Quick answer: To make a custom brush in ibis Paint X, open the Brush tool, pick an existing brush that is close to what you want, duplicate it from the brush list, then open its parameter settings and adjust the brush shape, thickness, opacity, hardness, spacing, scatter, rotation, pressure response and blend behavior. Save it with a new name so it appears in your list. Brushes can also be shared and imported as QR codes, which is how most “downloaded” ibis Paint brushes travel between users, and the locked default brushes can be unlocked by watching a short ad or through a paid membership.
Most ibis Paint X users never leave the default brush list, which is a shame because the app’s brush engine is more adjustable than its simple interface suggests. Learning how to make an ibis Paint brush opens up custom inkers that taper exactly the way you want, textured shading brushes for rendering skin or fabric, stamp brushes for stars, leaves and sparkles, and soft airbrushes tuned for your pen pressure. It also lets you reproduce brushes other artists share as QR codes and tweak them to fit your hand.
This guide walks through the brush parameter window setting by setting, then gives recipes for five common custom brushes, explains how to share, scan and download brushes, and covers organizing and backing up your list. For a look at which brushes, default and custom, are most useful for different styles, the roundup of the best ibis Paint X brushes is a good companion.
A note on versions: ibis Paint X is updated frequently and the exact names, icons and positions of controls shift between releases and between the iOS and Android builds. The steps below describe the general layout; if a control is not where this guide places it, look in the neighboring menu rather than assuming it has been removed. Some features, such as importing your own brush shape images, may require a membership tier or a one-time purchase depending on version.
Where Brush Settings Live
The brush workflow in ibis Paint X runs through three places:
- The tool selector at the bottom-left, which opens the tool list where you choose Brush.
- The brush list, opened by tapping the brush icon again (or the brush preview) once Brush is the active tool. It shows every brush with a stroke preview, and includes buttons to add, duplicate, reorder and delete brushes and to open QR code sharing.
- The brush parameter window, opened from a brush in the list (usually via an edit or settings control next to the brush, or by tapping the brush preview a second time). This is where the actual making happens.
Below the canvas, two sliders adjust thickness and opacity for the current brush on the fly. Changes made there are temporary adjustments to the base values; the parameter window sets the brush’s defaults and its behavior.
Brush Parameters Explained
The parameter window exposes a long list of controls. The names below match ibis Paint’s typical labels; your version may word them slightly differently.
| Parameter | What it does | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Brush shape (tip image) | The stamp that is repeated along the stroke: round, square, textured, scatter shapes or an imported image | Round for pens and airbrushes; texture for shading; shapes for stamp brushes |
| Thickness | Base stroke width in pixels | Set to your most-used size so the slider sits near the middle |
| Min thickness | Width at the lightest pen pressure, as a percentage of thickness | Low for tapering inkers, 100 percent for flat markers |
| Opacity | Base transparency of the stroke | Full for inking; partial for building up shading |
| Min opacity | Opacity at the lightest pressure | Low for airbrush-like fade-in |
| Initial and final taper (force fade) | Thins the start and end of every stroke over a set distance regardless of pressure | Clean tapered line art, especially without a pressure pen |
| Hardness | Edge sharpness of the tip, from crisp to feathered | High for pens, low for airbrushes and soft blending |
| Spacing (interval) | Distance between stamps along the stroke, as a percentage of tip size | Small for smooth lines; large for dotted or stamp effects |
| Scatter | Random offset of each stamp from the stroke path | Sparkles, foliage, speckled texture |
| Rotation and random rotation | Angle of the tip, fixed, following stroke direction or randomized | Calligraphy nibs; natural-looking leaves and stars |
| Pressure curve or sensitivity | How hard you must press to reach full thickness and opacity | Tune to your stylus and hand |
| Blend mode and mixing | How the stroke combines with existing color; some brushes blur or smudge | Blending and smudge brushes |
| Anti-aliasing | Smooths pixel edges | On for most work; off for pixel art |
| Stabilizer | Smooths wobble in the stroke path | Higher for long clean lines, lower for sketching |
Any change you make is previewed in the stroke sample at the top of the window, so you can see the effect before saving.
