Procreate User Guide
Procreate User Guide
1. Welcome to Procreate 3
1.1 What is Procreate? 4
2. Gallery 10
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
3. Gestures 38
3.1 General use 39
3.2 Advanced use 49
4. Brushes 57
4.1 The Procreate brush system 58
4.2 Tweaking your brush settings 69
4.3 Making custom brushes 76
5. Smudge 84
5.1 Smudging colours 85
6. Erase 88
7. Colours 95
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
Selecting colours 96
Saving colours 101
Loading more colours 105
Fill with colour 112
8. Layers 116
8.1 Building up layered artwork 117 8.2 Extra layer options 124 8.3
Blending modes 128 8.4 Quick layer actions 134 8.5 Advanced layer
features 138
9. Adjustments 141
9.1 Applying an effect 142 9.2 Image adjustments 147
12.1 Importing images 188 12.2 Canvas actions 191 12.3 Sharing
artwork 195 12.4 Connecting devices 206 12.5 Preferences 210 12.6
Finding help 212
!
!
Welcome to
Procreate
What is Procreate?
Procreate is the most powerful and intuitive digital
illustration App available for iPad. Its packed with
features artists love, including advanced layer blending,
64-bit performance and a uniquely powerful brush engine.
Because Procreate is iPad exclusive, its been designed to
take advantage of every ounce of power the iPad can
offer.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 2
Exceptional performance
The first thing youll notice is Procreate paints fast.
Really fast.
Procreate is one of the fastest and most precise creative software
packages available today. This speed and accuracy comes from
Procreates painting engine - Silica - and when combined with the
iPad's impressive graphics processing unit, creates an App that is
so powerful, it makes most desktop software blush.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 4
Live brush preview
Size
Pull-away feature
Try holding the slider and pulling away horizontally. The further you
are away from the graphic of the slider, the smaller the increments
will change, allowing miniscule changes to brush attributes. This
pull-away feature works with all sliders in Procreate.
Pro tip
In Preferences (via the Actions menu) you can swap which side the precision
sliders and undo/redo appear on.
Opacity
Fullscreen mode
To cater for those moments when you only need one
brush and zero distractions, enter fullscreen mode.
To initiate Fullscreen Mode, tap 3 fingers on the screen. Youll
notice the UI slide away to give a completely clean view of your
canvas.
To bring the UI back, tap 3 fingers again or tap the Toolbars icon in
the top corner.
To use the undo/redo and clear layer functions while in fullscreen
mode, use the multitouch gestures. (page 36)
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 6
Gallery
Section 1
Super-easy to share
Painless backing up and restoring
Create new canvas
Square
4K
1080p
A4
Custom size
When preset sizes dont suit the job, create your own!
To edit the canvas size tap either canvas width or height readouts.
Enter your size and tap Create.
Custom canvas sizes can be anywhere between 1 x 1px and
whopping 4096 x 4096px. Keep in mind that the larger the canvas
size, the fewer layers you will have to play with.
Pro tip
Experiment with different shapes to create dramatic effects such as an
extreme panorama, tall-skinny, or square.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Create a new canvas 13
Import
Create a new canvas by importing an existing artwork
or image straight to your Procreate Gallery.
Image
iTunes
Use an artwork from the Procreate folder in your iPads iTunes
directory.
Dropbox
Access artwork and images from your personal Dropbox account.
Photos
Use any existing image from your Photos app as a base for your
new artwork.
Clipboard
Section 2
Organising artwork
Single action
Swipe a thumbnail to the left to reveal actions.
The single action gesture allows you to rapidly share, duplicate or
delete an artwork.
See page 21 to learn more about artwork sharing.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Organising artwork 15
Multiple actions
Rearranging artwork
Keep your Gallery layout exactly how you like it.
Moving artwork around is a snap. Just tap and hold on a thumbnail
to lift it out of the grid, then simply move the thumbnail to your
desired location and drop it.
Pro tip
You can also move multiple selected items into a group or change the order
of the gallery by holding down on one of the selected thumbnails.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Organising artwork 17
Gallery Group
Gallery Groups
Keeping artwork arranged in groups can be very
handy for creatives on the move.
Groups can be easily identified by a set of small thumbnails, similar
to groups in the iOS springboard. See Section 4 of this chapter for a
detailed description on creating and arranging groups.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Organising artwork 18
Tap title to edit
Renaming artwork
Capture the subject of your artwork with the perfect
name.
Tap the title in the artworks thumbnail to bring up the keyboard.
Hit Done or dismiss the keyboard to save the title. Until you edit an
Orientation
Its easy to change a canvas orientation after youve
created it.
If your artwork is sitting on its side or upside down, simply hold two
fingers on the thumbnail and rotate until your artwork is the right
way up.
Section 3
Sharing artwork
File formats
Procreate features several file formats with varying
features suiting different purposes.
PNG
PNG will flatten your artwork and retain full quality (we call this
lossless). While slightly larger in file size, PNG will also save any
transparency you have in your artwork.
JPEG
A lossy format that will flatten your artwork into a single layer.
