Setting Up Your First Lettering Brush in Procreate
A default Procreate brush can feel nothing like a real brush pen — lines come out a flat, uniform width no matter how hard you press. The fix isn't a different brush pack, it's three settings inside Brush Studio. Here's the setup, in order.
1. Start from a simple round brush
Duplicate any basic round brush (swipe left on it in the Brush Library, tap Duplicate) so you don't lose the original. Open the copy in Brush Studio.
2. Map pressure to size
Go to Stroke Path > Pressure and make sure Size is enabled and set to a high percentage. This is what creates the thin upstroke / thick downstroke contrast — without it, pressure only changes opacity, and the line width stays flat.
3. Map pressure to opacity, but keep it subtle
Still under Pressure, enable Opacity but keep the effect modest. Too much opacity variation makes light strokes look grey and washed out instead of just thin.
4. Turn StreamLine down (or off)
In Stroke Path > StreamLine, lower the amount. StreamLine smooths your line by predicting where it's going, which is great for clean illustration linework but fights against the small, deliberate wobbles that make lettering look hand-done.
5. Choose a shape with a soft, slightly irregular edge
Under Shape > Edit Shape, import a shape source that isn't a perfectly hard-edged circle — a soft round tip reads closer to ink on paper than a vector-perfect dot. Pairing that shape with a light grain source (under Grain) adds just enough texture that strokes don't look overly digital.
Test it before you commit
Write the same short word three or four times at different speeds and pressures. If the thick strokes stay thick and the thin ones stay thin regardless of how fast you move, the pressure mapping is working. If everything comes out the same width, revisit step 2 first — it's the most common thing people skip.
The free InkCraft brush & stamp pack includes a round tip, a chisel tip, and a paper grain texture already sized and shaped for this exact setup.