter based on manipulation of the stylus wheel. This option is intended to be used with an airbrush pen that has a stylus wheel on its barrel and with a graphics tablet that can detect that pen.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the tilt of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful when used with Roundness. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect how close to vertical the pen is.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the bearing of the pen. This option is most useful when used to control the angle of calligraphic brushes, especially when you’re using the brush like a paintbrush. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect the direction in which the pen is tilted.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on how the drawing stylus pen tip is rotated. This option is most useful when used to control the angle of calligraphic brushes, especially when you’re using the brush like a flat pen. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect this type of rotation.

Colorization options for scatter, art, and pattern brushes

The colors that a scatter, art, or pattern brush paints depend on the current stroke color and the colorization method of the brush. To set the colorization method, select one of the following options in the Brush Options dialog box:

Displays colors as they appear in the brush in the Brushes panel. Choose None to keep a brush the same colors as in the Brushes panel.

Displays the brush stroke in tints of the stroke color. Portions of the art that are black become the stroke color, portions that aren’t black become tints of the stroke color, and white remains white. If you use a spot color as the stroke, Tints generates tints of the spot color. Choose Tints for brushes that are in black and white, or when you want to paint a brush stroke with a spot color.

Displays the brush stroke in tints and shades of the stroke color. Tints and Shades maintains black and white, and everything between becomes a blend from black to white through the stroke color. Because black is added you may not be able to print to a single plate when using Tints and Shades with a spot color. Choose Tints and Shades for brushes that are in grayscale.

Uses the key color in the brush artwork, as shown in the Key Color box. (By default, the key color is the most prominent color in the art.) Everything in the brush artwork that is the key color becomes the stroke color. Other colors in the brush artwork become colors related to the stroke color. Hue Shift maintains black, white, and gray. Choose Hue Shift for brushes that use multiple colors. To change the key color, click the Key Color eyedropper, move the eyedropper to the preview in the dialog box, and click the color you want to use as the key color. The color in the Key Color box changes. Click the eyedropper again to deselect it.

For information and samples about each choice, click Tips.

Scatter brush options

Controls the size of the objects.

Controls the amount of space between objects.

Controls how closely objects follow the path independently on each side of the path. The higher the value, the farther the objects are from the path.

Controls the angle of rotation of the objects.

Sets the angle of rotation for scattered objects relative to the page or the path. For example, if you select Page, at 0° of rotation, objects point to the top of the page. If you select Path, at 0° of rotation, objects are tangent to the path.

The pop‑up list to the right of each option lets you control variations in the shape of the brush. Select one of the following options:

Creates a brush with a fixed size, spacing, scattering, and rotation.

Creates a brush with random variations in size, spacing, scattering, and rotation. Enter a value in the Variation box to specify the range within which the brush characteristic can vary. For example, when the Diameter value is 15 and the Variation value is 5, the diameter can be 10, or 20, or any value in between.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the pressure of a drawing stylus. This option is available only if you have a graphics tablet. Enter a value in the rightmost box, or use the Maximum slider. Pressure uses the Minimum value for the lightest tablet pressure and the Maximum value for the heaviest pressure. When you choose this setting for Diameter, the heavier the stroke, the larger the objects.

Creates a brush that varies in diameter based on manipulation of the stylus wheel. This option is available only if you have a graphics tablet that has a stylus wheel on its barrel and can detect input from that pen.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the tilt of a drawing stylus. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect how close to vertical the pen is.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on the bearing of a drawing stylus. This option is most useful when used to control the angle of brushes. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect the direction in which the pen is tilted.

Creates a brush that varies in angle, roundness, or diameter based on how the drawing stylus pen tip is rotated. This option is most useful when used to control the angle of brushes. It is available only if you have a graphics tablet that can detect this type of rotation.

Art brush options

Adjusts the width of the art relative to its original width. You can specify the width using the Width option slider. The art brush Width pop-up menu has pen tablet options for adjusting scale variation, such as Pressure, Stylus Wheel, Tilt, Bearing, and Rotation. The default art brush width is 100%.

