Can you get good brushwork with only the round brush?

Start your free trial at squarespace.co... and use code MARCOBUCCI to get 10% off your first purchase -- Get good digital brushwork with ONLY the round brush! Art tools to help fundamentals, and observations to develop a keen eye. Starring Batman!
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[@marcobucci]

Videos mentioned: 0:26 - Art style - kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJPSZ413qqtsZ5Y 3:07 - Diffuse light - kzbin.info/www/bejne/anzCg5KggbSDfrs 9:09 - 10 Minutes To Better Painting, Ep. 5: Color Harmony - kzbin.info/www/bejne/an3LlIGYe7Keitk Thanks for watching!

[@czarryan2740]

Marco you have some of the most comprehensive art videos on KZbin, I also admire your painting style Thank you 👍

[@JamesJon1187]

Do you actually use the intuos 3 still. Or is that just random footage. Im wondering cuz I have one and wanna get into digital art, but I dont know if it's too dated at this point and I should invest in a newer one

[@marcobucci]

@@JamesJon1187 I use it every day! Still love it, and prefer it to my big expensive Cintiq (I wish this weren't the case, trust me.) It's definitely not dated! There are way newer models out there, sure, but this thing still works like a charm, and I do all my work with it.

[@JamesJon1187]

@@marcobucci Awesome! Tnx for the reply!

[@moghulkant3722]

This is just too perfect after hitting a bump in my texture work.

[@Kuya_Yan_1234]

Don't fear an artist who buy millions of brushes for one art, fear an artist who use one brushes for millions of arts! - Marco Bucci probably

[@Kuya_Yan_1234]

@@artofdaviii Hey! You got the quote from Bruce lee legend!!

[@Dekross]

@@Kuya_Yan_1234 everyone got it.

[@izzyr9590]

Also old non display tablet. I... am... speechless.

[@MaoRatto]

@@izzyr9590 *Laughs* Ahh yes I would say the same thing, as you can do some pretty realistic work, if once used a ballpoint pen to sketch artwork before, you WOULD UNDERSTAND BRUSHWORK WITH A ROUNDBRUSH and achieve some realistic stuff with it before, if competent enough. I have done that before. I honestly prefer a non-display tablet due to 1. Comfort and 2. WHY PAY FOR AN OVERPRICED SCREEN TABLET WITH NO SHORTKEYS? I rather have a 4k hooked up to my PC than an HDMI + power + tablet mess. I'm happy with an HS106. Textured brushes feel too smooth to me, but a textureless brush makes a shit ton of texture if understand ball point logic. I got some room to brag.

[@bugindespair]

Ayo, I was your 666th like

[@MuhKhofi]

This make me realize that when i craving for like godly brush I just trying to runaway from the fact that Im not creative enough to use anything that I have to its maximum potential...

[@alexl2301]

literally this

[@cosmicoandromeda7195]

"It isn't the horse, it's the rider" You can become a better rider with time and practice, im sure of it.

[@valesv1349]

so much truth in this comment

[@EGRJ]

Not yet.

[@cathyshepard253]

Talent is inherent, it’s the consequence of practice. You’ll get better with time and effort. :3

[@monicab.8615]

"We're going to paint with one brush, at 100% opacity and on one layer." Calm down , Satan.

[@tomimn2233]

If he had said "and we're not going to ever press ctrl+z" I woulda puked on the spot from being nervous.

[@falcongamer58]

It's not that hard

[@Samuel-xv5lm]

*traditional artists cackling in the distance*

[@Samuel-xv5lm]

Disclaimer: I am not a traditional artist

[@mizta6819]

@@Samuel-xv5lm I was a fairly simple hobbyist using pencil, agree though, I still sometimes just not add layers cause of being lazy. Digital is a hard transition but worth it.

[@jack02krauser]

One of my favorites is a square brush with the same settings as the round one

[@potatooolatke]

Same! I love the edges it feels good to work with for some reason.

[@Prajwal____]

I will try it

[@Haleymrn]

Yeah same

[@kairancorner8915]

Thank you for opening my eyes to something that I didn't realize because of it's pure simplicity. I just did that sort of brush and I love it. Even tho I have realized that simple answers are the solutions, especially when it comes to the texture, I _always fall to the same trap of trying to create as complex brush as possible_ Thank you!

