# Drawing Brush Strokes

When you draw with the Brush tool and a graphic tablet and pen, you can enjoy the effect of drawing as if you are working with pen and paper and the width of your stroke can change depending on the amount of pressure you apply.

Although strokes created by the Brush tool are more natural looking, they require more memory to store than shapes drawn with the centerline tools Ellipse, Rectangle, Pencil and Polyline.

To draw a brush stroke:

1. From the Tools > Drawing Tools > menu or Drawing Tools toolbar, select the Brush tool.

2. Select a pen style from the Pen tab in the Properties window.

If you are using a graphic tablet and pen, the width of the line you draw depends on the pressure you apply and the Minimum and Maximum Size settings on the Pen tab.

3. Select a color for your line art from the swatches in Color Palette tab. You can select either a solid, gradient or texture swatch when you use the Brush tool.

4. Draw your line using your mouse or pen and graphic tablet.

| You can force Toon Boom Studio to connect all overlapping shapes that you draw. Select Tools > Draw Top Layer. When this command is active, Toon Boom Studio creates one object out of overlapping lines. As you draw with the Brush tool, the Draw Top Layer command will create one shape out of numerous lines you may create as you draw with a graphic tablet and pen.

See Also
Setting Up Your Pens
Drawing Straight Lines, Ellipses and Rectangles
Working with Selections
Optimizing Drawing Objects for the Web
Modifying the Shape of Vector Lines
Exposure Sheet and Timeline Windows