JPEG format is great for quickly sharing an image as the file size is
low.
Procreate
The native format used for storing all artwork data inside the app.
If using the .procreate format, all layer information will be kept
intact.
Photoshop
Share Destinations
Depending on which filetype youve chosen, you will
see a combination of the following:
iTunes Dropbox
Photos
Email
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Sharing artwork 24
Facebook Twitter
Weibo
Twitter
Tweet your latest artwork to your Twitter followers.
Supported filetype
JPG
Sharing to Twitter will set up a tweet, ready to go to all of your
followers on Twitter. Once the image has been prepared you can
type your tweet, add your location and choose which account to
send it from if you have multiple accounts set up.
Twitter will be disabled if you have not set up an account on your
device. Go to your Settings App > Twitter to link your account to
your device.
Twitter has a limit of 1 image per tweet.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Sharing artwork 26
Facebook
Easily share your artwork with all of your Facebook
friends.
Supported filetype
JPG
If you have linked your Facebook account (Settings app >
Facebook) just share to Facebook to prepare an image for upload.
You can even share multiple images at once!
Once the images have been loaded, you can enter a message to
go with your images, choose the privacy settings or add a location.
To change the album Procreate places the images into, tap the
Album heading.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Sharing artwork 27
Sina Weibo
Its just as easy to share your artwork on the popular
Asian Facebook alternative.
Supported filetype
JPG
If you have linked your Sina Weibo account (Settings app > Sina
Weibo) just share to Sina Weibo to prepare an image for upload.
Add a customised message if you wish and hit Post to publish it to
your followers.
To access the Sina Weibo Sharing option, you will need to set up a Weibo
account in your iPads Settings app.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Sharing artwork 28
iTunes
Exporting to iTunes is great for speedy transfers and
backups to your Mac or PC.
Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
After youve shared your artwork to iTunes, head over to your
computer.
Plug your device in using your cable and open iTunes. Once your
device is detected select it on the left pane.
With your device selected, choose the Apps heading along the
top and scroll down.
You should see a list of apps inside a box. Select Procreate and
drag the artwork out of iTunes or use the buttons to save the
artwork to your computer.
You can import a canvas back to Procreate by dropping it back into
this folder and using the Create > Import > iTunes feature.
Choose the Apps tab
Photos
Dropbox
Section 4
Gallery groups
Creating a Group
Groups are a great way to combine artworks and stay
organised.
To create a Group, drop a thumbnail on top of another. From here,
you can name the Group just like any other thumbnail by tapping
the title.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gallery: Gallery groups 33
Renaming a Group
For those big projects, naming a Group is imperative.
Rename the gallery Group exactly the same way as you would
rename your singular artwork: tap the title to invoke the keyboard.
Tap Group title to edit
Gestures
Section 1
General use
Undo an action
Redo an action
To redo an action when you press Undo too many
times, swipe from left to right with 3 fingers.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 40
Clear layer
Instantly clear your layer by scrubbing out the layer
using 3 fingers in a back-and-forth motion anywhere
on the canvas. This is very handy when youre speed
painting or sketching concepts.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gestures: General use 41
Zoom in/out
Pinching the screen allows you to zoom in and out of
the canvas. The Procreate zoom feature is based
largely on speed, so try alternating your speed to suit
your style.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gestures: General use 42
Rotate Canvas
By simply rotating your fingers while pinching the
screen, you can change the orientation of your
canvas. This is great for getting the perfect angle on
those difficult strokes.
See page 209 for settings regarding canvas rotation.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gestures: General use 43
Fit to screen
Cut/Copy/Paste shortcuts
Swipe 3 fingers downwards to reveal shortcuts for cut,
copy and paste.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 46
Section 2
Advanced use
Creating layers
Pinch apart 2 layers to insert a new layer between.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gestures: Advanced use 50
Layer opacity
Tap a layer thumbnail with two fingers to instantly
engage the opacity controls for that layer.
See page 142 for more info on layer opacity.
Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 51
Alpha Lock
Swipe a layer from left to right to quickly toggle Alpha
Lock.
See page 137 for more info on Alpha Lock.
Reference Layer
Swipe a layer from left to right with two fingers to
define your ColorDrop Reference Layer.
See page 110 for more info on ColorDrop.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gestures: Advanced use 52
Canvas orientation
While in the Gallery, rotate an artwork with two fingers
to change between portrait and landscape orientation.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Gestures: Advanced use 53
Brushes
Section 1
Game-changing brushes
Youll notice the brushes feel different in Procreate.
Thats because they are different.
For the last 30 years, brushes in digital painting have been done
the same way. Procreate takes a step forward, putting serious
power into its brush system. We do this by splitting our brushes
into 2 core elements; Shape and Grain.
The following section will teach you about Procreates next
generation brush system. Learn how to navigate between brush
sets, share and import brushes, and how to customise your library.
For more info on shapes & grains see later in this chapter.
Shape
Grain
Moving brushes
Tap and hold the brush you wish to move. Drag it to the new
position and let go to drop it in place. If you hover over a brush set
Brush Actions
Swipe a Brush from right to left to reveal contextsensitive actions.