How to Make a Custom Brush Step by Step
- Select the Brush tool from the tool selector.
- Open the brush list by tapping the brush icon again.
- Choose a starting brush that resembles your goal. A hard round pen for inkers, a soft airbrush for shading, an existing textured brush for texture. Starting close saves a lot of adjustment.
- Duplicate it. Use the duplicate or add-brush control in the list (often a plus or copy icon, or available by long-pressing the brush). Always work on a copy so the original stays intact.
- Open the copy’s parameter window.
- Set the brush shape first. Shape determines everything else. Choose from the built-in tip library, or, if your version allows, import a tip image from your canvas or photo library: a black shape on a transparent or white background, around 500 to 1,000 pixels, with soft or hard edges according to the effect you want.
- Set thickness and min thickness. For an inking brush, thickness around 6 to 12 pixels on a 2,000-pixel canvas and min thickness 0 to 20 percent gives expressive taper. For a marker, set min thickness to 100 percent.
- Set opacity and min opacity. Full opacity with 0 percent minimum gives pressure-controlled transparency; 100 percent minimum gives flat ink.
- Adjust hardness. Drag it to the top for crisp pen edges, toward the bottom for airbrush softness.
- Set spacing. Keep it low (a few percent) for a continuous line; raise it to 50 to 150 percent for a stamp brush where each tip should stand apart.
- Add scatter and rotation if the brush is a stamp or texture. Random rotation plus moderate scatter is what makes leaves, stars and speckles look natural instead of like a repeated pattern.
- Tune taper and stabilizer. A short initial and final taper cleans up line ends; a stabilizer value in the lower-middle range smooths wobble without introducing lag.
- Test on the canvas. Draw slow curves, fast flicks and pressure ramps. Return to the window and adjust. Expect three or four rounds of tweaking.
- Rename the brush so you can find it later, with something descriptive such as “Ink taper 8px” or “Leaf stamp scatter.”
- Save or confirm. The brush now sits in your list and keeps its settings between sessions.
Five Custom Brush Recipes
1. Clean Tapered Inker
Start from a hard round pen. Hardness maximum, spacing low, min thickness about 10 percent, min opacity 100 percent so the line never goes transparent, initial and final taper on with a short fade length, stabilizer in the lower-middle range. This gives confident lines that thin at the ends even on a device without pressure.
2. Soft Shading Airbrush
Start from an airbrush. Hardness low, thickness large (80 to 200 pixels), min opacity 0 percent, max opacity around 30 to 50 percent so strokes build up gradually, spacing low. Use on a clipped layer set to Multiply for shadows or Add or Screen for glow.
3. Textured Rendering Brush
Start from any built-in textured or grainy brush. Medium hardness, spacing moderate, light scatter, random rotation on, opacity around 60 percent with min opacity 0. The texture breaks up flat color and reads as skin, cloth or stone depending on size.
4. Star or Sparkle Stamp
Start from a round brush and change the shape to a star or imported sparkle image. Spacing 100 to 200 percent so stamps separate, scatter moderate to high, random rotation on, random size variation if available, min thickness 30 percent so stamps vary in scale with pressure. Tap single points for individual sparkles or drag for a trail.
5. Smudge or Blend Brush
Start from an existing blur or blend brush if your version has one. Hardness low, opacity moderate, thickness medium. Use it to soften transitions between two colors on the same layer. Lower opacity for subtle blending, higher for dragging color.
How to Scan ibis Paint Brushes From QR Codes
ibis Paint stores a brush’s full settings in a QR code, which is how artists share brushes on social media and in tutorials. To import one:
- Save the QR code image to your device, or have it open on another screen.
- Open the Brush tool, then the brush list.
- Find the QR code control in the list (often a small QR icon or an option inside the add or settings menu).
- Choose to read a QR code, then either point the camera at the code on another screen or select the saved image from your photo library.
- The brush appears in your list with the original creator’s name for it. Duplicate and adjust it as you would any other brush.
If a code fails to read, make sure the image is sharp and not cropped, and that it is an ibis Paint brush code rather than a generic link. Codes from much newer versions of the app may use parameters an older version cannot read, so updating the app fixes most import failures.
