How to Use Procreate: In-Depth Guide to Mastering Procreate From Installation to Advanced Techniques

In the world of digital art, Procreate has risen as a top choice for creatives, offering an intuitive interface, a powerful suite of tools, and affordability. Artists ranging from beginners to seasoned professionals find Procreate indispensable for their digital artwork. Originally designed for the iPad, Procreate has changed the way artists create, paint, and design, providing a powerful toolkit for illustrators, graphic designers, and painters alike.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about Procreate—from installation basics to mastering advanced techniques. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned artist looking to enhance your skills, this guide will unlock Procreate’s full potential for you.

Getting Started with Procreate: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

How to Install Procreate on iPad

Getting started with Procreate is straightforward, even for beginners. Procreate is a powerful, professional-level drawing app exclusively available on iPad. Here’s a simple guide on how to install it and start creating stunning digital art:

Open the App Store: On your iPad, tap the App Store icon to begin the installation process.
Search for Procreate: In the search bar at the top, type “Procreate” to locate the app. It should appear at the top of the results.
Purchase Procreate: Tap on the Procreate app and hit the purchase button. Currently, the price is approximately $9.99, but it may vary slightly depending on your location.

Complete the Download: Once you’ve completed the purchase, the app will automatically begin downloading. Ensure you have a stable internet connection for a smooth download.

Once installed, you’ll be ready to dive into the world of digital art with Procreate’s impressive suite of tools. Make sure to check out their built-in tutorials for hands-on guidance to mastering the app.

Initial Setup and Interface Tour: A Beginner’s Guide to Procreate

Once you’ve installed Procreate on your iPad, it’s time to get familiar with its powerful, yet intuitive interface. Whether you’re a complete beginner or transitioning from other digital art apps, Procreate’s layout is designed for ease of use while offering professional-grade tools. Here’s a quick tour of the essential components you’ll encounter after launching Procreate for the first time:

Gallery
The first screen you’ll see is the Gallery. This is where all your artwork will be stored and organized. Think of it as your personal art portfolio. From here, you can view, duplicate, and organize your projects into custom stacks, allowing for efficient management of your work.

Canvas
Once you start a new project, you’ll be taken to the Canvas—your main creative workspace. The canvas is where all your artistic magic happens. You can zoom in and out using pinch gestures, rotate it to get the perfect angle, and adjust its size based on your project’s needs.

Brush Library
Procreate’s Brush Library is one of its most powerful features, offering an extensive variety of brushes for different effects and styles, from fine pencils to textured brushes. Each brush is customizable, allowing you to tweak settings like opacity, size, and shape to create unique effects.

Layers
Procreate’s Layers feature is essential for managing complex drawings and illustrations. Layers allow you to separate different elements of your artwork so you can edit them independently, reorder them, or adjust opacity without affecting the entire composition. The layer system works similarly to that in Photoshop, making it an essential tool for digital artists.

Adjustments
In the Adjustments section, you’ll find tools like filters, blurs, color adjustments, and other post-processing effects to fine-tune your artwork. Whether you need to add a Gaussian Blur for a smooth transition or tweak color curves for a specific effect, this menu houses all the tools for polishing your work.

Getting familiar with these core components is essential for mastering Procreate. Once you’ve explored the interface, you’ll be well on your way to creating stunning digital art with ease.

Customizing the Interface for Personal Use: Tailor Procreate to Your Workflow

One of Procreate’s greatest strengths is its flexibility, allowing you to customize the interface to suit your unique workflow. Whether you’re a professional artist or just starting out, making the interface your own can greatly enhance your efficiency and creativity. Here’s how you can customize Procreate to optimize your personal experience:

Rearranging Toolbars for Quick Access
Procreate lets you rearrange its toolbars to keep your most-used tools within easy reach. The default layout is designed to be user-friendly, but every artist has their own preferences. If you find yourself frequently switching between brushes, layers, and selection tools, you can rearrange the icons to ensure they’re always where you need them. Simply drag and drop the tools in the desired order, creating a streamlined workflow that speeds up your creative process.

Customizing Gestures for Faster Navigation
One of Procreate’s most efficient features is its extensive gesture control system. You can customize gestures to speed up tasks and simplify your workflow. For example, the QuickMenu allows you to access a set of your favorite tools with just a swipe or tap. You can also assign gestures to commonly used actions such as undoing strokes, switching brushes, or toggling the color picker. Adjusting these gestures to your habits can save you valuable time when working on complex projects.

Creating Custom Shortcuts for Essential Actions
In addition to gesture control, Procreate offers the ability to create custom shortcuts for various actions. Whether it’s switching between specific brushes, changing brush sizes, or performing quick edits like duplicating a layer or merging elements, these shortcuts can be assigned to gestures or set up within the QuickMenu for instant access. Having these actions readily available not only speeds up your workflow but also allows you to focus more on your art and less on navigating the app.

Streamlining Procreate to Fit Your Style
Beyond rearranging tools and creating shortcuts, you can also customize the appearance of Procreate to fit your style. For example, adjusting the color of the interface’s background or tweaking the size of the canvas controls can make your workspace feel more personalized. These subtle changes may seem small, but they can make a big difference in terms of comfort and usability, especially during long drawing sessions.