Preserves proportions in scaled art. The options available are: Scale Proportionately, Stretch to Fit Stroke Length, Stretch Between Guides.

Determines the direction of the artwork in relation to the line. Click an arrow to set the direction:  to place the left side of the art is the end of the stroke;  to place the right side of the art is the end of the stroke;  to place the top of the art is the end of the stroke;  to place the bottom of the art is the end of the stroke.

Change the orientation of the art in relation to the line.

Pick a color for the stroke and method of colorization. You can select from different colorization methods using this drop-down list. The options are Tints, Tints and Shades, and Hue Shift.

To avoid joins and folds of an object’s edges to overlap, you can select the Overlap adjustment button .

Segmented art brush

Segmented art brush is an ability to define a non-stretchable portion at the ends of an art brush. From the Art brush’s Brush Options dialog box, select the Stretch Between Guides option, and adjust the guides in the preview section of the dialog box.

The art enclosed between the guides is the only portion of the brush that stretches or contracts to make the art brush fit the path length.

Pattern brush options

Scale Adjusts the size of tiles relative to their original size. Specify the scale using the Scale option slider. The Scale drop-down list for pattern brush tool include pen tablet options for adjusting scale variations, such as Pressure, Stylus Wheel, Tilt, Bearing, and Rotation.

Spacing Adjusts the space between tiles.

Tile Buttons Let you apply different patterns to different parts of the path. Click a tile button for the tile you want to define, and select a pattern swatch from the scroll list. Repeat to apply pattern swatches to other tiles as needed.

Changes the orientation of the pattern in relation to the line.

Determines how the pattern fits on the path: Stretch To Fit lengthens or shortens the pattern tile to fit the object. This option can result in uneven tiling. Add Space To Fit adds blank space between each pattern tile to apply the pattern proportionally to the path. Approximate Path fits tiles to the closest approximate path without changing the tiles. This option applies the pattern slightly inside or outside the path, rather than centered on the path, to maintain even tiling.

Pick a color for the stroke and method of colorization. You can select from different colorization methods using this drop-down list. The options are Tints, Tints and Shades, and Hue Shift.

Bristle brush

Bristle brush allows you to create brush strokes with the appearance of a natural brush with bristles. With Bristle brush, you can:

• Create natural and fluid brush strokes that simulate the effects of painting with real brushes and media such as water color.

• Select brushes from a predefined library or create your own brushes from the provided tip shapes such as round, flat, or fan. You can also set other brush characteristics such as bristle length, stiffness, and paint opacity.

When you use Bristle brush with a graphic tablet, Illustrator interactively tracks the movements of the stylus over the tablet. It interprets all aspects of its orientation and pressure input at any point along a drawing path. Illustrator provides the output that is modeled on the stylus’s x-axis position, y-axis position, pressure, tilt, bearing, and rotation.

A cursor annotator that simulates the tip of an actual brush is displayed when using a tablet and stylus that support rotation. This annotator does not appear when other input devices such as a mouse are used. The annotator is also disabled while using the precise cursors.

While using a mouse, only x and y-axis movements are recorded. Other inputs, such as tilt, bearing, rotation, and pressure remain fixed resulting in even and consistent strokes.

For Bristle brush strokes, feedback is displayed when you drag the tool. This feedback provides an approximate view of the final stroke.

Use the Bristle brush

To use the Bristle brush do the following:

With the brush tool selected, and a Bristle brush definition chosen in the Brushes panel, you can create artwork using the Bristle brush.

If you try to print, save, or flatten transparency in a document with more than 30 bristle brush strokes, a warning message is displayed. These warnings are displayed when you save, print, and flatten file content.

More like this

• Visual tutorial - How to work with brushes
• Draw and merge paths with the Blob Brush tool
• Keys for the Brushes panel
• About patterns
• Create corner tiles for brush patterns

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