Brushes
Paint, Sketch, Draw
$3.99
4.2.2for iPhone, iPad and more
Age Rating
Brushes Screenshots
About Brushes
Brushes 4 is the latest iteration of the app that started the iPhone and iPad painting revolution. Redesigned with a clean and modern user interface, Brushes supports iPhone and iPad with optimisation for the iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone Pro and iPad with Apple Pencil.
• Highlights:
- Clean and modern user interface with light and dark modes.
- Files based painting gallery.
- New canvas interface.
- Apple Pencil support with pressure curve.
– Unlimited undo and redo.
- Continuous auto-save.
- Cloud Drive import and export.
• Parameterized Brushes:
- Selection of ready to use brushes with customisable settings.
- Create your own custom brushes from millions of permutations.
- Generate random brushes for inspiration.
- Dynamic adjustment of brush size and opacity.
• Layers:
- Layer your artwork for greater control.
– Lock and hide layers.
– Use alpha lock to only paint where pixels already exist.
– Adjust individual layer opacity.
– Duplicate, rearrange and merge layers.
– Apply layer blending modes: normal, multiply, screen, exclude.
- Color fill any layer.
– Invert layer color and desaturate.
– Flip and arbitrarily transform layers.
– Adjust the color balance per layer.
– Adjust layer hue, saturation and brightness.
• Colors:
- Colour picker with hue ring and saturation square.
- Store and recall your favourite colors in swatches.
- Sample painting colors with the eyedropper tool.
• Apple Pencil:
- Intuitive and powerful pressure curve to match your style.
- Configurable realtime pressure based adjustment of brush size and opacity.
• Creation:
- Preset canvas sizes for paper, photographs, iPhone and iPad screens, film and television displays.
- Custom canvas size.
• Import, export and sharing:
- Import images directly from your camera roll.
- Import PNG and JPEG images from cloud services.
- Export your paintings for sharing or importing into other apps as PNG and JPEG to all cloud storage services or as photos directly to your camera roll.
- Compatible with paintings created by Brushes 3 and Brushes Redux.
• Light and dark appearances:
- Choose between light and dark monochrome appearances, or current system setting.
- Minimal use of user interface color so that tints in the user interface do not distract from or influence your artwork color choices.
Acknowledgements.
Thank you to Angela Ali, Jason M., Jeff Parker, Sandra Perez and Yoshiyuki Uchida for contributing artwork to the App Store screenshots. Please visit our website to see more of their artwork and for links to their portfolios.
History.
Brushes was originally created by Steve Sprang for iPhone in 2009 and for iPad in 2010. His last version, Brushes 3 was released in 2012, but was removed from the App Store in 2015. I took over development to modernise and support an app that has continued to be enjoyed by so many artists.
• Highlights:
- Clean and modern user interface with light and dark modes.
- Files based painting gallery.
- New canvas interface.
- Apple Pencil support with pressure curve.
– Unlimited undo and redo.
- Continuous auto-save.
- Cloud Drive import and export.
• Parameterized Brushes:
- Selection of ready to use brushes with customisable settings.
- Create your own custom brushes from millions of permutations.
- Generate random brushes for inspiration.
- Dynamic adjustment of brush size and opacity.
• Layers:
- Layer your artwork for greater control.
– Lock and hide layers.
– Use alpha lock to only paint where pixels already exist.
– Adjust individual layer opacity.
– Duplicate, rearrange and merge layers.
– Apply layer blending modes: normal, multiply, screen, exclude.
- Color fill any layer.
– Invert layer color and desaturate.
– Flip and arbitrarily transform layers.
– Adjust the color balance per layer.
– Adjust layer hue, saturation and brightness.
• Colors:
- Colour picker with hue ring and saturation square.
- Store and recall your favourite colors in swatches.
- Sample painting colors with the eyedropper tool.
• Apple Pencil:
- Intuitive and powerful pressure curve to match your style.
- Configurable realtime pressure based adjustment of brush size and opacity.
• Creation:
- Preset canvas sizes for paper, photographs, iPhone and iPad screens, film and television displays.
- Custom canvas size.
• Import, export and sharing:
- Import images directly from your camera roll.
- Import PNG and JPEG images from cloud services.
- Export your paintings for sharing or importing into other apps as PNG and JPEG to all cloud storage services or as photos directly to your camera roll.
- Compatible with paintings created by Brushes 3 and Brushes Redux.
• Light and dark appearances:
- Choose between light and dark monochrome appearances, or current system setting.
- Minimal use of user interface color so that tints in the user interface do not distract from or influence your artwork color choices.
Acknowledgements.
Thank you to Angela Ali, Jason M., Jeff Parker, Sandra Perez and Yoshiyuki Uchida for contributing artwork to the App Store screenshots. Please visit our website to see more of their artwork and for links to their portfolios.