By customizing the interface, gestures, and shortcuts in Procreate, you can create a tailored environment that supports your creative flow. Whether you’re aiming for faster navigation or easier access to essential tools, these adjustments ensure that Procreate works for you, not the other way around.

Procreate Tools and Features

Brush Library: Overview and Best Brush Packs

One of the defining features that sets Procreate apart from other digital art apps is its extensive Brush Library. Whether you’re aiming for detailed sketches, painterly effects, or crisp digital illustrations, Procreate’s brush selection caters to a variety of styles and techniques. With hundreds of brushes included by default, the Brush Library is equipped to handle any creative need, and it’s fully customizable, allowing users to create, download, or purchase custom brush packs for even more artistic versatility.

Overview of Procreate’s Brush Library

Procreate’s Brush Library is divided into various categories that replicate the feel of real-world mediums. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll find:

Sketching & Drawing Tools: These include pencils, charcoal, and ink pens, perfect for hand-drawn illustrations, concept art, or rough sketches.

Painting Brushes: Procreate includes brushes that mimic traditional paint mediums such as oil, acrylic, and watercolor, allowing for smooth blends and textured strokes.
Airbrushes: Ideal for soft shading, gradients, and adding subtle textures to your artwork.
Texture Brushes: For adding realistic surface effects like fabric, sand, or foliage to your digital work.

Special Effects: These brushes are designed to create sparks, smoke, or abstract patterns that bring your illustrations to life.

Each brush is fully customizable, enabling you to adjust parameters such as size, opacity, pressure sensitivity, and more. Whether you prefer to fine-tune an existing brush or create your own from scratch, Procreate’s brush engine gives you full creative control.

Best Custom Brush Packs for Procreate

While the built-in brush selection is comprehensive, many artists like to expand their library by downloading or purchasing custom brushes. Check out my custom brushes here.

Installing Custom Brushes in Procreate

Adding custom brushes to Procreate is a simple process that allows you to expand your creative toolkit with ease:

Download the Brush Pack: After purchasing or downloading a free brush pack, the file will typically be in a .brush or .brushset format.
Import into Procreate: You can easily import brushes by tapping on the Brush Library, then tapping the “+” icon in the top right to add a new brush. From there, simply locate the brush file on your iPad or in a cloud storage service, and it will automatically load into the app.

Organize Your Brushes: Once imported, you can rename, duplicate, and organize your brushes into custom folders for easy access during your creative process.

Final Thoughts on the Brush Library

Procreate’s Brush Library offers artists an unparalleled level of creativity and flexibility, with brushes that cater to any style and technique. Whether you prefer working with the app’s native tools or exploring custom brushes from talented creators, Procreate ensures you have the right tool for every project.

Smudge, Eraser, and Layers Tool Explained: Essential Features for Depth and Precision

Procreate is packed with powerful tools that not only help you create stunning artwork but also allow for detailed editing and refinement. Three essential tools in Procreate—the Smudge Tool, Eraser Tool, and Layers Tool—bring a level of depth, flexibility, and precision to your work that is indispensable for both beginners and professional artists. Understanding how these tools work can significantly enhance your workflow and the quality of your final piece.

Smudge Tool: Adding Realism Through Blending

The Smudge Tool is a critical feature when it comes to adding smooth transitions and blending colors in your artwork. Whether you’re working on a soft portrait, adding depth to shadows, or creating smooth gradients, the Smudge Tool allows you to blend edges and colors seamlessly.

Blending Techniques: The Smudge Tool mimics traditional blending techniques you’d find in real-life painting or drawing, making it easier to achieve realistic effects. You can adjust the size, opacity, and intensity of the tool to suit different styles, from soft blending for skin tones to heavier blending for abstract works.
Custom Brushes for Smudging: Just like with brushes, you can choose different smudge brushes to vary the texture of your blend. For example, you could use a soft brush for gentle transitions or a textured one for more complex effects.

Realism: This tool is perfect for adding realistic details, such as creating smooth shading in portraits or blending colors in landscapes, ensuring that your artwork looks polished and professional.

Eraser Tool: Precision Corrections with Versatility

The Eraser Tool in Procreate goes beyond just deleting mistakes; it’s a versatile and adjustable tool that allows for precision editing. Just like the brushes in Procreate, the Eraser Tool can be customized to suit the needs of your artwork.

Adjustable Opacity and Size: The Eraser Tool can be resized and its opacity adjusted, allowing for fine control. Whether you need to erase a large area or make tiny corrections, the tool’s flexibility ensures you can make precise edits without affecting the rest of your artwork.

Custom Erasers: The Eraser Tool can be set to any brush type, meaning you can use a textured brush as an eraser to remove portions of your artwork in a more natural or stylized way. For example, if you’re working with textured brushes, you can use a similarly textured eraser for continuity.
Non-Destructive Editing: Procreate’s Eraser Tool works perfectly in conjunction with the Layers Tool, allowing you to make corrections or erase parts of your work without worrying about damaging other elements.

Layers Tool: The Backbone of Non-Destructive Editing

Procreate’s Layers Tool is perhaps one of the most essential features in digital art, enabling you to organize and separate different elements of your artwork. This feature is the foundation for non-destructive editing, which allows you to make changes to specific parts of your artwork without affecting the whole piece.

