Adobe Illustrator is used by millions of professional and hobbyist graphic designers all over the world. It is the industry-standard vector graphics software and while the tools that the program normally comes with can make some of the most beautiful artwork in the world, one of the best parts about Illustrator is the ability to add custom brushes.
With this in mind, we wanted to feature 20 Illustrator Brushes, both free and paid, so that when you need something other than just the standard brushes, you can add one of these to your toolbox.
These top free illustrator brushes are perfect for for inking, texture, drawing, sketching, calligraphy, watercolor, grain, grunge, Japanese, chalk, line art, hair and more!
If you’re ready, let’s get started.
Top 20 Best Paid & Free Illustrator Brushes 2020
- Fine Liner Brushes & Patterns – $21
- The Organic Vector Brush Bundle – $45
- Finest Vintage – Illustrator Brushes – $21
- The Retro Comic Book Tool Kit – $20
- Tattoo Style Art Brushes – $18
- Drunk Sailor | Vector Stippling Brushes & More – $24
- Classic Chalk Brushes Patterns – $16
- Carpenters Pencil Brushes – $14
- Outstanding Oil Paint Brushes – $19
- Irvington High School Vector Brushes – $15
And even more below…
Fine Liner Brushes & Patterns – $21
With a huge range of different pen marks, the Fine Liner Brushes & Patterns from Artifex Forge provides you with a versatile and authentic kit that includes straight and rough outlines, dots and dashes, stippling, zigzags, and more. Most of the brushes that are included use the pattern brush feature meaning that the brushes won’t over-stretch on long strokes which can streamline the process and save you time.
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The Organic Vector Brush Bundle – $45
Shading and adding texture in Illustrator can be bothersome, especially if you need to do this in the tight areas of your artwork. The Organic Vector Brush Bundle from Retro Supply Co. helps solve that problem with three brush sets: Organic Shader Scatter Brush Set, Organic Shader Brush Set, and Organic Linework Brush Set. Each set contains 15 brushes. That means you get 45 brushes in this set that you can use to add texture and detail to every piece of artwork that you need to.
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Finest Vintage – Illustrator Brushes – $21
Vintage brushes can add a different dimension to your artwork, the problem is that they can stretch on long strokes and thankfully, The Artifex Forge has heard you and created Finest Vintage – Illustrator Brushes. When you use one of the vintage hatch or outline brushes, they will repeat a tile along the stroke seamlessly rather than stretching one image along the line. This means that you won’t have to change brushes as often and you can spend more time perfecting your designs.
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Japan ProBrush – Free
Japanese calligraphy is world-renowned for its amazing command of line work. Created by Leonard Posavec, the Japan ProBrush comes with nine brushes that allow you to bring their craftsmanship into your work. These brushes have been developed to emulate the ink and watercolor brushes that calligraphers use. If you’re looking to add a bit of Japan to your artwork, you should give the Japan ProBrush a try.
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The Retro Comic Book Tool Kit – $20
Many of us enjoyed reading comics as a kid and now that we’re grown up, we can easily create our own with The Retro Comic Book Tool Kit from The Artifex Forge quickly and easily and create comics with the same realistic effect with 84 brushes that have been optimized so there is less distortion when used. Included in the kit is a set of Comic Book Layer Styles as a bonus to help your comic book come to life that much easier.
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Tattoo Style Art Brushes – $18
When it comes to tattoo art, while people may love the look, not everyone wants to go through the process of getting it on their skin themselves. The Tattoo Style Art Brushes from The Artifex Forge comes with stipple shading scatter brushes and outline brushes so that you can make stunning, tattoo-inspired artwork. These brushes can help give your artwork an eye-catching edge and helps you create amazing work without the pain.
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Classic Chalk Brushes Patterns – $16
If you’ve ever been to a local coffee shop, you know that chalk can be used in a multitude of ways.With the Classic Chalk Brushes Patterns from The Artifex Forge, you can use one of the 74 chalk texture brushes to create amazing works of art. Sourced from actual chalk means that these brushes are as realistic as they can get so you can spend time enjoying creating new pieces of artwork for your clients or even just for personal use.
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Illustrator Brush Sampler Pack – Free
The Retro Supply Co doesn’t normally give away their premium brushes which is what makes this sampler pack such a great find. The pack contains brushes from some of their best-selling sets including Dragstrip, InkWash, VectorSketch, VectorHero, Black Magic Halftones, and Wax & Oil. This can be a great way to try out some incredible brushes before you buy them and any others from a company that routinely creates high-quality digital art resources.
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Drunk Sailor | Vector Stippling Brushes & More – $24
Doing stippling work by hand can put a huge strain on your hands and your sanity. The Retro Supply Co is here to help with their Drunk Sailor Brush Pack that can add the effect in seconds.Made using real stippling techniques with a seamless texture and pressure sensitivity puts you in total control. With 38 stippling brushes, 20 pen liner brushes, and 5 specialty brushes to help your artwork from start to finish.