History.
Brushes was originally created by Steve Sprang for iPhone in 2009 and for iPad in 2010. His last version, Brushes 3 was released in 2012, but was removed from the App Store in 2015. I took over development to modernise and support an app that has continued to be enjoyed by so many artists.
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What's New in the Latest Version 4.2.2
Last updated on Apr 4, 2022
Old Versions
Minor fixes and enhancements.
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Version History
4.2.2
Apr 4, 2022
Minor fixes and enhancements.
4.2.1
Apr 27, 2021
Fixed an issue with opening paintings exported from Brushes 3/Redux when Brushes Redux is already installed on iOS 14.
4.2.0
Oct 4, 2020
Files-based Document Browser.
The Brushes gallery in now based on the Files app, bringing a familiar document management interface and rich functionality.
- Directly create and open paintings in iCloud Drive or your local device.
- Search your paintings.
- Sort your paintings.
- Create folders.
- Display the gallery as thumbnails or list view.
- View by recents or browse.
Where are my existing paintings?
Your existing paintings are stored on your iPhone or iPad where they were created. You can find them by going to Locations and choosing 'On My iPhone/iPad' then tapping on the Brushes folder. If you would like to store these in iCloud Drive from now on; tap 'Select', tap 'Select All', then tap 'Move' and choose the new location, preferably in the Brushes folder in iCloud Drive. Choosing 'Move' only moves files when the source and destination are on the same device or cloud service. So this will actually copy your paintings, not move them. You may want to delete them from your device once you have confirmed they are all safe on iCloud Drive.
Where are my new paintings?
Your new paintings will be stored in iCloud Drive and automatically synced. You can find where by going to Locations and choosing 'iCloud Drive' then tapping on the Brushes folder.
If you would like to continue to store your paintings locally on your device; open the Settings app, tap on Brushes in the list of apps on the left, tap on 'Document Storage' and choose 'On my iPhone/iPad'.
Please note that only iCloud Drive supports package directories that Brushes uses for painting storage. Paintings cannot be created or edited on third-party storage providers such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Please use either iCloud Drive or local storage on your iPhone or iPad.
If you have any problems or questions about this release, please email us from within Brushes or at brushes@envoza.com.
The Brushes gallery in now based on the Files app, bringing a familiar document management interface and rich functionality.
- Directly create and open paintings in iCloud Drive or your local device.
- Search your paintings.
- Sort your paintings.
- Create folders.
- Display the gallery as thumbnails or list view.
- View by recents or browse.
Where are my existing paintings?
Your existing paintings are stored on your iPhone or iPad where they were created. You can find them by going to Locations and choosing 'On My iPhone/iPad' then tapping on the Brushes folder. If you would like to store these in iCloud Drive from now on; tap 'Select', tap 'Select All', then tap 'Move' and choose the new location, preferably in the Brushes folder in iCloud Drive. Choosing 'Move' only moves files when the source and destination are on the same device or cloud service. So this will actually copy your paintings, not move them. You may want to delete them from your device once you have confirmed they are all safe on iCloud Drive.
Where are my new paintings?
Your new paintings will be stored in iCloud Drive and automatically synced. You can find where by going to Locations and choosing 'iCloud Drive' then tapping on the Brushes folder.
If you would like to continue to store your paintings locally on your device; open the Settings app, tap on Brushes in the list of apps on the left, tap on 'Document Storage' and choose 'On my iPhone/iPad'.
Please note that only iCloud Drive supports package directories that Brushes uses for painting storage. Paintings cannot be created or edited on third-party storage providers such as Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive. Please use either iCloud Drive or local storage on your iPhone or iPad.
If you have any problems or questions about this release, please email us from within Brushes or at brushes@envoza.com.
4.1.6
Sep 1, 2020
Minor fixes and enhancements.
4.1.5
Jun 30, 2020
Brush size and opacity control improvements:
- When moving the brush sliders you can make finer adjustments by touching the slider and then dragging your finger higher up the screen. The slider will then move in smaller amounts and the higher your finger, the less the slider will move.
- When you release the brush sliders the value no longer changes due to the movement of your finger lifting.
- Minor bug fixes and enhancements.
- When moving the brush sliders you can make finer adjustments by touching the slider and then dragging your finger higher up the screen. The slider will then move in smaller amounts and the higher your finger, the less the slider will move.
- When you release the brush sliders the value no longer changes due to the movement of your finger lifting.
- Minor bug fixes and enhancements.
4.1.4
May 24, 2020
Color dropper enhancements:
- Color dropper activation can be independently turned on/off for touch and Apple Pencil. Turning off the color dropper for Apple Pencil increases the immediacy of painting.