Organizing Elements: Each component of your artwork—whether it’s line art, color fills, or detailed textures—can reside on its own layer. This organization allows for greater flexibility when making adjustments or corrections, as you can edit one layer without disrupting others.
Layer Modes: Procreate offers various blending modes for layers, such as Multiply, Screen, and Overlay. These blending modes allow you to achieve different effects when layering colors or textures, perfect for creating complex shadows, lighting effects, or composite images.
Opacity and Locking Layers: You can adjust the opacity of each layer to create subtle overlays or lock layers to prevent accidental changes. This is especially useful when working with large projects that have multiple elements, as it allows you to focus on specific parts while keeping the rest intact.

Clipping Masks and Alpha Lock: Procreate also offers advanced features like Clipping Masks and Alpha Lock, which let you edit within a specific layer’s boundaries. These features ensure that your work remains clean and precise, especially when adding shading, highlights, or textures.

Bringing It All Together

These three tools—the Smudge, Eraser, and Layers—are crucial for elevating your digital artwork. The Smudge Tool allows for smooth blending, the Eraser Tool provides precision corrections, and the Layers Tool enables flexibility through non-destructive editing. Mastering these tools in Procreate will help you create polished, professional-quality art while giving you the freedom to experiment and refine your work.

How to Create Custom Brushes: Personalize Your Procreate Experience

One of the most exciting features in Procreate is the ability to create custom brushes tailored to your personal style and workflow. Whether you’re a digital painter, illustrator, or graphic designer, creating custom brushes allows you to experiment with unique textures, strokes, and effects that you won’t find in the default brush library. This can help you refine your artistic signature and speed up your creative process. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create and customize brushes in Procreate.

Step 1: Open the Brush Library and Tap the “+” Sign

To get started, open Procreate and navigate to the Brush Library by tapping the brush icon at the top right of the screen. Once you’re in the library, you’ll see a wide array of default brushes, but to create your own, tap the “+” sign in the upper-right corner of the library.

This opens the Brush Studio, where you can design a completely new brush from scratch or modify an existing one to suit your needs.

Step 2: Customize Brush Properties

The Brush Studio is where the magic happens. You’ll see multiple settings you can tweak to create a truly personalized brush. Here are the core settings you can adjust to craft the perfect tool for your project:

Stroke Path
The Stroke Path controls how the brush moves across the canvas. Adjust the Spacing to determine how closely individual brush stamps are placed, or modify Jitter to randomize the stroke for a more natural look. These settings are crucial for achieving the right flow and texture.

Shape and Grain
The Shape Source defines the basic shape of the brush, while Grain refers to the texture applied to the brush stroke. You can select from Procreate’s library of shapes and grains or import your own images to create a completely unique brush. For example, importing a custom texture can give your brush a rough, textured effect, ideal for creating natural elements like foliage or fabric.

Taper
Taper settings control how your brush stroke tapers off at the ends, adding finesse to your lines. This is particularly useful for inking or creating smooth, calligraphic strokes. You can adjust both the Size and Opacity of the taper, allowing for more dynamic, flowing strokes.

Dynamics and Pressure Sensitivity
Procreate’s Dynamics settings allow you to control how the brush reacts to different amounts of pressure and speed applied through the Apple Pencil. This is essential for creating brushes that mimic traditional media like pencil sketches, where the thickness of the stroke changes based on pressure.

Rendering and Wet Mix
If you’re aiming for a painterly effect, the Rendering and Wet Mix options are where you can adjust how the brush blends and mixes with existing colors on the canvas. These settings allow you to create brushes that behave like wet paint, blending smoothly with your strokes to add depth and texture.

Opacity and Size Control
Adjust how the brush reacts to pressure in terms of opacity and size. This gives you control over the intensity and thickness of the brush, perfect for creating brushes that mimic real-world tools like watercolors or fine-tip pens.

Step 3: Save and Organize Your Custom Brush

Once you’ve dialed in the perfect settings for your custom brush, it’s time to save it for future use. Simply tap “Done,” and your new brush will appear in the Brush Library. You can give it a unique name, and even create a separate folder to organize your custom brushes by category or style. This helps keep your brush collection neat, especially as you continue to create or download more custom brushes over time.

Additional Tips for Creating Custom Brushes

Importing Textures and Shapes
Don’t limit yourself to Procreate’s default options—importing custom shapes or textures can open up a whole new world of creative possibilities. For example, photographing real-world textures like stone or fabric can add a unique flair to your custom brushes.

Experiment and Refine
Don’t be afraid to experiment with different settings to see how they affect your brush. Sometimes a small tweak in the stroke path or dynamics can completely transform the feel of the brush. You can also save different versions of the same brush to test out various effects and use cases.

Why Custom Brushes Matter

By creating custom brushes, you can tailor Procreate to meet your specific needs, speeding up your workflow and allowing for more creative expression. Whether you’re aiming for a smooth, calligraphic line or a gritty, textured effect, having the ability to customize your tools ensures that Procreate works exactly how you want it to. As you experiment with the various settings, you’ll discover brushes that feel like they were made just for you, enhancing both your creativity and productivity.

