Known Participant

Question

How to create realistic pencil and charcoal brushes?

Forum|Forum|11 months ago
July 2, 2025
3 replies
1801 views

Hi there.

I’m new to using brushes with Photoshop, and have been researching brush creation. How can I create a brush that has a look and feel to realistic pencils and charcoal? What I am specifically trying to achieve is strong thin lines when the pen is held upright, and soft creamy wide shading ability when the pen is on its side. Shading should be able to build up smooth and softly.

Example images from Brent Eviston, Proko, and Patrick Jones are attached. If anyone can please assist with the technicalities of setting this up, that would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

E

ErdiDrmz

Participant

Hi there, I hope you’re doing well!
I’ve been experimenting in Photoshop for a while, trying to capture that realistic graphite and charcoal feel. I know exactly what you mean — those fine, firm lines when the pencil is upright, and that smooth, creamy shading when it’s tilted.

After a lot of testing with brush dynamics and textures, I created a brush set designed specifically for that natural drawing experience. It includes graded graphite pencils (from 2H to 8B), charcoal brushes, and soft blending tools. You can check it out here:
creativemarket.com/erdidurmaz/291925595-E.D-Drawing-Box%E2%80%93Graphite-Set-for-PS

Semaphoric

Community Expert

Are you using a graphics tablet?

J

jonoiiiAuthor

Known Participant

Yes, a Wacom Cintiq Pro.

J

jonoiiiAuthor

Known Participant

@jonoiii Size, in terms of shape, can be controlled by Pen Tilt. So tilting will make a round brush oval in the similar way a piece of chalk or charcoal would work when tilted.

Dave

Hi @davescm! Thank you very much for your reply.

Perhaps you can assist with this, please and thank you. That setting is something I initially tried and could not get to work properly. I've attempted it again after you have advised using this, and have attached screenshots for you to see. It appears that my brush is not really getting much larger when I tilt my pen, as illustrated below.

I've attached a screenshot within Krita with a default charcoal brush that works out of the box. I didn't change pen pressure, only the tilt of my brush.

If you have any advice on how we can achieve similar functionality within Photoshop, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

creative explorer

Community Expert

@jonoiii Honestly, for the time being, I would download some free pencil brushes see what works, and then create some of the settings on your own. https://helpx.adobe.com/ca/photoshop/using/creating-modifying-brushes.html

m

J

jonoiiiAuthor

Known Participant

Hi there. Thank you for your reply. I've tested many brushes so far and none really behave the way I'm looking for. The one brush that works out of box is the default Pencil in Fresco for iPad, but I don't believe I can extract it. This is why I would like to try building one from scratch.

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