brushstyle

Brushstyle refers to the qualitative characteristics of a brush's mark in drawing and painting. It encompasses the shape of the brush tip, the texture of the stroke, and how the brush responds to input such as pressure, tilt, and speed. In digital painting, brushstyle is implemented through brush engines and presets that govern stroke rendering.

In traditional media, brushstyle is determined by the brush's physical properties (tip shape, ferrule, bristles), the amount and direction of pigment, the pressure applied by the artist, and the angle of the brush. In digital tools, designers simulate these effects with parameters including size, opacity, flow, spacing, scattering, texture, and tilt. The resulting stroke can vary in width, hardness, transparency, and texture along the path.

Common brushstyles include round, flat, calligraphic, textured, and airbrush types, as well as specialized styles that emulate ink, watercolor, charcoal, or oil effects. Users can modify these styles or create custom presets and save them as brush libraries. Real-time dynamics such as pen tilt and pressure curves allow more natural lines.

Brushstyle development has progressed with brush engines in major software. Photoshop introduced a broad brush system in the late 1990s, followed by more advanced engines in Corel Painter, Krita, and Clip Studio Paint. The concept remains central to digital painting workflows, enabling artists to reproduce or invent effects across media.