[@SimiVideoCreator]

@@kairancorner8915 get on the triangle train bre

[@annitendo]

The video for everyone always asking "Hey man, what brush did you use?"

[@np5388]

Recipe: -round brush

[@randomsongs5670]

When you realize he's painting on the background layer:

[@chyza2012]

the virgin deep layered structure vs the chad single background layer

[@ndjxisjenxjix9525]

@@chyza2012 i agree but it also depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you work in the video game industry, you pretty much are obliged to use them because of the process that it's followed

[@MaoRatto]

@@chyza2012 ... Well I'm able to one layer / merge layer to one to do 90% of my work.... Due to I'm too lazy to undo or manage layers.

[@matheussanthiago9685]

this trigger me some fight or flight reflexes

[@dogearfarf]

bro prolly never done traditional art

[@mateusgoncalvesdasilva8381]

Sakimichan paints with the basic round brush only, just changing some settings when needed. I learned from her tutorials how versatile this brush can be, so I just use texture brushes in very specific situations. Also, I'm too lazy to test and master a lot of brushes. It's really helpful to see more people talking about this.

[@kayaeki]

damn thanks for sharing! i always wondered how she did her studfff

[@ESALTEREGO]

Sakimi chan art is really ugly

[@CavaroDraws]

thanks alot

[@CatastropheArts]

Content is amazing as always but can we take a moment to appreciate Marco's voice? Its just so calming and grounding

[@marcobucci]

Haha, thanks! I do lots of takes to get the read just right (at least I hope)

[@sparta117corza]

God bless you, you clarrified something that has been circulating art communities for a while.

[@Silbusia]

Brushwork not brush matters! :D This touches the reason why so many artists developped allergy to the question "What brush did you use?" - the question itself is innocent but in 90% or more cases it's caused by an awful mindset, that there are some magical brushes that do the work for you. And it's so great you made this video :)

[@naircat]

props on the thumbnail. honest, and to the point. makes for a very attractive lead in to the video

[@marcobucci]

Thanks! Hard to straddle the line of appealing-but-not-clickbait thumbnails

[@eternia-reginleif]

this is the definition of master the technique before the tool, the thing that my teacher keep remind me of.

[@ZigealFaust]

I only use 3 brushes: Round, tapered, and one to simulate chalk. ANY brush you "think" you need, you do not. Just learn to do it with a max of 3 brushes including round and you'll wonder why you even bothered before.

[@muh.andianto]

Oh My God, yes! I am that type of person who is often getting overwhelmed by those thousands brushes, wkwk! Now I am glad that I am not a sinner for sticking with one brush (two actually, I am using "knife-like" brush too).

[@JaelBreton]

Even though I use layers, I also tend to use two brushes. I have experimented with many fancy brushes and most of the time they tend to get in the way because I'll have to change the brush to achieve a different effect. After all that, now I stick with one pencil brush for sketching and a regular inking brush for everything else. Sometimes I'll just use the pencil brush for the whole thing if I don't feel like making the piece super clean. We don't need hundreds of brushes to create nice art.

[@julyol119]

I was always a little overwhelmed by brushes so I usually end up just using the round brush anyway. The only thing I really variate, aside of size and pressure sensitivity, is hardness. As for skin I make the brush very smooth and for things I want to have texture or a hard edge in, I'll pick a harder edge. This way the round brush really has all I need. I find textured brushed tend to look kinda flat. But that's just me having given them up pretty early on.

[@v-buckschan111]

Found that quick timed color studies forced me to use specific mostly simple brushes , in fact I recommend quick 5 min color studies from movie stills , as you also use brushwork for storytelling

[@shadowfire04]

thank you for the tip! i'll def try the quick movie studies tomorrow (it's very late today and i've worked a lot already) since it sounds fun and also a really good way to practice color theory and brushwork.

[@danakodermac4663]

I swear your tutorials have improved my work faster than years training at the Academy. Thank you so, so much! :)

[@mangjuan223]

yes, in traditional painting , what we have is round and flat brush, if u want texture you improve your brushwork to gain natural signature stroke. or If u are looking for a specific texture you have to do it manually. especially in oil painting

[@NuttyMongrel]

This is a great point that I never considered. Traditional artists aren't typically switching between a bunch of different brushes.

