To add brushes to a set in Procreate, open the Brush Library, create a custom set (tap + or pull down the set list and tap New Set), then press and hold a brush, drag it slightly, open the destination set, and drop the brush into it. To bring in a whole pack, import a .brushset file through Import from Files, which creates its own set at the top of your library. Procreate's default sets can't be renamed or deleted, so duplicate any brush you want to reuse before moving it into a custom set.

Before you start: sets, libraries, and brushes

Procreate organizes brushes in three tiers, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion:

• Brush: a single .brush file with its own stroke, shape, grain, and dynamics settings.
• Brush set: a named folder of brushes inside a library (.brushset).
• Brush library: a top-level container holding multiple sets (.brushlibrary). Recent versions of Procreate ship with a Procreate library and a Classic library, and you can create your own.

Sets cannot be nested inside other sets. If you want another layer of hierarchy, that's what libraries are for.

Two limits are worth knowing now. You can't rename or delete Procreate's built-in sets or the brushes inside them. And the exact interface differs slightly between app versions and between Procreate (iPad) and Procreate Pocket (iPhone), so if a button isn't where you expect it, look for the + in the brush panel header.

Create a new brush set

1. Tap the paintbrush icon to open the Brush Library.
2. In current versions, tap the + in the top corner of the library and choose New Set. In older versions, pull down on the list of sets on the left until the New Set field appears, then tap it.
3. Name the set. Emoji work in set names, which is a handy trick for scanning a long list quickly.

New sets are empty. On Procreate Pocket, open the Brushes Library and tap New Set.

To rename a custom set later, tap the small brush-stroke icon beside its name and choose Rename. The same menu offers Delete.

Add existing brushes to a set by dragging

This is the core answer to the keyword, and it is a two-handed gesture.

1. Open the set that currently contains the brush.
2. Press and hold the brush thumbnail until it lifts, then move it slightly so it detaches from its position.
3. To move several brushes at once, keep holding the first one and tap the others with your free hand. They gather into a single draggable stack.
4. With your other hand, scroll the set list on the left and tap the destination set to open it.
5. Drop the brush or stack into the open set.

A few practical notes:

• Dragging moves; it doesn't copy. If you want a brush to live in two places, such as a "Textures" set and a "Favorites" set, duplicate it first, then drag the duplicate. Some artists deliberately keep duplicates so one brush shows up in multiple categories.
• Default sets are read-only. You can't rename or delete the built-in sets or the brushes inside them, so work from duplicates.
• Multi-select can be finicky. Some users report only being able to group a couple of brushes at a time. If the stack won't grow, drop what you have, then repeat for the rest. It's slower, but you only do it once.

Add brushes to a set by importing

If the brushes aren't in Procreate yet, importing is usually faster than building a set by hand.

Import from Files

1. Open the Brush Library and make the library you want active.
2. Tap + and choose Import from Files.
3. Pick a .brush, .brushset, or .brushlibrary file. Procreate also reads Photoshop .abr brushes.

Where the result lands depends on the file type:

Drag and drop or tap to open

You can also press and hold a brush file in the Files app (or a cloud app in Split View) and drag it into Procreate. A green plus sign signals that Procreate will accept it. Or tap a brush file in an email or on a web page and choose to open it in Procreate. On a Mac, AirDrop to your iPad works too, and installation happens automatically.

Packs downloaded as .zip files must be unzipped before Procreate can read them. The Files app can do this on its own; the zip file will look grayed out in the import picker until you extract it.

Rename the Imported set right away

Imported standalone .brush files land in an Imported set. If you import something else before renaming it, the next import creates a fresh Imported set at the bottom of the set list, which gets messy fast. Rename the set immediately, or drag the new brushes into a properly named custom set, and your library stays readable.

Move brushes between libraries

Libraries are where larger organization happens. To switch libraries, pinch on the current library or tap the library title and choose to go back to the overview. From there you can:

• Create a new library with +, then Create New Library, and name it.
• Reorder libraries by pressing and dragging them.
• Move sets from one library to another by selecting the set and dragging it to its new home.

A common structure for working artists is one library for daily-use brushes (sketching, painting, lettering), another for stamps or texture brushes, and one for packs you're still evaluating. Moving large sets can take a little patience, since the process is manual, but it makes searching much more predictable. The library search field also finds brushes by name across libraries and jumps you to the set that contains them.

A naming and structure system that holds up

Once you know the mechanics, the real question is how to keep a library useful as it grows.

