Sponges

Tip Top Sponges is a comprehensive set of sponge brushes for Procreate made with REAL sampled sponge impressions. Drawing on our several years experience sampling artist materials, we crafted this entirely new set of sponge brushes at the highest quality we could muster! These are perfect for picture book illustration, visual development, concept art, animation backgrounds, or any cute and illustrative style!

Painting with sponges has been a hallmark of the animation industry for decades, as well as picture books and other forms of illustration. Typically a crude stencil is cut from a sheet of mylar or acetate (for example the mountains and hills in the box art), and the forms are painted in by sponging along the edges with a variety of colors. Its a quick and easy way to indicate texture and achieve shading/gradients.

We researched the techniques used, and covered all the possible bases with a variety of brushes.

Included are 13 brushes:

Included:

5x Grain Brushes – These are probably the main brushes, single impressions of different sponges with different grain densities. Includes Heavy Grain, Large Grain, Messy Grain, Fine Grain and Extra-Fine Grain. Pressure controls moderate amount of size.

4x Accent Brushes – These are made from very large high-res scans of sponge impressions, but often with hard outer edges that make them great choices for blocking in large forms and adding accents. For the box art these were used to make the colorful bushes, trees, clouds, and even the mountain shadows!

2x Shaders – These are ABSOLUTELY essential for shading in smooth gradients and getting shadows just right. These get used on pretty much everything because they allow you to press harder or softer with the Apple Pencil for lighter or darker marks.

2x Filler Brushes – Includes a “Heavy Filler” brush which is great for blocking in very solid dark areas with a nice stenciled edge, or press harder to enlarge the stroke for a very messy painterly look. Also includes a “Seamless Texture” brush which will let you paint in large sponge impression textures that retain their texture and crispness.