[@anam00090]

Yes but there are synthetic brushes, red sable, squirrel - in watercolor every one of them have different imprint and you choose whichever suits your needs best and then explore its capabilities even further. Even paper affects the end result so the variety is still there from the get go. Cold-press paper can help the granulating pigments to set in their grooves more, without much additional technique from the painter. How much water capacity and control you are working with, what your painting techniques are, painting size even determines which brushes you will choose - and every seasoned artist has their favorite limited set of tools but none of them are the same. They test tons of supplies during their careers and make selection of a few that they prefer. A basic round brush is completely reliant on you making variety from it, it offers little on its own. I feel Photoshop's equivalent to traditional approach would be researching and choosing a limited set of custom brushes, maybe 3 or 5 and then mastering each and every one to the fullest. No pro painter uses just a round brush, even though they could. And it is much harder for beginners imho, as it's super easy to get stuck in the repetitive nature of the brushtrokes, or soft edges of the airbrush.

[@mangjuan223]

@@anam00090 @Ana Marko im not sire with what you said. Im an artist and worked with different traditional mediums one of them is water color. Brush is just a tool. You are the master. You own the brush not the other way. Painting in watercolor will b difficult if u are using oil paint. But as u go on i bcomes manageable. Bottom line u will be using flat or round brush. The techniques using differnt materials to create textures like leaves, toothbrush for splatter, tissue etc. These are all mostly for the added textures esp in backgrpunds, even the texture of the grains of the paper. In my college years my prof paints watercolor with just a round brush one size painting all the small details. Its how u cotrol the weight of your hand so that the brush touch the the paper lightly with its tip. U really cant compare photoahop and traditional. Its 2 diff world. Photoshp is the hack. U can paint with diff methods like using lasso tool ans brush it inside. U gain more control.

[@anam00090]

@@mangjuan223 sorry I guess I couldn't form a coherent point, I mostly agree with you. Just wanted to find a better equivalent of traditional approach while working in Photoshop and didn't formulate it right

[@mangjuan223]

@@anam00090 actually i agree with what u said about photoshop is hard for beginners, Sorry ,I think i just misunderstood ur explanation. its actually hard, really hard to just use a single brush in photoshop, esp beginners. plus to think the availability of the tools everything is within ur reach, u can also download brushes. thats the hardest part there, the discipline for traditional sometimes doesnt apply to phtoshop which is more of taking advantage of the technology.

[@mattfr11]

I worked for Hamagami Carroll (now PicturePlane) in the mid to late 90s. All but one of us were still painting 100% traditionally. Craig Mullens came in a gave us a digital painting demonstration. ALL MOUSE. It is true. It was amazing. It blew my mind, but ,at the time it felt a little“cheaty.” I was a hardcore traditionalist then. I feel very differently now. He was working for Bungie at the time.

[@3amAfterlife]

That's crazy, I love hearing old art stories from the transitional era

[@edwardteach1992]

Watch Bobby Chiu's interview with Craig. If I remember correctly, he said he did indeed used a mouse when he started digital painting.

[@marcobucci]

Cool! Will have to check that out

[@josequins9099]

That's incredible. I can't get a mouse to hover accurately long enough to click on something, let alone make accurate lines with it.

[@formerlymax]

Marco this video is one of the best one's ive seen from you. I was struggling with artblock for ages, and i just decided to watch this because it showed up in my subscription feed, and all the stuff about "limitations breeding innovation" and purposefully limiting yourself has already helped me get back to painting digitally.

[@delusionalunicorn5324]

I am researching digital brushwork today and you upload this! Thank you so much!

[@LePopCollectibles]

Wow, you packed so much knowledge into just 1 video. I learned about lighting, brush strokes, color tones, color melding, color palettes, color harmony, the fade tool and more. Thank you very much.

[@marcobucci]

Thanks for watching!

[@joniaikio4344]

Marco is amazing and love his videos. Here is a little tip on hotkeys: Instead of using brackets as hotkeys for changing brushsize you can use A and D, Then you have all the surrounding buttons available for other uses. I have S set for smudge, W for magic wand, Q for brush, E for eraser, R for lasso and F for mixer brush. Everything at the palm of my hand.

