Create a textured brush in Photoshop

Last updated on Oct 4, 2026

Apply patterns to brush strokes for a painted-on-canvas effect using the Brush Settings panel.

Use textured brushes to add depth and realism to digital paintings by simulating the appearance of paint applied to textured surfaces such as canvas, paper, or fabric.

Textured brushes technique works for digital painting, photo retouching, and creating natural-looking artistic effects. The texture patterns can be applied to painting tools such as Brush, Pencil, Clone Stamp, or Pattern Stamp tool. You can choose patterns from Photoshop's pattern library or create custom patterns from your own images and save textured brushes as presets or copy texture settings across multiple painting tools.

Apply texture to a brush

Open an image in Photoshop.

Select Brush tool from the toolbar. Select Windows > Tools if the toolbar it is not visible.

Select Window > Brush Settings to open the Brush Settings panel.

Select the Texture option to display texture settings. Use the Texture checkbox to enable/disable the texture option modifications.

Screenshot of a Photoshop brush settings panel focused on texture options. It shows texture enabled with mode set to Height, depth at 100%, and various sliders for scale, brightness, and depth jitter, alongside a preview of the brush stroke with applied texture.

Select the pattern thumbnail from the library.

Adjust the Scale slider to change the pattern size as a percentage of its original dimensions.

Set the Depth slider to control paint penetration into the texture, where 100% prevents paint from reaching low points and 0% hides the pattern completely.

Select Texture Each Tip checkbox to apply the texture to individual brush marks rather than the entire stroke for more varied results.

Choose a blending Mode from the menu to determine how the brush combines with the pattern.

Tip

Use Texture checkbox to quickly enable/disable the texture effect for brushstroke comparisons and use Lock option to preserve your current texture settings.

Copy textures across painting tools

Configure the texture settings for your current painting tool in the Brush Settings panel.

Select the Brush Settings panel menu .

Choose Copy Texture To Other Tools from the menu. This copies the current texture pattern and scale to all compatible painting tools.

Note

The Texture Each Tip checkbox enables additional texture controls. Use Minimum Depth to specify the shallowest paint penetration when using pressure-sensitive input devices and Depth Jitter with the Control menu to vary depth based on pen pressure, tilt, stylus wheel, or rotation for more dynamic, natural-looking strokes.