Procreate Tips and Tricks for Professionals
- Shruti Dugar
- Jun 10
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 3
Procreate is a powerful digital art app that has transformed the way artists create on iPads. Whether you are a seasoned illustrator or a digital painter, mastering Procreate can elevate your work to new heights. This post shares procreate advanced tips that will help you work smarter, not harder, and unlock the full potential of this versatile tool.
If you want to dive deeper into procreate tips and tricks, check out this comprehensive guide.
Unlocking Procreate Advanced Tips for Efficiency
Efficiency is key when working on complex projects. Procreate offers many features that can speed up your workflow without sacrificing quality. Here are some advanced tips to help you stay productive:
Use QuickShape for Perfect Shapes
Draw a rough shape and hold your pencil down at the end. Procreate will automatically smooth and perfect the shape. Tap with another finger to cycle through shape options like circles, squares, or polygons.
Create Custom Brush Sets
Organize your brushes into sets based on style or project type. This keeps your workspace tidy and helps you quickly find the right brush.
Utilize Layer Masks
Instead of erasing parts of a layer, use masks to hide or reveal areas non-destructively. This allows you to make changes without permanently altering your artwork.
Gesture Controls for Speed
Learn and customize gestures like two-finger tap to undo or three-finger tap to redo. These shortcuts save time and keep your hands on the screen.
Color Drop for Fast Filling
Drag and drop a color from the palette into a closed area to fill it instantly. Adjust the threshold by sliding your finger to control how much area is filled.
These tips help you work faster and maintain flexibility in your creative process.
How to Rub Out in Procreate?
Erasing or "rubbing out" parts of your artwork is a fundamental skill in Procreate. Here’s how to do it effectively:
Switch to the Eraser Tool
Tap the eraser icon in the top menu or hold down the brush icon and select the eraser. You can use any brush as an eraser by switching to this tool.
Adjust Eraser Settings
Customize the eraser brush size, opacity, and shape just like a regular brush. This allows for precise or broad erasing depending on your needs.
Use Layer Masks Instead of Erasing
For non-destructive editing, add a layer mask and paint black on the mask to hide parts of the layer. Paint white to reveal them again.
Quick Erase with Undo
If you make a mistake, use the two-finger tap to undo immediately instead of erasing manually.
Erase with Apple Pencil Pressure
Enable pressure sensitivity for the eraser to control the strength of the erase effect dynamically.
Mastering these erasing techniques ensures you can clean up your artwork without losing important details.
Advanced Layer Management Techniques
Managing layers efficiently is crucial for complex illustrations. Procreate offers powerful layer features that professionals should leverage:
Group Layers
Select multiple layers and group them to keep your workspace organized. You can collapse groups to reduce clutter.
Alpha Lock and Clipping Masks
Use Alpha Lock to paint only on existing pixels of a layer. Clipping masks let you apply effects or colors to a base layer without affecting others.
Blend Modes for Effects
Experiment with layer blend modes like Multiply, Overlay, or Screen to create lighting, shadows, and texture effects.
Duplicate and Transform Layers
Quickly duplicate layers for variations or use the transform tool to resize, rotate, or distort elements.
Lock Transparent Pixels
This locks the transparent areas of a layer so you can paint only on visible parts, perfect for shading or adding details.
These techniques help you maintain control over your artwork and make complex edits easier.
Tips for Custom Brushes and Textures
Creating or customizing brushes can give your artwork a unique style. Here’s how to get the most out of Procreate’s brush engine:
Modify Existing Brushes
Start with a default brush and tweak settings like shape, grain, jitter, and opacity to suit your style.
Import Custom Textures
Add your own textures to brushes by importing images. This adds depth and realism to strokes.
Create Brushes from Scratch
Use the brush studio to design brushes tailored to specific effects like watercolor, charcoal, or ink.
Save Brush Variations
Save multiple versions of a brush with different settings for quick access during projects.
Use Brush Settings for Pressure and Tilt
Adjust how the brush responds to Apple Pencil pressure and tilt for natural, dynamic strokes.
Custom brushes can transform your digital art by adding personality and detail that standard brushes can’t achieve.
Mastering Color and Palette Management
Color is a vital part of any artwork. Procreate offers tools to help you manage and apply color effectively:
Create Custom Palettes
Build palettes for each project or mood. Save colors you use frequently to avoid hunting for the right shade.
Use Color Harmony Tools
Procreate’s color wheel includes harmony options like complementary, analogous, and triadic colors to help you choose balanced schemes.
Eyedropper Tool for Sampling
Hold your finger on the canvas to sample colors quickly from your artwork or reference images.
Adjust Colors with Hue, Saturation, and Brightness
Use the adjustments menu to tweak colors without repainting.
Apply Gradient Maps
Use gradient maps to recolor your artwork with smooth transitions between colors.
Effective color management ensures your artwork has visual impact and consistency.
Elevate Your Art with Animation Assist
Procreate’s Animation Assist feature lets you create simple animations directly within the app:
Enable Animation Assist
Turn it on in the Actions menu under Canvas. This adds a timeline and onion skinning.
Create Frame-by-Frame Animations
Draw each frame on separate layers or canvases. Use onion skinning to see previous frames for smooth motion.
Adjust Frame Rate
Control the speed of your animation by setting frames per second.
Export as GIF or Video
Share your animations easily by exporting in popular formats.
Use Animation Assist for Storyboarding
Quickly sketch out motion sequences or storyboards to plan your projects.
Animation Assist opens new creative possibilities beyond static images.
Mastering these procreate advanced tips will help you create professional-quality digital art with greater ease and creativity. For more detailed insights and a variety of helpful tutorials, explore this collection of procreate tips and tricks.
Happy creating!
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