What makes a good inking brush?
The best ink brushes share a few traits: crisp opaque edges (no fuzzy anti-aliasing), consistent flow at any speed, and a pressure response that gives you control over thickness. Some are dead-even (technical pens); others taper expressively (brush pens). You want a small set covering both.
The ink brush types you need
1. Technical liner (even weight)
A no-taper pen that holds a constant width — ideal for clean, controlled lineart, panels and precise detail. Pair it with StreamLine for smooth curves. This is the workhorse for most clean lineart.
2. Brush pen (expressive taper)
A pressure-sensitive brush that swells and tapers like a real ink brush — for lively, organic lines and lettering. See how to ink with a brush pen.
3. Comic inker
A punchy brush for bold outlines, spotting blacks and feathering — the backbone of comic inking.
4. Gel pen
A smooth, glossy, fully-opaque line that glides — great for fine detail and clean fills. See our gel pen brushes guide.
5. Texture & hatching inkers
Dry, grainy pens for cross-hatching and stippling shadow.
How to choose
- Edges: zoom in — good inkers stay crisp, not blurry.
- Taper: even for technical work, tapered for expression.
- Opacity: ink should be solid black in one pass.
- Pressure curve: comfortable thick-to-thin without fighting it.
Settings that help any ink brush
Two Procreate features make inking easier with any brush: StreamLine (in the brush's Stroke settings) smooths shaky lines, and QuickLine (hold at the end of a stroke) snaps a line straight. Together they help you get confident results fast — more in how to ink in Procreate.
Get the brushes
You can build a full inking kit for free — browse the inking brushes category or all free Procreate brushsets. Each is a standard .brushset file; if a set doesn't appear after import, see how to install Procreate brushes.