[@n-extrafries-surprise]

This absolute mad lad is painting in one layer. Mad respect.

[@vanessad2873]

"This little light o' mine, I'm gonna let it shine" distracted me from *anything* he had to say about SquareSpace

[@corneliapaulsson7211]

I keep coming back to these videos over and over again and each time I retain more. Slowly but surely implementing it into my process. Thank you!

[@viviondioline]

One of my fav digital painters said they use the round brush a lot because it reminds them of their early days using gouache, where you can easily define the shape, then fill it in. I always think of that. Round brush feels conducive to well defined shapes and really helps one easily transition from drawing to painting with no break in flow. You can also use it in any stage of a painting.

[@KenneryChhum]

Best art teacher I had at CGMA! And now I always start my illustrations with colors 😀

[@vnaykmar7]

I love your voice sir. Very confident and powerful voice !

[@rexdialing8161]

Thankyou I learned a lot from this video. You show me you can do more even if there's a limitation. Im using ibis paint in a tablet, luckily for me i had a pentab. I learned adjusting and customizing brushes and everything in the app to maximize its use to me but something just wasnt right. I was searching and searching, looking for the right brush for me to use to start painting but when I thought I finally found it, the device can't handle it and I thought that was is, its limited. I feel so down but I tried throughtout the night. The next morning I was practicing painting shape, this time I use what the app prepared for me and I was enjoying it. I have nothing to do after I eat lunch. So I watch this video to kill some time. I really am thankful to have watched this! You're always giving me hope! I don't think its a coincidence, its just how it is. I really like your way of teaching. The stories you share, most especially your video about how you become an artist without talent!!! I hope you can inspire more people!

[@birdeynamnam]

I honestly really appreciate you answering the question in the thumbnail instead of just clickbaiting 😄💕

[@strangely_amelien]

I remember watching this video and was so amazed with what you could achieve with just a round brush. I was so determined to try it myself and I've finally nailed it and now I love using the round brush for every piece i make!

[@literassketchbook7756]

Fun fact: Almost every famous digital artists use this brush for their paintings!

[@nebrisdm]

Holy shit man, you're amazing. You explain everything super in detail but also in a comprehensible way that is according to my current level. Literally gold. Thanks youtube mind, this time you made a great job.

[@brunosinga]

Something Marco makes really clear here is that the complexity you often aim for by using different brushes can be attained with many other factors. For example here he uses the default pressure sensitivity of the tablet which creates different opacity marks. Also different sizes of the same brush. What holds this piece together is a great understanding of basic techniques you CAN learn. You would prefer that your skill comes from your understanding of these techniques rather than the accidental result of complicated brushes or other tricks that don't hold weight unless you can master the basics first

[@vasilenavacheva68]

I like that you put the ad at the end!

[@DannyBoy443]

I agree w/ you about he "featureless" ness of the round brush. But look how quickly you made a 2 second forest w/ the textured brush lol.

[@themightylex]

My brother and I started with Photoshop 3.0 and we did all our painting using a mouse. There were no tablets back then.

[@Kaeresh]

I actually believe quite firmly in creative limits. Frustration often leads to innovation. So I limited myself to painting on two layers: Front and back (and hardly actually use the back layer), work in greyscale exclusively and have focused on painting faces or portraits for the time being. Halfway between starting and now I stopped a brushstroke constraint as it was just too much and limited my growth. At which point I extended my use of brushes just a little. I use a pencil brush and a simple round brush together, some bits just turn out better with a bit of texture. The reason for me explaining all that is simple. I actually really like working this way for now. It really helps me develop on a single thing at a time. Doesn't help that I'm just a hobbyist and I get to do like a single painting a month on average :(. Good stuff though, highly recommend people to give creative limits a try!

[@theholyknight6935]

i just found your channel and i have learned quite a lot from this video, just by seing your technique while painting, thats worthy of a sub.