Share
If you have a brush youre finding useful, share it with friends. See
next page for more info.
Duplicate
Delete
Reset
Sharing brushes
Share your best brushes with your friends or find
someone elses on the internet.
It couldnt be easier to share your brushes: just swipe the Brush
thumbnail and select the Share option. Procreate will package your
brush into
a .brush file and you can choose how to share it from there.
Importing
Importing brushes
Bring other useful brushes into your own Procreate
app via two methods:
In-app Import
The other half of sharing is receiving! You can import other brushes
straight to your app. Tap the New Brush icon then locate the Import
button in the top right to import a brush from Dropbox. The new
brush will be placed in the currently selected set.
File Association
Custom sets
Organise your Custom Brushes into your own Brush
Set.
Creating a new Brush Set
If you keep swiping from right to left inside the Brush Sets panel,
youll find the icon to create a new Brush Set.
Tap the icon to name your group and once confirmed you can drop
and drag the new group wherever you like.
Renaming or deleting
To change the name of the Brush Set down the track, double tap
the icon and choose rename.
Thinner paint Amount of paint
Charge
Just like when using a real brush, you can set how much paint your
brush will apply before it runs out.
Charge cannot be used with Glaze turned on or when Dilution is zero.
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Brushes: The Procreate brush system 65
Glaze setting
Section 2
Stroke settings
What is a Stroke?
When you move your finger or stylus across the screen, Procreate
is plotting your stroke using many points - much like a curve on a
graph. These points all join together to form a line which can vary
greatly depending on your brushs settings.
Stroke plot
Spacing
Spacing is the amount of space added between each plot point in
your stroke. Increasing the space will create more gaps in your
brush.
Jitter
Jitter refers to the amount of distance by which your shape will be
offset from the stroke plot. Smaller values will look more like a solid
line, while higher values will spread the shape out and hide the
visible line you draw.
Stroke taper:
Shape settings
What is a Shape?
A shape is just like a stamp. The image you select as the Shape will
be repeatedly 'stamped' over the course of a stroke. You could also
think of the Shape as a container for the grain.
Scatter
Changing scatter will change the orientation of your brush as your
stroke progresses. Higher values will give a messy, rough feeling
while low values will be like a streaky brush. Scatter is not affected
by brush direction.
Rotation
The rotation slider affects how your brush reacts to directional
change. A range of unique effects can be achieved from a flat
calligraphy brush, to ribbon effects. The rotation slider has three
main points:
100% Inverse makes the shape rotate inversely to stroke
direction. 'Static' locks shape direction to remain static.
'Follow stroke' causes the shape to follow your painting direction.
Randomised
When OFFInitial shape direction is based on the strokes
beginning. When ONdirection is different for the beginning of
every stroke. This can give each stroke a unique behaviour and a
more organic feel.
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Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 69
Grain settings
What is a Grain?
Procreate brushes are created using dual images. One image is for
the shape of the brush, and the other is for the texture. We call the
brush texture, the grain.
Think of the brush shape, as a container for the grain. And think of
the grain, like a paint roller. When you paint a stroke, the grain is
rolled inside the shape and on to the canvas.
Grain Behaviour
Movement
When set to 'Stamp' the grain texture will not roll at all. Instead it
will smear the grain. When set to 'Rolling' the grain will apply its
texture just like a repeating paint roller.
Scale
Grain scale adjusts the size of the grain texture inside the shape.
Zoom
When set to 'Follow size' the grain will scale with your brush shape.
When set to 'Cropped' the grain is locked and the brush shape will
scale independently, from the grain. A great way to understand
how zoom works is to use the precision slider preview.
Rotation
Grain rotation is very similar to Grain movement. This setting will
smear and slur the grain imagebased on directional stroke
changes. The rotation slider has three main points along the slider:
100% Inverse makes the grain rotate inversely to stroke
direction. 'Static' locks grain direction to remain static.
'Follow stroke' causes the grain to follow your stroke direction.
Filtered
ON applies Antialiasing to your grain texture. OFF can cause the
grain to become jagged and coarse.
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Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 70
Dynamics settings
What are Brush Dynamics?
As the name suggests these settings are applied on-the-fly and
Colour mix
Fallof
Affects the overall length of the stroke. All effects will be applied
within this setting. For example you might have a brush with
maximum wetness but if the falloff value is high, it will only be
applied over a short stroke.
Dilution
Dilution is directly related to the Paint characteristic. Varying
values of dilution will create different levels of water in your paint.
When a high amount of dilution is applied to your brush, the brush
will mix and pull more paint as you drag it around.
Charge
Charge refers to the amount of virtual paint applied to a brush. For
instance, when set to 0 the virtual paint will run out almost
instantly. The Charge setting is great for traditional artists!
Glazed
When ON, your brush will paint in a uniform transparent manner
and will no longer 'build up' over time. Because of this, the Glaze
effect behaves exactly the same as default Photoshop brushes.
Opacity variance
Speed
Opacity will vary depending on the speed of your stroke.
