How to make a stamp brush in Procreate in under a minute

Did you know that you can create a stamp brush in Procreate that imitates a real stamp? This comes in handy for many occasions like watermarks, logo’s, grids and proportions.

Keep reading to learn the easiest way to make your own stamp brush in Procreate 2022!

1. Have your design ready

The first step in making a brush stamp in Procreate is to have the design of your stamp ready. This means:

Having a design saved in your camera roll
Having a design on a single layer in Procreate

Always make a copy of your design, so that you always have a back up.

Once your design is ready, make sure it’s on a single layer.

Create a new layer
Drag the new layer underneath your design
Fill the background with a white color

how to make a stamp brush in procreate 2022

Merge the white background with your design by pinching the two layers together
Drag 3 fingers across the canvas down to bring up extra options and hit ”copy”

2. Create a new brush

Let’s create a new brush. This will immediately open up the brush studio, which is where you edit the brush to your liking.

Pick a folder you want to add your brush to (or create a new folder by tapping the plus sign above the folders and name it accordingly).
Hit the plus sign inside the folder to create a new brush.

3. Edit the source shape

The source shape is where you upload the design of your stamp.

Select the Shape tab
Hit Edit

Hit Import

Hit Paste

Tap two fingers on the canvas to invert it
Hit done

You can test your brush on the drawing pad, next to all the settings. When you use the brush, you see that it now acts as a regular brush.

To turn it into an actual stamp we need to edit the spacing.

4. Edit the spacing

Select Stroke Path
Set the spacing to Max. Do this by dragging the slider all the way up.

Now when you test your brush on the drawing pad it functions as an actual stamp!

5. Adjust the opacity

The perfect stamp is a stamp that is evenly opaque. Realistically, some stamps come out less opaque due to uneven pressure or uneven ink distribution.

If you want to go for realism, don’t adjust this setting. The opaqueness is now affected by your pen pressure.

But if you do want a perfect stamp each time:

Go to the Apple Pencil tab
Drag the Opacity slider all the way down.

Now, the pressure of each stamp is exactly the same: they are all evenly 100% opaque. You can test it out on your drawing pad.

5. Name your stamp brush and hit done

It’s time to wrap up our brush. We can add information about the brush, including the name, the name of the creator (you!) and you can even sign it.

This is great for when you want to export your brush and sell or give it to others. Just like I did with my free glow brush on Gumroad.

Go to the About This Brush tab
Name your brush by tapping on Untitled Brush

Add your name and sign it if you want. This is optional
Hit Done to save the brush and exit the brush studio

Done!

Testing out your newly created stamp brush

The best way to see if your brush works is to test it out (who would’ve thunk ;) ).

Do this by selecting the brush and choosing a color. Tap away! Also try to use different sizes.

When you find that your stamp brush sizes are off (maybe the smallest size is still too big, or the biggest size is still too small) you can adjust this in the brush studio.

How can I adjust Procreates brush size

To adjust the size range of a brush in Procreate you must edit the Maximum and Minimum Size of the Properties tab in the Brush Studio.

The Minimum Size setting determines the smallest size of your brush size range. The Maximum Size setting determines the biggest size of your brush size range.

Select your brush
Slide it to the left and hit edit to open up the brush studio

Go to the Properties tab
Increase the Maximum Size. This means that your brush can get a lot bigger.
Adjust the Minimum Size if you need adjusting here as well.

You might also like: How to create a glow brush in Procreate

Trouble shooting your stamp brush in Procreate

Sometimes after using our brush we find some faults. Here are the most common faults in stamp brushes and how to solve them:

My stamp brush has areas that are not opaque

When your stamp is not 100% opaque, but shows some areas that are lighter in value chances are that your initial design wasn’t 100% black.
To fix this, you must replace your Source Shape with a design that is completely black.