[@rhaspiece]

Marco bucci your videos is just been nothing more than helpful to me 😭😭 I started drawing 4 months ago and I don't know what the frick I'm doing but I learned a lot from your videos , thankyou so much❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@sonni.walkman]

woah early, yes I think sinix had a similar video about the same topic, happy to see you cover it as well,

[@maksimcho.]

yep. Glad i watched it when i got my first tablet a couple months ago. Helped clear up all my confusions arround brushes, so im really thankful for the vid.

[@simpleonion660]

Would you mind making another demo about this. I don't like working with many brushes, in fact I only love round brush. I am so much inspired by this work and willing to hear more thought processes on working with round brush and textures. I really would like to see deep processes in working with only round brush.

[@GolpeVisual]

My most beloved round basic brush

[@AbzArt]

I can't believe you give us all this value for free. Man so much respect and gratitude for you! Thanks so much

[@WooptyDo]

bucci gang bucci gang

[@monotonous9824]

gang gang

[@julietamgomez5369]

Bucci gang

[@MrRailpro]

Marco your tutorials are so good!!

[@ninopriore]

What a pleasant surprise today to see a notification of another Marco Bucci video. 🙂 You set a high bar with your tutorials --- really good thank you!

[@nickellion3657]

Amazing video. Sometimes I forget to leave a like as I'm binging on your videos but this is incredible. ALL of it is. My Mentor!

[@gidkideon]

Really enjoying your videos. Your ability to create wonderful art work is only rivaled by your ability to break down complex concepts into usable, easy to learn and coherent tutorials. Thank you!

[@AmazonMia]

Oh my glob! So frkn brilliant! Thank you so much!

[@MagicSwordFilms]

Thanks Marco, I'm always excited when I see you post something. A helpful lesson as always

[@potnoned]

I can confirm this - I basically use only two brushes - one for blocking out big blocks of color (my other brush has too much randomization to be effective) and my all-purpose brush

[@N0tFound4o4]

I have always used a round brush due to lack of access to varying programs growing up. I discovered Easy Paint Tool SAI and it was a bit limited on brush shapes, so the default round ended up being a fav of mine. To this day, I don't have too much variety in my brushes, which could be a good or bad thing, but all of my programs have that simple round brush. Eventually, I would change it to standard hard-edged square for a little more edge variety. Both are now my favs when doing my work despite their simplicity. It's nice to see a video about appreciating a simple brush shape!

[@vikiluong2162]

Bravo!!! Love batman and love your work! I am a fan

[@mykolasys9057]

Round brush is good, but big round brush and flat colors - this this the way of taking your art to the next level. By the way, great video as always!

[@lukecsuarezartistry8568]

I'm so glad I found this video, SO so helpful!

[@thecrazyandthewild]

eye-opener! Thanks!

[@jacobheadley1270]

You ROCK man... love your videos!

[@ClutchGen]

Thanks Marco!

[@chesbeta4912]

There's many brushes on some of the programs I use. So, when refining, I usually do it with two or three brushes. However, since I downloaded a bunch of free lineart to practice painting, I've decided to use 1 brush for both laying down color and refining, while experimenting with color combinations. And it's not always the round brush. 😌

[@faible3508]

Round brush with opacity and no pen pressure for lines is underated.

[@agatafiszer8702]

I've come to a point in my current digital painting process where everything started to look kind of bland, and I did a pass with a hard round brush to add that extra edge. It turned out great! Thanks for posting these tutorials, they helped me a great deal!

[@MH-lr6ue]

I needed to know to change the brush size so that things don't feel so repetitive. Thank you for this. Im gonna try to practice it later.

[@KillerTacos54]

Wow he turned out amazingly!

[@UNIQUE_BornToInspire]

I never even tried other brushes than hard round opacity brush cause I feel that's enough to do what I want❤️

[@chickennugget481]

You're one of, if not the best art teacher(s) on youtube

[@FluidJordan]

No matter what brush I try, I *always* end up just using the hard round brush for 95% of what I make. It's just so easy to do anything with. It's fun to fight against the chaos of traditional paint and canvas, but digitally eeehhhhhh fighting against your tools feels more like work. Thanks a ton for the vid, as always!!