Mastering Layers in Procreate

Layers in Procreate are one of the most important features for creating organized, non-destructive artwork. Mastering the use of layers allows you to work more efficiently, make detailed edits, and experiment with various effects without altering the overall composition of your project. Below, we’ll explore the essential aspects of layers, from basic organization to advanced tools like blend modes, Clipping Masks, and Alpha Lock.

Layer Basics: Creating, Deleting, and Organizing Layers

Understanding how to create, delete, and organize layers is the foundation for effectively managing your artwork in Procreate. Layers give you the flexibility to edit different parts of your artwork independently, making it easier to control complex compositions.

Creating Layers
To add a new layer, simply tap the Layers icon (the two overlapping squares at the top right of the interface), then tap the “+” sign to create a new layer. Each new layer will stack on top of the previous ones, allowing you to separate elements like line art, shading, and colors for easier editing and non-destructive workflow.

Organizing Layers
Procreate allows you to drag and reorder layers to maintain an organized workspace. If you’re working on a multi-element piece, grouping related layers together (such as all the layers for a character or background) makes the design process more manageable. To group layers, select multiple layers by swiping right on each one, then tap Group to keep them organized. This is particularly useful when working on larger projects with many elements.

Deleting Layers
Deleting unnecessary layers is easy and helps declutter your workspace. To delete a layer, simply swipe left on the layer in the Layers panel and tap Delete. Just be cautious with layer deletions, as this action cannot be undone after closing the project.

By mastering the basics of creating, organizing, and deleting layers, you’ll gain greater control over your workflow and improve your ability to make adjustments as your artwork evolves.

Blend Modes in Procreate Explained

Blend Modes in Procreate allow layers to interact with each other in different ways, changing how colors and textures combine across multiple layers. This is particularly useful for adding depth, lighting effects, and enhancing specific areas of your artwork. Below are some of the most commonly used blend modes and how they affect your layers:

Multiply
The Multiply blend mode darkens the layer, making it perfect for adding shadows and depth to your artwork. It works by multiplying the base color with the blend color, creating a darker result. This mode is frequently used for shading because it adds subtle, realistic shadows without overwhelming the original colors.

Overlay
The Overlay mode enhances contrast and vibrancy by combining the layer with the one beneath it. It’s excellent for highlights or to boost the intensity of certain areas, as it increases contrast without completely altering the underlying layer. It brightens the light parts and darkens the darker parts of your artwork, creating a more dynamic and visually appealing effect.

Screen
Screen is the opposite of Multiply—it lightens the layer by blending it with the underlying layer, creating a soft, glowing effect. This mode is often used for light sources, reflections, or to give the appearance of glowing elements in your artwork, like fire, neon signs, or glowing eyes.

Blend modes give you control over how layers interact and can dramatically change the overall feel of your piece. Experimenting with different blend modes allows you to create unique visual effects, improving both depth and lighting in your artwork.

Clipping Masks vs. Alpha Lock: When and How to Use Them

Two of the most powerful layer features in Procreate are Clipping Masks and Alpha Lock. While both help you work within specific areas of your layers, they function differently and are suited to different tasks. Understanding when and how to use each one is key to creating polished, professional-level artwork.

Clipping Masks
A Clipping Mask allows you to apply effects or paint only on specific areas of a layer without affecting the other parts of your artwork. When you create a Clipping Mask, the content on the new layer will only appear within the boundaries of the layer below it. This is perfect for tasks like adding highlights or shadows to a specific object, or for adding texture and detail to a particular area of your artwork.
How to Use It: Create a new layer above the one you want to clip, then tap on the new layer and select Clipping Mask. Any changes made to the new layer will only affect the non-transparent areas of the layer beneath it. This allows for detailed edits, shading, or textures while maintaining the original layer’s integrity.

Alpha Lock
Alpha Lock is used to lock the transparency of a layer, ensuring that any edits or paint strokes you apply only affect the already visible pixels. This feature is useful when you want to add shading, texture, or color variation to an existing element without worrying about spilling over onto other parts of the canvas.
How to Use It: To activate Alpha Lock, tap the layer and select Alpha Lock (or use a two-finger swipe to the right on the layer thumbnail). Once enabled, any edits will only apply to the areas of the layer that already have content, allowing you to modify an object’s color or texture with precision.

When to Use Each

Use Clipping Masks when you want to add effects or changes to a specific area, while maintaining flexibility in your layers. Clipping Masks are ideal for non-destructive editing and for layering textures, highlights, and shadows.
Use Alpha Lock when you want to make direct modifications to a layer, such as recoloring or adding texture to an object without affecting the transparency of the layer.

By mastering these two tools, you can take your artwork to the next level, ensuring precise edits while maintaining flexibility throughout the creative process. These tools provide the foundation for professional-level digital illustrations, giving you the flexibility to work efficiently and creatively without compromising quality.

Working with Colors in Procreate

Mastering color in Procreate is essential for creating vibrant, cohesive artwork. Procreate offers a range of tools and features to help artists choose, manipulate, and organize colors with precision and ease. Whether you’re selecting complementary shades or designing dynamic color palettes, Procreate’s color system allows for an intuitive yet powerful experience. Below, we explore key aspects of working with colors in Procreate.