Select your initial design back up (without the white background)

Go to Adjustments (wand icon)
Hit Hue, Saturation and Brightness
Hit layer

Drag the brightness slider all the way down
Exit the Hue, Saturation and Brightness mode by tapping the layers icon
Continue step 1-3

My Procreate brush has a black square around it

The reason why your Procreate brush has a black square around it is because you forgot to invert the Shape Source. To do fix this you:

Go to the brush library
Select your brush and tap it once more to go to the brush studio

Go to the Shape tab
Hit Edit > Import > Paste
Tap 2 fingers on your shape so it inverts

Hit done
Hit done once more to exit the brush studio

My brush is pixelated/low quality

When your brush appears to be pixelated or low quality you might have used a canvas that was too small. To fix this you must recreate your brush on a bigger canvas of at least 1080x1080px with DPI set as 72.

My design doesn’t show up in Source shape

When you import your design as the Shape Source and it does not show up, it means that you did not include a white background for your black shape. The Shape Editor can only read designs including a background and white designs including no background.

To fix this you must edit your design and reuplaod your shape:

Create a new layer

Fill it with white
Merge your design with the white layer
Go to the brush library

Select your brush and tap it once more to go to the brush studio
Go to the Shape tab
Hit Edit > Import > Paste

Tap 2 fingers on your shape so it inverts
Hit done
Hit done once more to exit the brush studio

Now let’s keep reading to find out some more about brush stamps in Procreate.

Best canvas size to create a brush in Procreate

The best canvas size to create a design for a brush in Procreate is the 2048 x 2048px canvas option with DPI set to 72. This will result in a smooth and crisp source shape for your brush.

It’s best to work in a square format as the brush studio will use a square formatted shape source. 1080x1080px will do too but the 2048 square format gives just that extra detail.

Read here about the best Procreate canvas size for your next painting.

What is a stamp brush?

A stamp brush in Procreate is a brush that leaves one mark (a stamp) that imitates a certain shape. This shape can be anything: from a simple basic shape to an image-derived shape. Procreate stamp marks are often used as watermarks because it allows an artist to quickly sign their work.

The difference between a regular brush and a stamp brush is that the spacing of a stamp brush is a lot greater. When you stamp your brush (pressing the pencil against the screen) you always slide a little bit.

This makes for a mark that is not a stamp. To avoid this we need to increase the spacing.

This means that if you slide a little bit it wont make another mark, resulting in a single stamp.

What are stamp brushes used for in Procreate?

Stamp brushes in Procreate are used for many things, like:

Highlights
- In the eye for example

Stippling Technique
Proportions
- Think of character proportions

Grids
Logo Stamps
Basic shape stamps (circle, square etc.)

Watermarks

Anything can be the source shape for a stamp. Even an image.

The most important thing to note is that Procreate processes these images in grayscale.

That means that color in your image doesn’t work. It’s all about the shape instead. You can make use of values, but like in real life, actual stamps usually don’t have any gradation.

This is why I recommend creating your design in black and white only.

You can either save this image into your camera roll or copy and paste it by using your fingers.

What if I want my Procreate stamp brush to have a certain color?

You pick a color using the color panel after creating the brush, when you are ready to paint. Like with any other brush. You’re creating a brush, not the paint (although you can edit some fun hue variation within your brush settings).

Free stamp brushes for Procreate 2022 to download

Here’s a list of free Procreate stamp brushes:

Free Animal Stamp brushes

Just be aware that most of these links are created by fellow Procreate users. They use Gumroad to ”sell” these brushes.

To get the brushes for free, all you have to do is fill in $0 when you check out. This is just how Gumroad works.

The creators of these free brushes are fully aware of this and offer their brushes for free this way!

Most frequently asked questions about stamp brushes in Procreate

Find the answers about stamp brushes in Procreate here.

Can you use an image to create a stamp brush in Procreate?

You can use an image to create a stamp brush in Procreate. Just note that Procreate will process the stamp design in black and white, so any color used in the image will be ignored. Instead, Procreate uses the color’s value. The lighter the value the less opaque that part of the stamp becomes.

How do I turn my logo into a stamp in Procreate?

To turn your logo into a stamp in Procreate you must add a black and white image of your logo onto a single layer. Make sure that the logo itself is completely black, and the background is white. Then, you add this image as the source shape of a brush within the Brush studio.

Make sure to maximize the spacing to create an actual stamp. Turn off the opacity to create a uniform stamp.

Feel free to ask more questions in the comments. This way we can help others who probably have the same question as you. Have fun creating lots of stamp brushes!

See you next week,
♡ Laura