• Organize by function, not by source. "Grain," "Ink," "Stamps," and "Textures" will serve you better than the name of the pack you bought, which you'll forget.
• Keep sets small enough to scan. If a set needs scrolling to find anything, split it.
• Use a prefix or emoji for priority sets. Sets are not sortable alphabetically, so a leading symbol or number is the simplest way to force an order.
• Keep a "Favorites" set of duplicates. Reserve it for the dozen brushes you reach for on every project.
• Move first, delete later. Before purging brushes you don't recognize, drag them into a holding set and revisit in a few weeks.

Troubleshooting common problems

The brush won't drag. Press and hold a little longer, then nudge it sideways. If it still doesn't lift, duplicate it instead.

A set won't rename or delete. It's probably one of Procreate's built-in sets. Create your own custom set and duplicate the brushes you want.

I can't create a set inside another set. Procreate doesn't support nesting. Use libraries as the top-level grouping.

Imported brushes are missing. Check the top of the current library for a new set, and check for an Imported set. If you imported while a different library was active, look there. For a .brushlibrary, check the library overview.

The file won't import at all. Confirm you've unzipped the download and that the file extension is .brush, .brushset, .brushlibrary, or .abr.

Where Procreate brush work fits in a motion pipeline

Many motion designers and VFX artists use Procreate as a fast surface for hand-drawn textures, grungy edges, paint strokes, and style frames that later get animated or composited elsewhere. A clean brush library helps with this: when you can grab the same ink or dry-media brush each time, the texture elements you export stay consistent across a project.

That consistency becomes the raw material for the next stage, whatever tools you use for animation or compositing.

Quick recap

1. Open the Brush Library and create a custom set with New Set.
2. Press, hold, and nudge a brush, tap others to stack them, then drop the stack into the destination set.
3. Duplicate brushes first if you want them in more than one set, and for anything in a locked default set.
4. Import .brush, .brushset, .brushlibrary, or .abr files with Import from Files, drag and drop, or tap to open.
5. Rename the Imported set before your next import.
6. Use libraries for top-level organization, since sets can't be nested.

Spend ten minutes sorting your library once, and every future session starts faster. The same applies to the reference art you eventually send downstream into After Effects, Nuke, or an AI motion workflow.

To add brushes to a set in Procreate, open the Brush Library, create a custom set (tap + or pull down the set list and tap New Set), then press and hold a brush, drag it slightly, open the destination set, and drop the brush into it. To bring in a whole pack, import a .brushset file through Import from Files, which creates its own set at the top of your library. Procreate's default sets can't be renamed or deleted, so duplicate any brush you want to reuse before moving it into a custom set.

Before you start: sets, libraries, and brushes

Procreate organizes brushes in three tiers, and mixing them up is the most common source of confusion:

• Brush: a single .brush file with its own stroke, shape, grain, and dynamics settings.
• Brush set: a named folder of brushes inside a library (.brushset).
• Brush library: a top-level container holding multiple sets (.brushlibrary). Recent versions of Procreate ship with a Procreate library and a Classic library, and you can create your own.

Sets cannot be nested inside other sets. If you want another layer of hierarchy, that's what libraries are for.

Two limits are worth knowing now. You can't rename or delete Procreate's built-in sets or the brushes inside them. And the exact interface differs slightly between app versions and between Procreate (iPad) and Procreate Pocket (iPhone), so if a button isn't where you expect it, look for the + in the brush panel header.

Create a new brush set

1. Tap the paintbrush icon to open the Brush Library.
2. In current versions, tap the + in the top corner of the library and choose New Set. In older versions, pull down on the list of sets on the left until the New Set field appears, then tap it.
3. Name the set. Emoji work in set names, which is a handy trick for scanning a long list quickly.

New sets are empty. On Procreate Pocket, open the Brushes Library and tap New Set.

To rename a custom set later, tap the small brush-stroke icon beside its name and choose Rename. The same menu offers Delete.

Add existing brushes to a set by dragging

This is the core answer to the keyword, and it is a two-handed gesture.

1. Open the set that currently contains the brush.
2. Press and hold the brush thumbnail until it lifts, then move it slightly so it detaches from its position.
3. To move several brushes at once, keep holding the first one and tap the others with your free hand. They gather into a single draggable stack.
4. With your other hand, scroll the set list on the left and tap the destination set to open it.
5. Drop the brush or stack into the open set.