Color Wheel, Harmony, and Value Sliders: A Comprehensive Guide

Procreate’s color system offers versatile and user-friendly options for selecting and refining colors. From the traditional Color Wheel to advanced tools like the Harmony Tool and Value Sliders, these features allow you to choose and adjust colors with precision.

Color Wheel
The Color Wheel is the core of Procreate’s color selection tool, providing an intuitive interface for picking colors. It works like a traditional color wheel, allowing you to select hues and adjust their intensity by dragging your finger around the wheel. The inner circle handles saturation and brightness, while the outer circle is used to select the base hue. This tool makes it easy to pick the perfect shade quickly, whether you’re selecting bold colors for a digital painting or subtle tones for shading.

Harmony Tool
Procreate’s Harmony Tool helps artists choose colors that work well together by suggesting complementary or analogous hues based on the color theory. When enabled, Harmony automatically selects color pairings that are visually harmonious, whether you need complementary colors (opposites on the color wheel) or analogous colors (neighboring hues). This tool is particularly helpful for beginners or anyone looking to achieve color balance in their artwork effortlessly.

Value Sliders
For those who prefer more granular control, the Value Sliders allow you to adjust key color properties like hue, saturation, and brightness with precision. By inputting specific numerical values or fine-tuning sliders, you can refine your colors to fit your exact needs. This feature is especially useful for color correction or when working with consistent color themes across multiple layers or projects.

Mastering these tools allows you to efficiently select and refine colors, helping you achieve the perfect balance and mood in your artwork.

How to Create Custom Color Palettes: Streamlining Your Workflow

Creating and managing custom color palettes in Procreate is an excellent way to maintain consistency in your artwork, save time, and streamline your creative process. Whether you’re working on a series of illustrations or designing a cohesive brand identity, custom color palettes ensure you have instant access to your chosen colors without constantly needing to reselect or fine-tune hues.

Creating a New Palette
To get started, tap the color selector (located in the top-right corner) and navigate to the Palette menu by tapping on the palette icon. Here, you can choose “New Palette” to create a blank slate for your custom colors. You can give the palette a name to keep things organized, especially if you plan on creating multiple palettes for different projects or styles.

Selecting Colors
Once you’ve created a new palette, you can start adding colors. Select colors from the Color Wheel, then tap on one of the empty slots in your palette to save the color. You can also use Procreate’s Eyedropper Tool to sample colors directly from images, references, or other artwork. Simply press and hold anywhere on the canvas to activate the eyedropper, then tap the palette to save the sampled color.

Managing Your Palettes
Procreate allows you to organize and edit your palettes easily. You can rearrange colors, delete unwanted ones, or even set a default palette for your project by selecting it as the “Current Palette.” This keeps your colors accessible at all times and ensures consistency across your artwork.

Creating custom color palettes not only enhances your workflow but also ensures your artwork remains cohesive, whether you’re working on a single illustration or a larger series.

Procreate Color Dynamics Explained: Adding Depth and Texture

Procreate’s Color Dynamics feature allows you to introduce variation and depth into your brush strokes by automatically adjusting color properties like hue, saturation, brightness, and more. This feature is especially useful for adding subtle, dynamic textures to your artwork, making elements like skin tones, foliage, or environmental textures more realistic and engaging.

Hue Jitter
The Hue Jitter setting introduces slight variations in hue within a single stroke, creating a more dynamic and organic feel. For example, when painting skin tones, a subtle hue jitter can add natural color variation that mimics real-life undertones. Similarly, when painting elements like grass or leaves, hue jitter can add depth by introducing different shades of green within the same stroke.

Saturation and Brightness Jitter
Adjusting the Saturation Jitter and Brightness Jitter settings allows for varying levels of intensity and brightness in your strokes. This can be especially effective when painting textured surfaces like rocks or fabrics, where you want to create the illusion of natural variation in color and light.

Secondary Color Control
Procreate also allows you to add a Secondary Color into the mix using the color dynamics settings. This feature will blend two different colors into a single stroke, automatically alternating between the primary and secondary hues based on the settings you’ve configured. This can be useful for creating gradients or adding multicolored effects to your artwork, like the variegated texture of a sunset or the dappled colors of a forest.

Pressure Sensitivity and Randomness
Procreate’s Color Dynamics also responds to pressure sensitivity, making it a valuable tool for artists using the Apple Pencil. The amount of pressure you apply can affect the intensity of the color variation, allowing for more control over the final result. You can also adjust Randomness to introduce more or less variation in your stroke, depending on how organic you want the effect to appear.

By mastering Color Dynamics, you can add depth, variation, and realism to your artwork, bringing your digital paintings to life with subtle color shifts and dynamic textures.

Final Thoughts on Working with Colors in Procreate

Procreate’s robust color tools—from the Color Wheel and Harmony Tool to Custom Palettes and Color Dynamics—give artists the power to fine-tune their color choices and create more dynamic, visually compelling artwork. By leveraging these tools, you can achieve better color accuracy, introduce natural variations, and streamline your workflow for greater efficiency and consistency.