- The movement range between holding the Apple Pencil to activate the color dropper and starting to paint is now a setting. If you find the color dropper difficult to activate, just increase this slider in the Apple Pencil settings until you find it to your liking.
- Color dropper activation can be independently turned on/off for touch and Apple Pencil. Turning off the color dropper for Apple Pencil increases the immediacy of painting.
- The movement range between holding the Apple Pencil to activate the color dropper and starting to paint is now a setting. If you find the color dropper difficult to activate, just increase this slider in the Apple Pencil settings until you find it to your liking.
4.1.3
May 13, 2020
Apple Pencil color dropper activation restored. Color dropper activation can be turned off in the settings menu if you find it appears accidentally too often.
4.1.2
May 5, 2020
Painting Enhancements:
- Starting brush strokes with the Apple Pencil is now immediate and accurate. Whether you are zoomed into the painting or can see the full canvas, brush strokes now start with the full accuracy of the Apple Pencil.
- Brush strokes with your finger and Apple Pencil are now much more smooth and fluid. This is most noticeable when painting with the Apple Pencil viewing the full canvas.
- Starting brush strokes with the Apple Pencil is now immediate and accurate. Whether you are zoomed into the painting or can see the full canvas, brush strokes now start with the full accuracy of the Apple Pencil.
- Brush strokes with your finger and Apple Pencil are now much more smooth and fluid. This is most noticeable when painting with the Apple Pencil viewing the full canvas.
4.1.1
Apr 26, 2020
- Moved the about menu to the gallery. It is now easier to access the Brushes website, YouTube channel or send feedback as the about menu is available straightway in the top left of the gallery.
- Added setting option to turn off activating the color dropper with a long press. When starting to make slow painting motions it can be easy to accidentally active the color dropper and sample the background color. Now you can turn off this in the settings menu so that the color dropper only appears when requested from the color picker.
- Canvas interactions now automatically dismiss popovers on iPad. So you can now easily pick a new color, switch brush or change layer and start painting straightway on iPad without having to first dismiss the popover.
- Moved to the new Graphics & Design category.
- Added setting option to turn off activating the color dropper with a long press. When starting to make slow painting motions it can be easy to accidentally active the color dropper and sample the background color. Now you can turn off this in the settings menu so that the color dropper only appears when requested from the color picker.
- Canvas interactions now automatically dismiss popovers on iPad. So you can now easily pick a new color, switch brush or change layer and start painting straightway on iPad without having to first dismiss the popover.
- Moved to the new Graphics & Design category.
4.1.0
Jan 21, 2020
- Added support for iPadOS 13 light and dark mode system appearances. Also includes the option to override the system setting to light or dark mode for Brushes. Changing the appearance between system, light and dark is in the settings menu when in the painting canvas.
- Added option to show touches for screen recording. Available from the settings menu when in the painting canvas.
- Added link to the Brushes YouTube channel. Available in the about menu when in the painting canvas.
- Fixed current layer not always being highlighted in the layers list.
- Minor user interface fixes and enhancements.
- Added option to show touches for screen recording. Available from the settings menu when in the painting canvas.
- Added link to the Brushes YouTube channel. Available in the about menu when in the painting canvas.
- Fixed current layer not always being highlighted in the layers list.
- Minor user interface fixes and enhancements.
4.0.10
Dec 9, 2019
Minor fixes and enhancements.
4.0.9
Jun 18, 2019
New app icon to tie in with our graphic design app Inkpad.
4.0.8
Jun 6, 2019
Fixed minor user interface alignment of the brush menu disclosure indicators on iPhone.
4.0.7
Jun 4, 2019
Added disclose indicators to the brushes menu to make it clearer each brush can be edited.
4.0.6
May 21, 2019
Fixed the inserting of portrait photographs to have the correct dimensions.
4.0.5
Feb 19, 2019
Fixed the brush opacity to use the slider range linearly from 0 to 100%. It was previously difficult to apply opacity to brushes that were defined with 100% intensity.
4.0.4
Dec 20, 2018
Minor user interface appearance enhancements.
4.0.3
Dec 5, 2018
Increased maximum painting dimensions and changed the layer count to be based on painting size and device capability. Each device will allow as many layers for a given size that it can support.
4.0.2
Dec 1, 2018
Added support for double-tap on the Apple Pencil (2nd generation).
4.0.1
Nov 30, 2018
Fixed color picker swatch selection when using the Apple Pencil.
4.0.0
Nov 19, 2018
Brushes FAQ
Click here to learn how to download Brushes in restricted country or region.
Check the following list to see the minimum requirements of Brushes.
iPhone
Requires iOS 13.0 or later.
iPad
Requires iPadOS 13.0 or later.
iPod touch
Requires iOS 13.0 or later.
Brushes supports English