Pressure
Opacity will vary depending on the pressure of your smart stylus.
Jitter
The stroke will vary in opacity as it is stamped across the canvas.
Size variance
Speed
Size will vary depending on the speed of your stroke.
Pressure
Size will vary depending on the pressure of your smart stylus.
Jitter
The stroke will vary in size as it is stamped across the canvas.
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Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 71
General settings
Here you will find characteristics that apply to the
brush as a whole.
Properties
Size limits
Max size
Maximum size is responsible for determining the maximum radius
that the brush can reach. By default, all brushes can reach 100%
radius. However, if a brush has a spacing value greater than 12%,
the brush can reach an incredible 400% radius. Essentially, more
spacing allows bigger sized brushes.
Min size
Minimum size is responsible for determining the minimum radius
the brush can be lowered to.
Opacity limits
Max opacity
Maximum opacity is responsible for determining the maximum
amount of opacity the brush can reach.
Min opacity
Minimum opacity is responsible for determining the minimum
amount of opacity the brush can be lowered to.
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Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 72
Source settings
What are source textures?
Procreate brushes are created using dual images; One image for
the shape of the brush, and one image for the texture. Think of the
brush shape as a container for the grain. And think of the grain,
like a paint roller. When you paint a stroke, the grain is rolled onto
the canvas. Using the below settings, you can modify the image
source files used to create the brush.
iTunes
Use an image from Procreates iTunes folder on your iPad.
Dropbox
Import an image from your personal Dropbox account.
Photos
Section 3
Shape
The brush shape is a container that houses the grain. Whatever
your grain is, it will fit inside the shape just like a stencil.
Grain
Think of the grain as a paint roller. When you paint a stroke, the
grain is rolled onto the canvas.
You can load an image from the Pro Library, Dropbox, iTunes or
your own Photos camera roll. The images found in the Pro Library
are those used by the Procreate default brushes.
Once you have entered both Shape and Grain, the icons for brush
settings will appear along the bottom of the pane, allowing you to
start editing your brushs behaviour. You must enter both Shape
and Grain to save your brush.
Shape
Grain
This will make blacks white and vice versa. This will greatly impact
the way it paints your canvas and can be great for reversing the
effect of a grain.
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Brushes: Making custom brushes 79
Smudge
Section 1
Smudging colours
Find out how to get the most responsive colourblending on a mobile platform. Procreate uses 64-bits
per pixel to smudge and once youve tried it you wont
go back to anything less.
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Smudge: Smudging colours 83
Smudge tool
Smudge tool
Select the smudge icon and tap it again to bring up the smudge
popover. Once you have selected your smudging brush, tap outside
the popover.
Remember that Smudge shares the same library as Paint, so why
not experiment smudging with weird brushes for unexpected
results.
Full strength
Lower strengths
Erase
Section 1
Fixing mistakes
Slip-ups happen to the best of us. Luckily, Procreate
has the same great brush control when using an
eraser.
Eraser tool
The eraser tool is controlled just like the paint and smudge tools.
Tap the icon once to select it, or twice to choose your brush.
Pro tip:
Using the eraser with a hard brush shape can be great for making rough
edges smooth and sharp.
Alternatively, try a rough brush at a low opacity to blend a layer without
seeing an obvious edge.
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Erase: The Eraser tool 89
Section 2
Clearing a layer
There are two ways to quickly clear an entire layer and
be sure there are no traces remaining.
Open the Layers popover and select the layer you wish to clear.
Tap it again to reveal the Clear option.
For an even quicker solution, you can also use the Clear Layer
gesture. See page 37 for more information on gestures.
Colours
Section 1
Selecting colours
Section 2
Saving colours
Saving a colour
When its important to keep a particular colour, save it
as a swatch for quick access later.
Save a colour
Below the colour picker youll notice a grid. This is a swatch
palette. To save the currently selected colour tap an empty swatch
in the swatch palette.
Tapping a saved swatch will load that colour, ready for use.
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Colours: Saving colours 100
Reordering a swatch
To create an idea of how colours might work together
you may prefer to change the order of how the
swatches sit within the palette.
Move your swatch
Tap and hold a saved swatch to pick it up and drop it in the new
location.
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Colours: Saving colours 101
Section 3
Tap and hold a palette to pull it out of the stack. Drag and drop it to
the desired location.
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Colours: Loading more colours 106
Section 4
ColorDrop
A great timesaver for graphic artists who often work
with large blocks of flat colour. ColorDrop lets you
quickly fill in shapes and build your artwork.
Engage ColorDrop
Drag the Colour icon out onto the canvas and let go. Youll see the
colour drop onto the canvas and fill out until it finds a boundary.
If your ColorDrop leaks through a gap, try closing the gap before
filling again. You could also tweak the ColorDrop threshold, which
determines how aggressively the algorithm detects edges.
Pro tip:
To cancel ColorDrop, drop the colour anywhere in the top toolbar.
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Colours: Fill with colour 111
Threshold readout
ColorDrop Threshold
Tweak the way ColorDrop detects edges to get the
best results.