[@chriscorbett666]

Great content as always, Marco. Cheers from New Brunswick

[@crippledconduct]

It's funny around the 6:00 min mark you mention Mullins using only the mouse for CG in the 90's because I'm a physically disabled artist and a tablet just doesn't work well for me. I do everything with the mouse. People like Craig inspired me to keep trying, and got me where I am today ;)

[@StudioDeadMeta]

Holy dinosaur tablet Batman! Just seeing a clip of that intuos threw me back to 2010. I swear you can snowboard on that thing, use it as a cutting board, hammer in some nails with it, ah and do digital art with it of course.

[@stevenpowerssmp]

Thanks Marco for reminding us to keep it simple.

[@lunatica99]

Thank you so much for your videos, they are always so useful and honest and you are an amazing professor :)

[@ДарьяМартыщук]

Thank you, Marco!!

[@markcooperartcomofficial]

I like to use a textured round brush for over half of my painting, then use other textured brushes to finish. Or use all kinds of random brushes to fill the art in and then unify it with washes of a soft airbrush and leave all of the crazy variations showing underneath.

[@gannmegann]

Thankyou man! You're my savior

[@DiosGuardian]

Thanks for the awesome content man!!

[@patricioguerra-art9343]

I love your work! As always beautiful painting!!! So inspired by it!!!

[@dagonpoint]

Amazing, concise, precise, inspiring. Thank you!

[@sapphire2308]

I would like to thank youtube's algorithm for recommending me your channel. your tutorials are amazing!

[@krisartfox83]

I just love your color talks ^^

[@RayfieldA]

I honestly want to thank you for this video! I'm a storyboard artist who mainly works in Storyboard Pro and I've always wanted to learn to do a nice drawing in Photoshop but am always overwhelmed at the choices at "what's the best brush to get started with?" This helps a lot!

[@zachariasstarlid4254]

Your videos are gold! 🙏🏻

[@kylo0053]

I just can’t express thanks at this point, truly thank you man.

[@zeath_zolaries3508]

I watched the sponsorship..I liked the way it was presented

[@XOLOYZT]

I came here because I saw your grip pen on the thumbnail. I thought I was the only intous 3 user left. Great tutorial, btw. Cheers :)

[@wiamelabbassi3712]

Thank u so muuuuuuch this is sooooooo eye opening ❤️

[@bellabon8952]

this was extremely helpful and super awesome to watch ❤️ thank you

[@LuckykyunArt]

Limitation breathes Innovation. That's exactly what I am doing ever since! you also answered my questions without asking you with this video! Thanks!

[@3amAfterlife]

Great tutorial about the mindset of digital painting. I got an ipad recently and really want to paint on it, but it feels so unnatural and I'm not in love with the rigidity of digital. This changes how I'll approach it next time, thanks!

[@PandemoniumPirateRadio]

2:56 I love the hues you have at this stage of the painting. And I mean this as a great compliment even though it's partially a critique that the colors at this stage are better than the final colors. I make the same mistake of oversaturating and pulling out too much contrast. I think at around 2:50 however, you have a masterful grasp of the motif, colors and feeling 👍 I wish you would have refined those color hues instead of pushing the saturation and gritty lines across the forehead etc. This actually makes the painting so flat and boring by comparison to what you had at the earlier stages! I'm trying to remedy the same exact problem in my own process right now 😂 Where the actual colors are WAY better 1/3rd of the way in, and the processing, detailing and additions eventually oversaturate, flatten and blare out the entire paintings feeling that was there at one thirds into the process.

[@PierreKleinhouse]

Great video! Thanks for sharing!

[@SurenComicArtts]

Nicely explained! Like it!

[@zmg1995]

Roundbrush is my favorite brush, been sticking with it for years now. Sometimes I use mixer brush with custom alpha to break things up a little.

[@nrgentertainmentartist8668]

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and experience good sir.

[@kathharper]

Yep! Another who started in traditional painting who agrees about limitations amping up creative solutions. Also, I got started in Photoshop even earlier than this... so old lady card being played, and I definitely painted in PS with a mouse as well. A lot can be achieved even with only one brush. (now runs to apply these principles and clean up my brush lists). Thanks Marco! Could achieve similar in Procreate, maybe a few more actual brushes set to multiply, opacity, etc.? Hmm.

[@RegnARTS1210]

I still remember one of my teacher use scallions as a pen and sauce as pigment to draw iron man in his video.

[@Some_Awe]

this is eye opening