How to Create and Edit Custom Brushes in Adobe Illustrator

Posted on 20th June 2023

Brushes in Adobe Illustrator can be used to create various effects. There are different types of brushes such as calligraphic, scatter, art, pattern, and bristle. In this tutorial, we will focus on how to create and edit custom brushes.

Creating a New Brush

To create a new brush, open the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes). Then click on the menu icon in the top right corner of the panel and select “New Brush…”.

This will open the New Brush dialog box. Select the type of brush you want to create and click “OK”.

For this tutorial, we will be creating a calligraphic brush.

Editing a Brush

Once you have created a new brush, you can edit the settings to change the appearance of the brush stroke. To do this, double-click on the brush in the Brushes panel.

This will open the Edit Brush dialog box. Here you can change the settings for the brush.

For the Calligraphic brush, you can change the following settings:

• Name: This is the name of the brush. You can change it if you want.
• Size: This is the size of the brush tip. You can increase or decrease the size.
• Angle: This is the angle of the brush tip. You can increase or decrease the angle.
• Roundness: This is the roundness of the brush tip. You can increase or decrease the roundness.
• Spacing: This is the spacing between the brushstrokes. You can increase or decrease the spacing.
• Flip X/Y: This will flip the brush tip horizontally or vertically.
• Color: This is the color of the brush tip. You can change the color by clicking on the color swatch.
• Fidelity: This is the fidelity of the brush tip. You can increase or decrease the fidelity.

When you are finished editing the brush, click “OK”.

Applying a Brush

To apply a brush, select the brush tool from the toolbar (or press B on the keyboard). Then select the brush you want to use from the Brushes panel.

Finally, click and drag to apply the brush.

conclusion

Now you know how to create and edit custom brushes in Adobe Illustrator! Experiment with different settings to create unique brushstrokes.

In the Brushes panel, do one of the following:

To create a new brush, click the New Brush button .
A menu appears. Select the type of brush you want to create, and click OK.

To edit an existing brush, select the brush in the Brushes panel, and click the Edit button .
The Edit dialog box appears. Make the changes you want, and click OK.

You can also edit a brush by double-clicking it in the Brushes panel.

Creating and editing brushes is a bit like creating and editing symbols. In both cases, you’re creating an object that you can reuse. The main difference is that symbols are meant to be reused in the same file, while brushes are meant to be reused in different files.

When you create a new brush, you can base it on an existing object, or you can create it from scratch. If you base the brush on an existing object, the object is deleted from the document and added to the brush.

To base a brush on an existing object:

1. In the Brushes panel, click the New Brush button .
2. In the New Brush dialog box, select the type of brush you want to create, and click OK.
3. In the document, select the object you want to use as a brush.
4. Drag the object into the Brushes panel.

If you want to base the brush on a selection of objects, group the objects first, and then drag the group into the Brushes panel.

Creating a brush from scratch is similar to creating a symbol from scratch. The main difference is that, when you’re finished, you add the object to the Brushes panel instead of the Symbols panel.

To create a brush from scratch:

1. In the Brushes panel, click the New Brush button .
2. In the New Brush dialog box, select the type of brush you want to create, and click OK.
3. In the document, create the object you want to use as a brush.
4. Drag the object into the Brushes panel.

When you edit a brush, you can change its name, size, color, and other attributes. You can also replace the object that’s used as the brush.

To edit a brush:

1. In the Brushes panel, select the brush you want to edit.
2. Do one of the following:

To change the name of the brush, type a new name in the Name field.
To change the size of the brush, type a new value in the Size field.
To change the color of the brush, click the Color field, and then select a new color.

3. To replace the object that’s used as the brush, drag a new object into the Brushes panel.
4. To save the changes to the brush, click the Update button .

When you’re finished creating and editing brushes, you can save them in a brush library. A brush library is like a symbol library, but it contains brushes instead of symbols.

To save brushes in a brush library:

1. In the Brushes panel, select the brushes you want to save.
2. Click the Save button .
3. In the Save Brush Library dialog box, type a name for the brush library, and click Save.

When you want to use the brushes in another file, you can load them from the brush library.

To load brushes from a brush library:

1. In the Brushes panel, click the Load button .
2. In the Load Brush Library dialog box, navigate to the brush library you want to load, and click Open.