Adjust the threshold
Begin your ColorDrop by dragging your colour to your canvas.
Without lifting your finger, pause over the desired fill area.
ColorDrop will activate and, before you lift your finger, slide left
and right to adjust how aggressively it attacks edges.
Lifting your finger will commit the ColorDrop and from then on
ColorDrop will remember the threshold setting until you change it
again.
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Colours: Fill with colour 112
Reference Layer
An advanced feature designed for cartoonists and
concept artists that keeps colour fills and ink separate.
Reference Layer works exclusively with ColorDrop to reference the
active ref layer (indicated by a purple layer) and fill to the normal
selected layer.
Swipe a layer with two fingers to activate it as the Reference.
Select another layer, and ColorDrop can fill into the selected layer,
based on the Reference.
To turn the Reference Layer off, simply swipe it the same way you
did to activate it.
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Colours: Fill with colour 113
Layers
Section 1
Creating a layer
Create new layers with the + icon. A new layer will
automatically be inserted above the current layer.
You can also create a new layer between two layers by pinching
them apart. See page 49 for a guide to this gesture.
Moving layers
Layer visibility
Turn a layers visibility on or off by tapping the leftaligned circle.
If a layer is hidden it cannot be drawn on. If you try to draw on a
layer that is hidden youll be notified via a simple dialogue.
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Layers: Building up layered artwork 119
Blending layers
Artists familiar with desktop painting will be at home
with Procreates many blend modes.
Blend modes are based on old photographic and new digital
techniques to add interesting effects to an image.
To change the blend mode, tap the small letter in the circle on the
right of each layer. See section 3 of this chapter for a more detailed
explanation of Blend modes.
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Layers: Building up layered artwork 120
Merging Layers
Merging is a great way to free up layers in your
artwork.
To merge, pinch together the top layer you want to merge and the
Background layer
Section 2
Renaming a layer
Naming layers can make working in complex artwork
even quicker.
Your layers will be given sequentially numbered titles until you
choose to change them. If you have 3 layers already and create a
Fill layer
Tapping Fill layer will use the currently selected colour to fill the
whole layer evenly. Any artwork on this layer will be overwritten
with a flat colour.
Pro tip:
Using Fill with Alpha Lock on will only fill the used pixels on that layer.
Masked area
Select Contents
Section 3
Blending modes
Lighten
Lighten
If the pixels of the selected layer are lighter than the ones on the
layers below, they are kept in the image.
Screen
Lightens the layer where it blends with the pixels beneath. Screen
is the exact opposite to Multiply mode and visually will make dark
pixels appear transparent.
Add
Lightens the layers underneath, just like Screen but has a much
greater effect, causing awesome effects like blooming lights or
image burn.
Color Dodge
Brighter than the Screen blend mode. Typically results in saturated
mid-tones and blown highlights.
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Layers: Blending modes 129
Contrast
Overlay
Uses a combination of the Screen blend mode on the lighter pixels,
Difference
Exclusion
Produces an effect like that in a negative photograph but with less
contrast to the Difference blend mode. Mid range colours tend to
go grey and washed out.
Diference
Produces a negative or inverted effect relative to the difference
between the layers. Black pixels denote no difference between
layers.
Subtract
Subtracts the selected layers colour from the underlying colours. If
the selected colour is black, the result colour is the underlying
colour.
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Layers: Blending modes 131
Color
Hue
Takes the luminosity and saturation of the underlying colours and
the hue of the blend colour. Try overlaying an artwork with a Hue
layer to change the mood.
Saturation
Result colour has the luminosity and hue of the layers below and
the saturation of the selected layer.
Color
Color uses the luminosity of the layers underneath and the hue and
saturation of the selected layer. Grey levels are maintained which
is very useful for colouring monochrome images.
Luminosity
Luminosity uses the hue and saturation of the layers underneath
and sets the luminosity of the selected layer.
Section 4
Quick actions
Swipe any layer to the left, to reveal quick actions.
Select
Tap the select button to rapidly select the contents of the layer.
Copy
After swiping the layer tap Copy to add the image data to your
iPads clipboard. You can use that data to paste into another
Procreate canvas, email it, or use it in another app.
See page 169 for more information about how to use selection tools.
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Layers: Quick layer actions 133
Duplicated layer will be placed above original
Duplicate
Delete a layer
Swipe the layer to the left to access the layer delete
option.
You can undo this action, but once you have run out of undos,
leave or background the app, you will no longer be able to restore
the layer.
Section 5
Alpha Lock
Procreate comes with the ability to lock a layers
transparency (or alpha). Once your edges are right,
you will never have to do them again.
Lock a layers transparency
Once you have blocked out your shape, swipe left to right on the
selected layer to lock the alpha. From here on, you will only be able
to paint or smudge inside the area that already has paint on it.
If you want to touch up an edge, or add to it, simply turn the Alpha
Lock off, tidy it up and flick it back on to preserve the alpha once
again.
Pro tip:
If you lock a layers alpha, you can use the Layer Fill option to fill all the used
pixels on that layer with a solid colour.