Creating Digital Art from Scratch

Procreate is the go-to app for many digital artists, offering a range of tools that make it easy to create detailed artwork from scratch. From sketching and outlining to digital painting and using reference images, Procreate streamlines the creative process while maintaining a professional level of control. Below, we break down the core techniques for creating digital art from the ground up.

Sketching and Outlining Techniques in Procreate

Sketching is often the first step when creating digital art, and Procreate offers a variety of tools to help you refine your initial ideas.

Using a Simple Pencil Brush for Initial Outlines
Start with one of Procreate’s pencil brushes (such as the 6B Pencil or HB Pencil) to create rough outlines. These brushes mimic the feel of traditional pencils, providing a natural, hand-drawn look. This initial sketch should focus on capturing the general shapes and proportions of your subject without worrying about too many details.

Focus on General Shapes and Proportions
In the early stages, it’s important to lay down the foundation of your drawing by focusing on overall shapes and proportions. Use light, loose strokes and try to block in large forms to ensure the composition is well-balanced before diving into details.

Building Up with Darker, More Detailed Strokes
Once you’re satisfied with your rough sketch, create a new layer and start refining your outline with darker strokes and more detailed lines. At this stage, you can work with finer details, adding facial features, textures, or intricate designs. By working in layers, you can maintain flexibility, making it easier to erase or adjust portions of your sketch as needed.

Digital Painting Fundamentals

After you’ve completed your sketch, the next step is to bring it to life through digital painting. Procreate’s versatile painting tools allow for smooth transitions and dynamic color application.

Blocking in Large Areas of Color
Start by blocking in your primary colors using a broad brush, such as one from the Painting or Flat Brushes category. This step allows you to establish the main color scheme without focusing on finer details. Keeping your color blocking simple in the beginning gives you a solid base to build upon as you move forward.

Using the Smudge Tool for Smooth Blending
Procreate’s Smudge Tool is invaluable for creating smooth transitions between colors, especially when working on shading or gradients. You can adjust the smudge settings and brush to match the texture of your painting, whether you’re blending skin tones, fabric, or atmospheric backgrounds.

Gradually Building Layers of Color
Just like traditional painting, digital painting in Procreate involves gradually layering colors. Start with base tones and then slowly build up highlights and shadows, using Procreate’s Layers Tool to separate different elements of your painting. Save finer details, such as texture and small highlights, for the final stages to ensure your artwork looks polished and complete.

How to Use Reference Images in Procreate

Reference images are a powerful tool for artists, helping to improve accuracy and ensure realism in your digital artwork.

Displaying a Reference Image in Split-Screen
One of the most convenient ways to use a reference image in Procreate is by using the split-screen feature. You can import an image into Procreate and display it next to your canvas for easy side-by-side comparison. This is particularly helpful when working on portraits, landscapes, or intricate designs that require close attention to detail.

Overlaying the Reference Image on Your Canvas
Another method is to overlay the reference image directly onto your canvas at reduced opacity. This allows you to trace or match proportions with precision. Once you’re done using the reference, you can delete or hide the layer, ensuring it doesn’t interfere with your final artwork.

Using Text in Procreate

Procreate isn’t just for painting and illustration—it’s also a powerful tool for working with text. Whether you’re adding simple captions or creating intricate typographic art, Procreate offers a range of features to help you design and customize text for any project.

Adding and Customizing Text Layers

Adding text in Procreate is quick and easy, and the app offers plenty of customization options to ensure your text fits seamlessly into your design.

Accessing the Text Tool
To add text, tap the Actions menu (the wrench icon in the top left), then select “Add Text.” This will open a text box where you can type in your content. From here, you can customize your font, size, and color directly within the text editor.

Customizing Your Text
Procreate provides a wide variety of font options, or you can import your own. You can also adjust the text size and color to match the style of your artwork. Once your text is added, use the Transform Tool to drag and position the text box anywhere on your canvas, ensuring it aligns with your overall composition.

Using Procreate’s Text Adjustments: Font, Size, and Spacing

Procreate gives you control over various text adjustments, allowing you to fine-tune the appearance of your typography.

Tracking
Tracking adjusts the space between all the letters in a block of text. This is useful when you want to tighten or expand the spacing for aesthetic or readability purposes.

Kerning
Kerning refers to the space between individual characters. Adjusting kerning allows you to fix awkward gaps between letters, making the typography feel more balanced and visually appealing.

Leading
Leading adjusts the space between lines of text. This feature is especially useful for multi-line text elements, ensuring proper spacing and enhancing readability while maintaining the overall design aesthetic.

By fine-tuning these adjustments, you can customize the look and feel of your text to match your project’s tone and style.

Working with Lettering and Typography Art

For artists interested in hand-lettering and typographic art, Procreate’s brush library includes a range of calligraphy brushes that mimic the fluidity of traditional tools like pens and brushes. Whether you’re working on elegant script fonts, bold graphic letters, or vintage-style typography, these tools provide the precision and smoothness you need to create professional-quality lettering.

Calligraphy Brushes for Lettering
Procreate’s Calligraphy Brushes offer smooth and responsive strokes, making it easy to create elegant hand-lettering directly on your digital canvas. You can adjust the brush settings to achieve the desired thickness and taper, ensuring a natural flow in your typography.

