Book › Brushes › Marker
Marker key 8
A broad-edged calligraphy pen for solid, flat strokes.
What it does
Marker draws with a broad chisel nib: strokes run thick across the edge and thin along it - the hallmark of a broad-edged pen. The Nib angle sets which way that edge points, so you can dial in a hand like italic or foundational, and Streamline irons out the wobble the wide nib would otherwise magnify. By default it doesn't connect - it behaves like a plain marker, with no web, so it's your go-to for clean lettering and flat fills.
How to use
- Press 8 or pick it from the brush menu.
- Its opacity comes from the Opacity slider at the top of the brush settings panel (selecting Marker sets it to ~75%). Lower it to build up translucent layers.
- Change the brush Size (also at the top of the settings panel) to widen the nib.
- Set the Nib angle to orient the chisel edge: strokes along the edge come out as hairlines, strokes across it at full width.
- Raise Streamline if your strokes look shaky - it smooths the path so curves stay clean, which matters more here because the broad nib magnifies every wobble.
Try this
Lower the Opacity and let strokes cross - each overlap stacks
into a richer tone, like real marker ink. Want it to weave a web like the
other brushes? Switch the Connecting style from No
connect to Sketchy in the Brush settings' Web tab
(press c).
Settings
- Opacity
- Uses the global Opacity slider at the top of the brush settings panel (shared by every brush).
- Nib angle
- The orientation of the chisel's flat edge, from -90° to 90°. Strokes along the edge are thin hairlines, strokes across it full width - exactly like turning a broad-edged pen in your hand. Default -45°. When Chisel follows pen is on, a tilted stylus overrides this; the dial is the fallback for a mouse or a vertical pen.
- Streamline
- Smooths the stroke's path so hand wobble doesn't ripple the broad nib's edge - Procreate calls it Streamline, Krita the stabilizer. 0 follows your hand exactly; higher values pull the ink along with a gentle lag for cleaner curves. Default 50.
- Chisel follows pen
- With a stylus, the chisel nib rotates to match the direction the pen leans - true calligraphy-marker behaviour, smoothed so the nib holds steady instead of jittering (and it rides briefly through vertical rather than snapping to the fixed angle). On by default; a mouse (or a perfectly vertical pen) keeps the fixed Nib angle. See Pen & pressure.
- Pen bindings
- Pressure and tilt can drive the nib's width and opacity - the Pen section in this brush's settings. Full guide.
- Connecting style
- Off by default. Switch it from No connect to a style like Sketchy if you want the marker to weave a web too - see connecting.