Paint.NET Brush Tool Keyboard Shortcut

This guide explains the primary keyboard shortcut used to select the Brush tool in Paint.NET, details how the tool cycling system works, and provides quick tips for streamlining your digital painting workflow. Learning this essential hotkey allows you to switch between drawing and editing tools instantly without needing to click the Tools panel.

The Brush Tool Shortcut

The keyboard shortcut to select the Paintbrush tool in Paint.NET is B.

Pressing the B key instantly switches your active tool to the Paintbrush. If you are currently working with another tool, hitting this key reassigns your mouse cursor to draw with the current primary color and brush size settings.

Paint.NET groups several drawing and editing tools under the same shortcut key. Pressing B repeatedly will cycle through the following tools in order:

  1. Paintbrush: Used for freehand drawing with smooth strokes.
  2. Eraser: Used to remove pixels or restore transparency.
  3. Clone Stamp: Used to sample and duplicate parts of an image.
  4. Recolor: Used to replace a secondary color with a primary color.

If pressing B brings up the Eraser or Clone Stamp instead of the Paintbrush, continue pressing B until the Paintbrush icon is highlighted in the Tools window.

Useful Modifiers While Using the Brush

Once the Brush tool is selected, you can control its behavior using additional inputs:

  • Left-Click and Drag: Draws using the primary color.
  • Right-Click and Drag: Draws using the secondary color.
  • Shift + Click: Draws a straight line connecting the end of your last stroke to the point where you click.
  • [ and ] Keys: Decreases or increases the brush width directly from the keyboard without interacting with the top toolbar.