Found out my "custom" brushes came from a stock pack I could've bought for $12

Spent three years building up this massive brush collection for my digital paintings. Thought I was being all artistic and unique. Then last week I was browsing some art asset site for a different project and found the exact same set for twelve bucks. Same brushes, same tweaks, same everything. I had paid some guy on Patreon like $60 for them back in 2021 thinking he made them himself. Felt pretty dumb but hey, at least I used them a lot. Has anyone else found out their "exclusive" tools were just repackaged stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_joseph17d agoMost Upvoted

Hold on, I'm going to push back on this a bit. You paid for a curated set that was already tested and ready to go, not for some mystical "original" brush. When you buy a stock pack, sure it's cheaper, but you're also buying a pile of files you have to test, sort, and probably delete half of. That artist on Patreon saved you hours of frustration by picking the best ones, tweaking the pressure curves, and making sure they actually worked for specific painting styles. The value isn't in where the raw materials came from, it's in the time and effort someone else spent to make those tools useful to you. If you used them a lot and they improved your work, that's a solid $60 spent. Why let the sticker shock steal credit from the actual value you got out of them?

the_grace17d ago

Sixty bucks over three years is like 20 bucks a year, dude. That's practically nothing for something you used a lot. I get being annoyed but people act like they got scammed out of rent money or something. @the_joseph has a point about the curation thing, but I think they're overcomplicating it. You bought brushes, you used brushes, you got your money's worth. Why does it matter if the guy on Patreon didn't hand-carve each one from a sacred tree? The real crime is thinking any brush set is gonna make you a better artist anyway. Tools are tools, not magic wands.