Quick Tip: Free-hand drawing brushes setup for Illustrator

Open the Brushes window ( Window > Brushes). Double-click a thicker brush and set the Diameter to 4 px on Pressure, with a variation of 2 px. Leave the rest to Fixed and Roundness to 100%. We use only a small variation to obtain small imperfections that will give the feeling it was hand-drawn. Hit OK. Now double-click another brush and set it to 1.5 px Diameter and set it to 1.5 px Pressure variation. The secret is to use thicker lines on the contour and thinner lines for the details inside it.

In other words, the variation must be half the diameter for the contour brush and 100% variation for thin lines because we don’t want any blunt ends. Here are differences in how a single brush affects the entire outcome. One is made with the 4 px brush, 2 is made with 4 px for contour and 2 px for inner details, and 3 is made with 4 px contour and 1.5 px inner details. See how much it’s affected by just a tiny settingÂ?

Also, if you want your drawings to look good, make sure you have a nice line flow so your attention doesn’t get distracted by blunt areas, unnatural curves and messy areas. When drawing, the rules of aesthetics of a casual viewer do not apply. The graphic language is different and does not count on photorealism. See below the lines I followed to create this character.