Refining Your Typographic Art
Once you’ve completed your lettering, you can refine your work by adding effects like shading, highlights, or textures to enhance the overall design. Use Procreate’s Layers and Clipping Masks to add depth and dimension without compromising the original strokes.

With Procreate’s versatile text and typography tools, you can effortlessly incorporate professional-looking text into your artwork, whether it’s for design projects, logos, or artistic pieces.

Procreate Animation Tools

Animation in Procreate is a feature that allows artists to create frame-by-frame animations seamlessly within the app. Procreate’s Animation Assist tool makes the process intuitive, whether you’re working on short GIFs or complex animated sequences.

Introduction to Animation Assist

Animation Assist in Procreate simplifies the animation process by offering a streamlined workspace specifically designed for frame-by-frame animation. Here’s how you can start animating:

Activating Animation Assist
To activate Animation Assist, tap the Actions menu (wrench icon) and toggle on Animation Assist under the Canvas tab. This brings up a timeline at the bottom of the screen, where each layer acts as a frame in your animation.

Frame-by-Frame Drawing
Animation Assist allows you to draw each frame of your animation on separate layers, and you can easily toggle through frames to preview your work. Onion skinning, which shows ghost images of your previous and next frames, helps with smooth transitions between frames.

Creating Simple Animations in Procreate

Creating animations in Procreate is straightforward, even for beginners. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a simple animation:

Drawing the First Frame
Begin by creating your first frame on a new layer. For example, if you’re animating a bouncing ball, start with the ball at its initial position.

Adding Subsequent Frames
For each new movement or position, add a new layer and adjust the drawing to show the ball’s motion. The Onion Skin feature (activated by default) will show previous frames as faint images, helping you align new frames accurately.

Playing the Animation
Once you’ve created all the necessary frames, you can play your animation by tapping the Play button in the Animation Assist toolbar. This allows you to preview the flow and timing of your sequence. Adjust the frame rate to control how fast or slow your animation plays.

Exporting and Sharing Animations

When your animation is complete, Procreate makes it easy to export and share your work in different formats.

Exporting Formats
Procreate allows you to export your animations in a variety of formats:

GIF: Ideal for short, looping animations.

MP4: A good choice for higher-quality animations or videos.
PNG Sequence: Useful if you want to further edit your animation in another program or export individual frames.

Sharing Your Animation
Once exported, you can directly share your animation on social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. This seamless integration makes Procreate a powerful tool for artists who want to showcase their animated work.

Time-Lapse and Exporting Work

Procreate’s time-lapse feature is a unique tool that automatically records your creative process, giving you the ability to showcase the evolution of your artwork from start to finish. Combined with its flexible export options, Procreate is perfect for both digital sharing and printing.

How to Record Time-lapse Videos of Your Art

Procreate automatically records every stroke, allowing you to create time-lapse videos that show your entire drawing process.

Exporting Time-Lapse Videos
To export a time-lapse video, tap the Actions menu (wrench icon), go to the Video tab, and select Export Time-lapse Video. You can choose between full-length videos or shorter, more condensed versions. These time-lapse videos are great for sharing on social media or documenting your progress over time.

Exporting Your Artwork in Different Formats

Procreate provides a variety of export options depending on your needs:

PNG: Ideal for images that need transparency, such as logos or icons.
JPEG: Best for standard web images or social media posts where file size needs to be smaller.

PSD: If you plan to do further edits in Photoshop, exporting as a PSD file ensures that all your layers and effects are preserved.

Best Export Settings for Print and Web

Procreate offers a range of export settings optimized for different uses:

For Print
When exporting for print, it’s crucial to use a resolution of 300 DPI or higher to ensure sharpness. PNG and TIFF are preferred formats because they preserve quality and transparency.

For Web
For web use, 72 DPI is standard, and JPEG or PNG formats are optimal to maintain quality while keeping file sizes manageable for faster load times.

Gestures and Shortcuts in Procreate

Procreate’s intuitive gesture controls make it easy to work quickly and efficiently. Mastering these gestures and customizing shortcuts can dramatically speed up your workflow.

Essential Gestures for Fast Workflow

Procreate comes with built-in gestures that streamline common actions:

Two-Finger Tap: Instantly undo your last action.
Three-Finger Tap: Redo the previous action you undid.
Pinch: Zoom in or out of your canvas for precise detail work.

These gestures become second nature and allow you to work more fluidly.

How to Customize Shortcuts and QuickMenu in Procreate

The QuickMenu in Procreate is a customizable menu that gives you fast access to your most-used tools.

Customizing QuickMenu
To set up your QuickMenu, go to Actions > Prefs > Gesture Controls, and assign specific actions or tools to be accessed with a swipe or tap. You can include options like switching between brushes, undoing strokes, or changing the canvas view.

How to Use Multitouch Gestures

Procreate’s Multitouch Gestures make interacting with the canvas more efficient:

Pinch to Zoom: Zoom in or out of the canvas for better control over details.
Two-Finger Rotate: Rotate the canvas to your preferred angle, making it easier to draw at different orientations.

These gestures enhance your ability to control and adjust your artwork in real time, making the creative process smoother.

