Concept Art Brush Hacks, Please Share Yours!

Bletzkarn

Been painting concept art lately but I've only been using the default round brush and it definitely has an affect on my art! It generally looks too flat and cartoony, way to many straight edges.

I know concept artists have a suite of interesting and dynamic brushes to help their works have more flair, I would like to start making my own brushes / starting collecting good ones but I have no idea where to begin!

Is anyone here able to give me some ideas? 

Kind Regards, 

Bletzkarn.

Equanim

It really depends on what kind of style you're going for.  Look around Artstation and find a style you like, then figure out a real world equivalent.  That will help you design brushes more tailored to the look you're going for.  For example, if you like a really painterly style, consider figuring out how to duplicate oil paint.  (A lot of artists I follow really like Photoshop's chalk brushes, but that's because it works with the style they're going for.)

Aaron Griffen has always blown my mind with his brush use.  (Watch how he constantly plays with his brushes to get the results he wants.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--xuKxeYDF8

For tutorials, CtrlPaint.com is a great place to get started.  Matt Kohr has a more airbrushy style.  Again, it really depends on the look you're going for.

Stinger88

Having collected "~1 million" brush sets over the years. I will say that they are all pretty much unused. I only use about 5 or 6 brushes (mostly default) with a couple of other fx brushes depending on what i'm doing. I just play with the parameters if I need something different.

Round soft

Round hard

Square hard

Noise brush

Cloud brush

Rake

Speckles

You'll find the ones you prefer in time. But dont think that the more brushes you have the easier it becomes. I would even go as far as to say it becomes a burden looking for specific brushes to do a job, rather than just getting on with it. But it does really depend on what you want the outcome to be.

Simply swapping your round brush for a square (or triangle) brush will change things dramatically and give you that chiselled look you see in concept art. (like above video for example)

Another brush you could try is a brush that has a hard edge and a soft edge (With directional stroke settings on). This often gives a nice effect.

Sinix Design does a cool vid about sculpting with brushes. Its coral painter, but it carries to any software pretty much, just slightly different workflows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC3OxonJcXQ