Create a Realistic-Looking Wreath Brush

Creating brushes in Procreate is one of my favorite things to do, and a few months ago I thought about trying to make a wreath or vine brush. After some Googling, I couldn't find a good tutorial anywhere and I couldn't figure out how to make a good, realistic-looking wreath brush.

Since Christmas is approaching I decided to search again and I found what I had somehow missed the first time - an hour long live tutorial for creating wreath brushes by Wooly Pronto

And once I started making wreath brushes, I just didn't stop! So I decided to write up a tutorial to show you how to create your own wreath brush.

Create a New Square Document

You'll want to start by creating a new square document in Procreate (tap the + to open the New Canvas menu). I usually use the biggest size canvas possible - for me that's 27" by 27", but anything over 10" by 10" will work.

Create New Document

Enable the Drawing Guide

Before you start drawing you'll also need to enable the Drawing Guide. Open the Actions menu (you can tap the wrench), go the the Canvas tab and turn on the Drawing Guide. Edit the Drawing Guide and turn the grid size to Max. Tap Done and you should now see a vertical and horizontal line on your canvas. 

Enable Drawing Guide   Set up Grid

Draw a Stem

To create a wreath brush, you need to have a base branch but start by drawing a stem. I used the Monoline brush to draw a black horizontal line starting about a quarter of the way across the canvas to the center. This stem is going to be the line that joins our branches together to form the wreath.

Draw a Stem

Add Leaves

One you have a stem, it's time to add some leaves to the branch. You can experiment with this part by drawing different shapes and sizes of leaves to see what works and creates a good looking wreath. You can also try using different textures and styles (my watercolor wreaths are my personal favorites) The only requirement is that you draw your branch in pure black (#000000) on a pure white (#ffffff) background. 

Add Leaves   Add More Leaves  Fill in the Leaves   Colored in Branch

Create a New Brush

When you're happy with your branch swipe down with three fingers and tap Copy All. Open the Brush menu and tap the + to create a new brush.

Copy Branch   Create a New Brush

Paste Your Branch

Go the the Shape tab and tap the circle to the right of Shape Source. Tap the Import button in the top left corner and press Paste. You'll now see your branch in black on a white background. Tap with two fingers to invert the colors so that the branch is now white on a black background. Tap Done in the top right corner to save your changes.

Go to the Shape Tab    Edit the Shape SourcePaste The Branch    Tap with Two Fingers To Invert

Edit The Brush Settings

The last step is to edit some more of the brush settings. Stay in the Shape tab and turn Rotation up until it says Follow Stroke so that the branches will rotate to follow the direction of your stroke. I also like to toggle on Flip Y - this will randomly flip some of the branches vertically and it creates a more organic wreath. 

Shape Settings

Another setting I like to change is setting the StreamLine Amount to Max in the Stabilisation tab (if you don't have a Stabilisation tab this will be under the Stroke Path tab).

Streamline

Now go to the Apple Pencil tab and turn Opacity down to 0%. In the Properties tab turn the Maximum Size up - I usually set this to about 400%. Make sure to also Disable Orient to Screen (it should NOT be blue). If your wreath brush doesn't look right, this is the first thing you should check. 

Apple Pencil Settings   Property Settings

Lastly, go to the Stroke Path tab and increase or decrease the Spacing amount until your branches slightly overlap - there should be no gap and ideally the stem from the previous branch blends into the leaves from the next branch to make a seamless pattern. For this example, I set my Spacing to 41%, but this will probably be different for your brush.

Spacing Settings

Draw a Wreath!

And that's it! Click Done to save all your changes and now it's time to draw a wreath. Pick a color - I like to use a dark green - and draw a circle. Hold it in place for a second until it snaps into an ellipse and then tap with one finger (while still pressing down with the your pencil/finger using your other hand) to create a perfect circle and a perfect wreath!

Draw a Wreath 

I hope you found this tutorial useful! If you have any questions, leave a comment and I'll try my best to help.

 

Shop the whole collection of Wreath brushes!

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