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Layers: Advanced layer features 137
Reference Layer
An advanced feature designed for cartoonists and
concept artists that keeps colour fills and ink separate.
Reference Layer works exclusively with ColorDrop to reference the
active ref layer (indicated by a purple layer) and fill to the normal
selected layer.
Swipe a layer with two fingers to activate it as the Reference.
Select another layer, and ColorDrop can fill into the selected layer,
based on the Reference.
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Layers: Advanced layer features 138
Adjustments
Section 1
Applying an effect
Gaussian Blur
Gaussian blur can be used for smoothing things out,
creating out-of-focus effects and even for creating
shadows.
Blur a layer
Tap the desired layer, and then select Gaussian blur from the
Adjustments menu. To increase the strength of the Gaussian blur,
slide across the screen from left to right.
Pro tip:
For precision effects, slide your finger across the screen slowly. Slower
speeds will be more accurate while higher speeds will rapidly increase the
strength of effects.
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Adjustments : Applying an effect 141
Opacity
The opacity percentage determines the amount the
layer obscures or shows the layer beneath it. Layer
opacity is an invaluable effect for compositing.
Adjust layer opacity
Making sure you have the correct layer selected, choose Opacity
from the Adjustments menu.
To make the layer more transparent, slide from right to left across
the screen.
Unlike other adjustments, Opacity is non-destructive. This means
you can adjust the transparency of a layer whenever you like,
however many times you like.
Pro tip:
You can also adjust the opacity level of a layer by tapping that layer with two
fingers in the Layers Menu. Use whichever method fits your workflow.
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Sharpen
Sharpening a layer will create sharp transitions
between light and dark areas. Use Sharpen to make
things feel in focus.
Sharpen a layer
Make sure youre on the correct layer and then select Sharpen from
the Adjustments menu. To increase the Sharpen strength, slide
across the screen from left to right.
Pro tip:
Almost any layer can benefit from smart use of sharpening. So dont be
afraid to experiment!
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Noise
Noise randomly messes with the brightness and colour
information of pixels, creating an electronic noise
effect.
Add Noise to a layer
With the correct layer selected, tap Noise from the Adjustments
menu. To increase the strength of Noise, slide across the screen
from left to right.
Pro tip:
Experiment with blend modes to enhance images. Try increasing image
contrast by using a combination of Noise and blend modes, or have some
fun recreating analogue film grain effects.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Section 2
Enhancing an image
Color Balance
Color Balance can be used to correct or to stylise
images.
Cyan
Red
Magenta
Green
Yellow
Blue
Colours in digital form are made from three primary colours; red,
green and blue. This is very different from traditional media,
because youre dealing with light as opposed to pigments. The
right extremity of the bars show red, green and blue. The left
extremity shows the opposite colour for each of these primaries.
Sliding in one direction will make the overall layer shift toward that
color value.
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Highlights
Midtones Shadows
Highlights
Highlights will adjust the lighter levels in the layer.
Midtones
Shadows
Tapping Shadows will allow you to adjust the colours of the darker
areas in a layer.
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Curves
The tonal curve is probably the most powerful
adjustment.
White point
Highlights
Midtones
Shadows
Black point
Manipulating points
Tapping anywhere inside the grid will create a node
which will bend the curve.
Dragging a node up will affect the lightness of your layer. Dragging
a node down will affect the darkness of the layer.
Likewise, dragging a node left or right will decreases or increase
contrast. You can create up to 11 nodes, so try experimenting by
bending a few curves and watch what happens to the layer!
Pro tip:
You can easily delete a node by dragging it outside of the grid bounds.
Overall Gamma Red channel
Green channel Blue channel
RGB channels
Unlock the power of curves by isolating the RGB
channels of your layer.
With Procreate, youre not limited to adjusting the overall gamma.
You can also adjust layers by editing the Curves on the red, green,
and blue channels, independently.
Making a Curve adjustment to each colour channel allows
practically limitless varieties of colour corrections and effects.
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Recolor
Quickly and conveniently change areas of colour with
a live preview.
Current colour
Threshold
Recolor crosshair
Cancel
Drag
Transform
Section 1
Basic manipulation
Transforming a layer
While in transform mode you will notice 2 main
elements: the dashed line and the silver nodes.
Object bounds
Once you tap the Transform icon your layer will be bound by a
moving dashed line. This dashed line will encompass every pixel on
that particular layer.
Nodes
On each corner and in the middle of each face, you will see a node.
These are the control points that you use to transform your layer.
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Transform mode ON
Node Object bounds
Origin point
Blue Magnetics guide
Toggle Magnetics
Magnetics
Think of magnetics as intelligent guides to help you
keep your transforms aligned and ratios correct.
To turn on Magnetics, tap the icon of the magnet so it turns blue. To
turn it off, tap it again so it returns to silver.
Rotating
Flip
Uniform transform
Evenly scaling the size of a layer can be done two
ways.
With Magnetics
Drag any corner node to adjust to the new size. Your transform will
anchor from the opposite node to the one you are dragging.