How to Share Your Own Brush
Open the brush’s parameter window or long-press it in the list and look for a share or QR option. The app generates a QR code image you can save or post. Anyone with ibis Paint can scan it and get an identical brush. It is good practice to name the brush clearly before generating the code, since the name travels with it.
How to Download ibis Paint Brushes
“Downloading” brushes in ibis Paint means two different things:
- Unlocking the locked default brushes. Brushes with a lock or download icon in the list are available after watching a short advertisement, which unlocks them for a limited period (commonly around 18 hours), or permanently through a paid membership or the ad-removal purchase. Tap the locked brush and follow the prompt.
- Importing community brushes. These are the QR codes described above, shared on sites, forums and social media. There is no central brush store inside the app; the QR system is the distribution method.
Be cautious with QR codes posted alongside links or files claiming to be brush packs; a genuine ibis Paint brush is only ever a QR image that the app reads directly.
Organizing, Backing Up and Deleting Brushes
- Reorder: enter the list’s edit mode and drag brushes so your favorites sit at the top.
- Delete: in edit mode, remove brushes you never use. If you delete a default brush by mistake, there is normally an option to restore the default brush set.
- Back up: generate QR codes for your most important custom brushes and save the images somewhere safe. Reinstalling the app or switching devices can wipe custom brushes, and the QR image is the fastest way to rebuild them.
- Name consistently: prefixes such as “Ink,” “Shade” and “Stamp” group brushes visually when the list is long.
Common Problems When Making Brushes
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Stroke looks like a row of dots | Spacing too high for a line brush | Lower spacing to a few percent |
| Line is blobby at the ends | No taper, min thickness too high | Turn on initial and final taper; lower min thickness |
| Brush lags behind the pen | Stabilizer very high, or huge thickness with low spacing on a big canvas | Reduce stabilizer; raise spacing slightly |
| Pressure seems to do nothing | Min thickness and min opacity at 100 percent, or stylus not supported | Lower minimums; check pressure settings in app preferences |
| Stamp brush repeats in an obvious pattern | No random rotation or scatter | Enable random rotation and add scatter |
| Imported tip looks gray or faint | Tip image was not black on white or transparent | Redraw the tip in solid black with clean edges |
| Custom brush vanished after update or reinstall | Local brush data lost | Re-import from saved QR codes |
If you are new to the app and want to load a few proven brushes before building your own, the guide on how to add brushes to ibis Paint covers the import and unlock steps in more detail.
FAQs
How do you make your own brush in ibis Paint X?
Open the Brush tool and brush list, duplicate a brush close to what you want, open its parameter window, change the shape, thickness, opacity, hardness, spacing, scatter, rotation and taper, test on canvas, and rename it.
How to scan ibis Paint brushes?
In the brush list, find the QR code option, choose to read a code, then scan it with the camera or pick a saved image from your photo library. The brush is added to your list.
How to download ibis Paint brushes that are locked?
Tap the locked brush and watch the short advertisement to unlock it for a limited period, or purchase the membership or ad-removal option for permanent access.
Can I use my own image as a brush tip?
In recent versions, yes, through a custom brush shape option that imports an image from your canvas or photo library. Availability can depend on the app version and membership tier. Use a solid black shape on a transparent or white background.
Why do my custom brushes disappear?
Custom brushes are stored locally on the device, so reinstalling the app, clearing its data or switching devices can remove them. Save QR codes of your brushes as a backup.
What settings make a good ibis Paint inking brush?
Hard round tip, maximum hardness, low spacing, min thickness around 10 percent, min opacity 100 percent, initial and final taper enabled, and a moderate stabilizer.
Final Thoughts
Making an ibis Paint brush is a matter of duplicating a close default, changing the tip shape, then dialing in thickness, opacity, hardness, spacing, scatter, rotation and taper until the stroke preview looks right. Keep originals untouched, name copies clearly and save QR codes of anything you would hate to lose. Once a few custom brushes are in place, importing community brushes and adjusting them becomes second nature. To see which defaults and community favorites are worth your list space, the roundup of top ibis Paint X brushes for inking, shading and texture sorts them by purpose.