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VectorSketch | Pencil Brushes – $15
Artists love using charcoal and pencils as mediums for their artwork but normally, if you wanted to use them digitally, you’d have to use Photoshop. Well, not anymore with the VectorSketch kit from Retro Supply Co. Packed with 40 charcoal and graphite-based brushes, you can get beautiful results in Illustrator with these brushes made from historically inspired charcoal pencil brushes.
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Outstanding Oil Paint Brushes – $19
Using oil paints to create art can create some of the most beautiful art in the world but not everyone has the time, patience, or resources to become proficient with them. That’s where the Outstanding Oil Paint Brushes by The Artifex Forge. Made by sampling real oil paints to create an authentic look every time. Featuring 50 authentic oil paint brushes that as close to using real oil paints in Illustrator as you’re going to get.
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Linocut Vector Brushes – Free
Linocuts are a printing process that is very similar to woodcuts and can create beautiful imagery if you don’t hurt yourself doing it. With these free Linocut Vector Brushes, you have 25 different brushes to choose from including a range of brush shapes including tapered strokes, split brushes, texture fills, and edge shading. Well suited to being used on an iPad, the brushes have pressure and tapering effects built into each brush.
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Memento Shader Brushes For Illustrator – $17
Created by Pixel Buddha, the Memento Shader Brushes For Illustrator provides you with 35 brushes and 12 textures that you can use to shade your artwork with a smooth workflow from start to finish. The noise brushes are a nice supplement that you can add to your artwork to give it a vintage look. Use these shader brushes to create amazing commercials, posters, illustrations, and anything else your creativity can come up with.
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Genuine Crafted Chalk – $16
Using real chalk offers a look and feel that can’t be beaten. Trailhead Design has created The Genuine Crafted Chalk Kit to give you a brush kit that looks and acts like real chalk. With 55 Vector brushes that cover a wide array of strokes, you can achieve with a piece of chalk. As a bonus, the kit includes 6 chalkboard textures that have been created from photographs of vintage slate chalkboards to give you a great background for your work.
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Carpenters Pencil Brushes – $14
You wouldn’t normally think that a carpenters pencil would make a good brush for your artwork. The Artifex Forge saw the pencil for what it was and with their Carpenters Pencil Brushes, you can create thick, textured lines and also change the width of the brush to add a new dimension to your artwork. Included in the kit are 42 different brushes with options from an angled brush to a multi-width option. Included specifically for Illustrator, the brushes are pressure-sensitive to give you more feel in every stroke you make.
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Stipple shading Illustrator brushes – Free
Created by Chris Spooner, the Stipple shading Illustrator brushes is a collection of eight stipple shading brushes that help your add grungy details to your artwork. A popular technique, you can easily add a vintage tattoo or retro comic book look to your artwork. With brushes ranging from light grain to heavy stipple, you can add a new dimension to your artwork and the best part is that its free.
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Wood Grain Brushes – $14
Woodgrain can have a beautiful and timeless quality and The Artifex Forge’s Wood Grain Brushes kit was developed by taking photos of real wood and live-tracing, cleaning up and then converting them into a brush. These brushes have more versatility than other vector textures because they can be bent and shaped to fit your artwork. If you love the look of wood on everyday objects, you should try this kit to see how it can enhance your current work.
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Halftone Brushes & Bonus Patterns – $15
Halftones happen when dots of ink, in a variety of sizes, are overlaid to build up color and tone. Doing so by hand can be a tedious process and thankfully the Halftone Brushes & Bonus Patterns from The Artifex Forge can help. With a mixture of pattern and scatter brushes, you can paint the effect in your way to create beautiful illustrations and designs.
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Rodeo Hand-Drawn Rope Brush – Free
No matter how long you have been a designer, there may be one item that, for whatever reason, you have trouble drawing. For some, its rope and the Rodeo Hand-Drawn Rope Brush is a great way to create rope quickly. You can apply it to any path, plus you can change the rope’s color and width easily.
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Irvington High School Vector Brushes – $15
Sometimes the best tools for you to create beautiful artwork come from the most random places and that’s what the Irvington High School Vector Brushes kit aims to do. Created by Retro Supply Co, the assortment of 20 vector brushes that include halftone interference patterns, watercolors, doodle fillers, hand-made cross hatchers, and ink brushes can give you those random tools you need to possibly create your best work.
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Top 20 Free Illustrator Brushes
Adobe Illustrator can be an amazing program for you to create some of the most beautiful artwork. Using the standard brushes, while they are high-quality, is only limiting what you can do. With our list of the Top 20 Adobe Illustrator Brushes, we hope you can find some options to fit your kind of style.
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