Without Magnetics
Pinching inside an object will uniform scale the layer with the
anchor being in the middle.
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Non-uniform transform
Procreate allows you to stretch an object however you
see fit.
To stretch your layer and disregard its original ratio, drag any of
the silver nodes in any direction (while Magnetics is off). This will
pivot your transform from the opposite corner/side.
Grabbing a corner node will give the quickest result as it will
transform on both x and y axes, while grabbing a side node will
only stretch the layer along that axis.
For example, in this image you might wish to make one of
firefighters a little taller. To do so you would pull the top middle
node upwards.
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Transform: Basic manipulation 160
Fit to screen
Without Magnetics
Reverting mistakes
Transforming can get pretty hectic sometimes. Here
are a few features to save you time.
Reset
Tapping the reset icon, will disregard all changes you have made
while in Transform mode and revert the layer back to its original
state.
Section 2
Advanced manipulation
Distort
Procreates impressive distort feature makes threedimensional scenes a piece of cake.
Engage Distort by tapping and holding your finger over any corner
silver node. A notification will let you know that Distort has been
activated and you can begin to move the Node wherever you
please.
The artwork here is a great example of using distort to create a
perfect three dimensional scene. Paint your textures as if you were
looking at them from front on or top down (i.e. flat).
Once youre finished painting, distort it into place to get a perfect
perspective in a fraction of the time it would take to paint it
manually.
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Shear
Shearing is like tilting or tipping an object. It can be
handy for creating depth or slight angles.
In the image to the left, we might wish to shear the caf benches a
little more. To shear an object while in Transform mode, tap and
hold a middle Silver Node until the notification appears. To restrict
the Shears movement to a single axis, turn Magnetics on.
Pro tip:
Shear can be useful for setting up a base for perspective. Firstly, shear your
shape/texture, then pull a corner Node in with Distort to give it the depth of a
perspective view.
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Transform: Advanced manipulation 165
Nudge
Nudge your object slightly in any direction by tapping
outside the bounding box.
Tap outside your object to move your object left, right, up or down
in tiny increments.
The nudge distance will be affected by zoom level, so the closer
you are to your painting, the smaller the nudge will be.
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Zoom/pan shortcut
While transforming it is possible to move your view
around without committing your changes.
Hold the Transform button and zoom/pinch to adjust your view. Let
go of the Transform button to go back to transforming your object.
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Selections
Section 1
Starting a selection
Procreate's selection tool offers two ways to create
precise and fluid selections while still being able to
zoom, pan and rotate your canvas.
Freehand
Drag your finger around on the canvas just like you were drawing.
Dont be afraid to lift your finger off, you can continue by placing it
down again.
Polygon
Tap your finger on the canvas where you would like to place a
corner node. As you tap around, you will see the dashed lines
complete a straight line from your last point.
Pro tip:
You can combine the use of freehand and polygon style to create unique
shapes.
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Selection starting point
Masked area
Painting area
Closing a selection
There are several ways to close your selection to give
you various amounts of control, depending on what
your next step might be.
When you apply your selection you will see it turn into a mask,
indicated by moving diagonal lines.
To apply your selection do one of the following:
Tap the starting point
Draws a straight line from your last point to the blue node. Now
you can select Paint, or modify your selection further.
Tap the Paint icon
Apply the selection and choose brush you were using lastall in
one quick step.
Tap the Plus/Minus icon
Apply the selection and keep Selection mode active for further
modifications (see next section for more details).
Tap Transform tool
Isolate and transform the contents of the selection.
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Selections: Making a basic selection 174
About masks
Section 2
Modifying a selection
Clear a selection
While in Selection mode, tap the X icon on the side
toolbar to clear your current selection.
There can be two levels to clearing a selection:
If you have a mask (diagonal lines on canvas) beneath a noncommitted selection (dashed outline), tapping Clear will remove
the non- committed selection first.
Tapping Clear again will clear the mask, leaving you with no
selection.
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Selections: Modifying a selection 179
Undo
Undo a mistake
You can also use the Undo (and redo) button to go
back many steps to fix up a selection if necessary.
When using the Selection tool in a polygon fashion, each undo will
go back one tap.
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Selections: Modifying a selection 180
Invert
Invert
At any time you can invert a selection by tapping the
invert icon on the side toolbar.
You will notice that the diagonal lines displaying your masked area
will swap from inside to outside or vice versa to indicate which area
is now protected.
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Reloading a mask
You can reload your last used selection with a tap and
hold on the Selection icon.
Reloading your last used selection will also activate Selection
mode. From here you can add or subtract from your selection if you
wish.
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Hold to reload mask
Notification
Actions
Section 1
Importing images
External source
Take a photo
Take a photo and drop it straight onto your canvas.
canvas. If you dont already have Dropbox set up, you will need to
follow a few simple steps to allow Procreate to access your folders.
If youre still having difficulties, head to the Dropbox website.
Paste an image from your iPads clipboard. This can be a layer from
any Procreate artwork or even another app! If this is option is
disabled, or not pasting the up-to-date content, the requested
clipboard data is not supported by Procreate.