Procreate for Professional Artists

Procreate’s advanced tools and features have made it a go-to platform for professional illustrators, graphic designers, and freelance artists.

Procreate for Illustration: Best Practices

For professional illustrations, keeping your workspace organized and making use of Procreate’s advanced features is key:

Separate Layers for Different Elements
Keep your sketch, linework, and colors on separate layers to allow for easy edits without affecting the entire piece.

Blend Modes for Depth
Use blend modes like Multiply or Overlay to add depth and texture to your illustrations, giving them a more polished, professional look.

Using Procreate for Graphic Design and Logos

Procreate’s precision tools, such as grids, guides, and Snapping, make it ideal for creating logos and designs that require perfect alignment:

Vector Export
Although Procreate is primarily raster-based, you can export your designs as SVG or use a third-party tool to convert your work to vector formats.

Tips for Freelance Artists Using Procreate

Freelancers can leverage Procreate’s high-resolution exports and time-lapse videos to enhance their client presentations:

Portfolio Building
Export high-quality images or videos of your work, or provide time-lapse videos to clients to showcase your creative process.

Advanced Techniques in Procreate

Once you’ve mastered the basics, Procreate offers several advanced techniques to push your artistic capabilities. Here are a few different techniques I suggest trying.

How to Work with Textures in Procreate

Incorporating textures into your artwork can add depth and realism:

Using Texture Brushes
Procreate’s extensive brush library includes texture brushes that replicate natural surfaces, such as wood, stone, or fabric. You can also import your own textures and use them to enhance specific areas of your artwork.

3D Drawing and Painting in Procreate

Procreate’s new 3D painting feature allows you to paint directly onto 3D models.

Importing 3D Models
Import your 3D models into Procreate, and use the familiar painting tools to add textures and shading directly onto the model. You can adjust materials and lighting for a more realistic effect, making this feature perfect for concept art, product design, or game development.

How to Create Brushes from Textures

Creating custom brushes from textures allows you to replicate specific surfaces or patterns in your art.

Importing a Texture
Start by importing a texture file (like a photo of wood grain or fabric) and use it as the grain source in the brush settings. You can then adjust the dynamics and behavior of the brush to control how it interacts with your artwork.

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even experienced users can run into common pitfalls when working in Procreate. Here’s how to avoid them:

Mistakes Beginners Make with Layers

Using too many layers without proper organization can make your project difficult to manage. Avoid this by grouping layers together.

Grouping Related Layers
Organize your layers by grouping related ones (e.g., colors, linework) and naming them

Overusing Filters and Effects

While Procreate’s filters can enhance your artwork, overuse can detract from the overall quality. It’s best to let your work speak for itself.

Use Filters Sparingly
Apply filters to accentuate your artwork but avoid relying on them too heavily. Subtle effects can often have a greater impact.

Losing Work: How to Avoid Crashes and Autosave Issues

Although Procreate’s autosave feature is generally reliable, it’s wise to save your work periodically.

Manually Save
Get in the habit of manually saving your work at key points. This can be done by exporting your work to a backup service like iCloud or Google Drive.

Curious About the Cost of Procreate? Find Out Here!

Before diving into your Procreate journey, you might be wondering: how much is Procreate? Understanding the cost and value of the app is important, especially if you’re deciding whether it’s worth the investment for your digital art needs.

We’ve put together a comprehensive guide that breaks down the pricing of Procreate, including how much it costs for iPad and iPhone (Procreate Pocket), and whether it’s a one-time fee or comes with any hidden costs. This guide also compares Procreate’s price to other digital art apps, helping you make an informed decision.

To find out everything you need to know about Procreate’s pricing in 2024, check out our detailed blog post here: How Much Is Procreate? Full Pricing, Features, and Value Breakdown.

How to Use Procreate FAQs

Is Procreate Easy for Beginners?

Yes, Procreate is known for its intuitive interface, making it great for beginners. However, some of its more advanced features may require practice to master.

How to Create Realistic Art in Procreate?

To achieve realism, focus on mastering brush dynamics, shading, and light effects. Using reference images can also improve your accuracy.

How Can I Transfer Procreate Files to Photoshop?

Export your Procreate files as PSD files (Photoshop format) to retain all layers and effects when transferring to Photoshop.

Does Procreate Work Without Apple Pencil?

While Procreate can be used without the Apple Pencil, the precision and pressure sensitivity provided by the Pencil make it the ideal tool for Procreate.

Can I Use Procreate on my iPhone?

Procreate is exclusive to iPad, but the developers offer Procreate Pocket for iPhone users, providing similar functionality.

How to Recover Lost Work in Procreate?

Procreate’s autosave feature will generally recover lost work, but it’s good practice to backup your files regularly to iCloud or Google Drive.

Procreate is a game-changer for digital artists of all levels, providing an affordable, professional-grade platform for illustration, animation, graphic design, and more. With powerful features, intuitive controls, and a supportive community, Procreate empowers you to bring your creative visions to life. Whether you’re animating, painting, or designing logos, Procreate’s versatility makes it an essential tool for modern artists. With practice, patience, and the right resources, you can master Procreate and push your artwork to new heights.

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