A few practical notes:

• Dragging moves; it doesn't copy. If you want a brush to live in two places, such as a "Textures" set and a "Favorites" set, duplicate it first, then drag the duplicate. Some artists deliberately keep duplicates so one brush shows up in multiple categories.
• Default sets are read-only. You can't rename or delete the built-in sets or the brushes inside them, so work from duplicates.
• Multi-select can be finicky. Some users report only being able to group a couple of brushes at a time. If the stack won't grow, drop what you have, then repeat for the rest. It's slower, but you only do it once.

Add brushes to a set by importing

If the brushes aren't in Procreate yet, importing is usually faster than building a set by hand.

Import from Files

1. Open the Brush Library and make the library you want active.
2. Tap + and choose Import from Files.
3. Pick a .brush, .brushset, or .brushlibrary file. Procreate also reads Photoshop .abr brushes.

Where the result lands depends on the file type:

Drag and drop or tap to open

You can also press and hold a brush file in the Files app (or a cloud app in Split View) and drag it into Procreate. A green plus sign signals that Procreate will accept it. Or tap a brush file in an email or on a web page and choose to open it in Procreate. On a Mac, AirDrop to your iPad works too, and installation happens automatically.

Packs downloaded as .zip files must be unzipped before Procreate can read them. The Files app can do this on its own; the zip file will look grayed out in the import picker until you extract it.

Rename the Imported set right away

Imported standalone .brush files land in an Imported set. If you import something else before renaming it, the next import creates a fresh Imported set at the bottom of the set list, which gets messy fast. Rename the set immediately, or drag the new brushes into a properly named custom set, and your library stays readable.

Move brushes between libraries

Libraries are where larger organization happens. To switch libraries, pinch on the current library or tap the library title and choose to go back to the overview. From there you can:

• Create a new library with +, then Create New Library, and name it.
• Reorder libraries by pressing and dragging them.
• Move sets from one library to another by selecting the set and dragging it to its new home.

A common structure for working artists is one library for daily-use brushes (sketching, painting, lettering), another for stamps or texture brushes, and one for packs you're still evaluating. Moving large sets can take a little patience, since the process is manual, but it makes searching much more predictable. The library search field also finds brushes by name across libraries and jumps you to the set that contains them.

A naming and structure system that holds up

Once you know the mechanics, the real question is how to keep a library useful as it grows.

• Organize by function, not by source. "Grain," "Ink," "Stamps," and "Textures" will serve you better than the name of the pack you bought, which you'll forget.
• Keep sets small enough to scan. If a set needs scrolling to find anything, split it.
• Use a prefix or emoji for priority sets. Sets are not sortable alphabetically, so a leading symbol or number is the simplest way to force an order.
• Keep a "Favorites" set of duplicates. Reserve it for the dozen brushes you reach for on every project.
• Move first, delete later. Before purging brushes you don't recognize, drag them into a holding set and revisit in a few weeks.

Troubleshooting common problems

The brush won't drag. Press and hold a little longer, then nudge it sideways. If it still doesn't lift, duplicate it instead.

A set won't rename or delete. It's probably one of Procreate's built-in sets. Create your own custom set and duplicate the brushes you want.

I can't create a set inside another set. Procreate doesn't support nesting. Use libraries as the top-level grouping.

Imported brushes are missing. Check the top of the current library for a new set, and check for an Imported set. If you imported while a different library was active, look there. For a .brushlibrary, check the library overview.

The file won't import at all. Confirm you've unzipped the download and that the file extension is .brush, .brushset, .brushlibrary, or .abr.

Where Procreate brush work fits in a motion pipeline

Many motion designers and VFX artists use Procreate as a fast surface for hand-drawn textures, grungy edges, paint strokes, and style frames that later get animated or composited elsewhere. A clean brush library helps with this: when you can grab the same ink or dry-media brush each time, the texture elements you export stay consistent across a project.

That consistency becomes the raw material for the next stage, whatever tools you use for animation or compositing.

Quick recap

1. Open the Brush Library and create a custom set with New Set.
2. Press, hold, and nudge a brush, tap others to stack them, then drop the stack into the destination set.
3. Duplicate brushes first if you want them in more than one set, and for anything in a locked default set.
4. Import .brush, .brushset, .brushlibrary, or .abr files with Import from Files, drag and drop, or tap to open.
5. Rename the Imported set before your next import.
6. Use libraries for top-level organization, since sets can't be nested.

Spend ten minutes sorting your library once, and every future session starts faster. The same applies to the reference art you eventually send downstream into After Effects, Nuke, or an AI motion workflow.