Ink & Lineart Brush Set

Download the set

Good lineart depends on an inker whose taper matches your hand, and the discipline to use one brush for a whole piece. These free ink brushes were built around that idea and sit alongside the other sets in the free brushes and resources library. The download bundle is still being finalized; the notes below describe what it contains.

What it is for

Built for the clean, confident line work that stylized character art depends on. The tapered inkers start and end thin and swell with pressure, exactly the stroke you want for the heavy outer corner of an upper lash line or the tip of a hair mass. The weighted brush holds a steadier width for outer contours, where a slightly thicker line separates figure from background.

Everything in the set is smooth, opaque and pressure driven, so the variety comes from your hand and from line weight. The Krita Manual's inking tutorial makes the same point: line weight and stabilisation are what make inks read.

What is inside

The twelve brushes, the stroke each makes, and the job it was built for.

Brush	Stroke character	Use it for
Inker Fine	Thin taper, swells to about 3x	Interior lines, features, small figures
Inker Medium	Taper with a 5x swell	The main inker for most character work
Inker Bold	Heavy, fast swell	Large canvases, the upper lash line
Contour Weighted	Near constant width	Outer silhouettes
Liner Hair	Very fine, no swell	Hatching, lashes, fine strands
Liner Detail	Fine, short taper	Jewelry, eye detail, small forms
Rough Ink	Dry, broken edge	Expressive edges, rock, bark
Accent Flick	Snaps to nothing	Lash flicks, hair tips
Accent Fold	Tapers both ends	Cloth folds and creases
Accent Fill	Wide and flat	Solid blacks and shadow shapes

Three tapered inkers, one weighted brush, two fine liners, one rough ink and five accent brushes (Accent Tip for strand ends and Accent Dot for stippling complete the five). Pick one inker as your daily brush; reach for the rest only where the drawing asks.

Settings that matter

Most complaints about lineart brushes are really about the pressure curve. The Krita Manual's tablet sensors page explains the curve these inkers rely on; Procreate and Clip Studio have the same control under other names. Tune it before you judge a brush.

Starting settings on a 3000 px wide canvas. Halve the sizes for 1500 px.

Brush	Size	Pressure curve	Spacing	Stabilizer
Inker Medium	6 to 9 px	Default; flatten the start if lines jump to full width	2 to 4 percent	30 to 40 percent
Inker Bold	10 to 14 px	Slightly concave so the swell arrives late	2 to 4 percent	30 to 40 percent
Contour Weighted	8 to 12 px	Nearly flat	3 to 5 percent	50 percent or more
Liner Hair	2 to 3 px	Flat	1 to 2 percent	Low

Keep opacity and flow at 100 percent, because a translucent ink line reads as pencil, and never scale a finished ink layer up; the taper softens.

A short workflow with this set

Inking a character bust in about forty minutes, from a construction sketch built as the anime head proportions tutorial describes.

Tips for getting the most from it

• Ink outer contours slightly heavier than interior lines so the silhouette reads first.
• Use one inker for a whole piece. Switching brushes midway changes the line character.
• Flip the canvas before inking. Wobbles you have stopped seeing become obvious.
• Keep inks on their own layer above the sketch, and archive the sketch layer too.
• Group the two or three brushes you use into a favorites set and hide the rest, as the getting started guide to the free brushes recommends.

Pairs well with

For a printed feel under clean inks, lay the paper and canvas textures over the finished piece, and choose flat fills from the value ordered muted palettes. In Procreate the set imports as its own group through the Procreate Handbook's Brush Library.

Common problems and fixes

The problems reported most with lineart brushes and the fix for each.

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Lines jump to full width at a light touch	Pressure curve too steep at the start	Flatten the first third of the curve
Have to press hard for any width	Curve too flat, or a firm nib	Lift the middle of the curve
Wobbly long lines	No stabilizer, drawing from the wrist	Stabilizer 40 to 60 percent, move from the shoulder
Clean lines, flat drawing	Uniform line weight	Re-ink the silhouette heavier, interior lighter

Ink brushes, in short

Pick one inker, tune its pressure curve, ink the silhouette heavier than the interior, and reserve the liners and accents for the few places that need them. That is the whole method behind these ink brushes. Under the inks, see the hair as blocks tutorial in the character pillar, where the tapered inkers do their best work on the tips of each mass.

How to install it

New to installing resource sets? The getting started guide to the brush sets walks through importing a set and choosing the right one for the job. For where these fit in a painting, see the digital painting fundamentals pillar, and browse the rest of the free brushes and resources library.

Sources and further reading

Primary references for the facts and definitions in this piece, all from independent publishers:

• Krita Manual: Inking: line weight, stabilisers and inking workflow.
• Krita Manual: Tablet sensors: tuning the pressure taper these inkers rely on.
• Procreate Handbook: Brush Library: importing a brush set as its own group on a tablet.

Common questions

What brushes are best for ink lineart?

A smooth, opaque, pressure tapered round with no texture: it starts thin, swells under pressure and ends thin, with a stabilizer for long contours. The three tapered inkers in this set are exactly that.

Where can I find free ink brushes for Procreate?

This set is one place. It is free for personal and commercial work with no account or email, and imports as its own group in Procreate; in Krita and Clip Studio it arrives as a bundle or sub tool group. The bundle is being finalized for public release.

Do these ink brushes work in Clip Studio and Krita?

Yes. The set ships in formats for Procreate, Clip Studio, Krita and Photoshop. Each app applies its own stabilizer and pressure curve, so adjust the curve once after import and the sizes above hold.