Not always available
Section 2
Canvas actions
Flip canvas
Many artists love to reverse their artwork to check
their proportions. Its a great way to get a different
perspective on your art!
To flip your canvas select the Flip horizontally or Flip vertically
options. Your canvas will flip instantly.
Flip orientations
Artwork metadata
View the dimensions, file size and video size of your
artwork.
Canvas dimensions
This can be handy for finding out the size of an imported artwork
after you made it, or when you import a picture as a new canvas.
All canvas dimensions are in pixels.
File size
The canvas file size will increase with larger dimensions and more
layers. This information can be helpful should you need to clear
space on your iPad.
Recorded video
This is an estimate of the video size of you creating your artwork in
Procreate. For any artwork done prior to version 1.9, there will be
no video data.
Details
Section 3
Sharing artwork
File formats
Procreate features several file formats with varying
features suiting different purposes.
PNG
PNG will flatten your artwork and retain full quality (we call this
lossless). While slightly larger in file size, PNG will also save any
transparency you have in your artwork.
JPEG
A lossy format that will flatten your artwork into a single layer.
JPEG format is great for quickly sharing an image as the file size is
low.
Procreate
The native format used for storing all artwork data inside the app.
If using the .procreate format, all layer information will be kept
intact.
Photoshop
Share Destinations
Depending on which filetype youve chosen, you will
see a combination of the following:
iTunes Dropbox
Photos
Email
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Actions: Sharing artwork 195
Facebook Twitter
Weibo
Sharing by email requires an active account on your iPads Mail app. For
maximum compatibility, Procreate will not limit your attachment size. If
your emails don't send, ask your IT consultant about your email size
limit.
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Actions: Sharing artwork 196
Facebook
Easily share your artwork with all of your Facebook
friends.
Supported filetype
JPG
If you have linked your Facebook account (Settings app >
Facebook) just share to Facebook to prepare an image for upload.
You can even share multiple images at once!
Once the images have been prepared you can enter a message to
go with your images, choose the privacy settings or add a location.
To change the album Procreate places the images into, tap the
Album heading.
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Actions: Sharing artwork 198
Sina Weibo
Its just as easy to share your artwork on the popular
Asian Facebook alternative.
Supported filetype
JPG
If you have linked your Sina Weibo account (Settings app > Sina
Weibo) just share to Sina Weibo to prepare an image for upload.
Add a customised message if you wish and hit Post to publish it to
your followers.
To access the Sina Weibo Sharing option, you will need to set up a Weibo
account in your iPads Settings app.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
iTunes
Exporting to iTunes is great for speedy transfers and
backups to your Mac or PC.
Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.
After youve shared your artwork to iTunes, head over to your
computer.
Plug your device in using your cable and open iTunes. Once your
device is detected select it on the left pane.
With your device selected, choose the Apps heading along the
top and scroll down.
You should see a list of apps inside a box. Select Procreate and
drag the artwork out of iTunes or use the buttons to save the
artwork to your computer.
You can import a canvas back to Procreate by dropping it back into
this folder and using the Create > Import > iTunes feature.
Choose the Apps tab
Dropbox
Photos
Saving to Photos is a great way to save work in
Video
Section 4
Connecting devices
Stylus information
When you connect your smart stylus you will see a
new panel listing several options and readouts.
Customise your buttons
Choose a function to assign to your button(s) for quick and easy
access. Think about what features you use the most and see if they
are there!
Stylus readouts
Section 5
Preferences
Section 6
Finding help
Whats new?
Revisit the new features from the last major version.
With each major version well release a little introduction to the
new features. If you forget what we added, or chose to skip it when
you first launched you can revisit it here.
Procreate Handbook
If you want to re-download or access this guide later.
Should you ever need to redownload this Handbook, tap the
Customer support button to go to the download link.
For those countries that we cannot offer the Handbook through
iTunes, we have offered a download link from our own site
(including a flattened PDF).
The only downside to these external links is they will not
automatically receive updates.
Follow this link
Community
Procreate has an amazing community that is growing
at an incredible rate. Jump in and say hi!
Whether you need help, want a tutorial or like to post your artwork,
the Procreate Forums Community boards are the place to go.
Gallery
Once you have an artwork youre proud of why not post it to the
Gallery for everyone to see? You can also check out what everyone
else is doing.
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Actions: Finding help 213
Support
Communication is vital to us making Procreate a
better product and we love hearing from you.
Tapping Support will launch your web browser and take you to the
Support page. Here you can access the FAQ, artist tutorials, or visit
the Procreate forum boards, which is the best place to report bugs
or request features.
Thanks
Conversely, let us know if youre enjoying using Procreate. We have
a Thanks board where you can leave us a quick thanks and let us
know what youre loving about Procreate.
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Actions: Finding help 214
Tutorials
You can never learn too much about something! The
Procreate community is home to a growing number of
tutorials and tipsfrom the Si team and pro artiststo
help you discover new techniques.
You will find the Tutorials Board in the Community section of the
Procreate Forums. Tapping the Artist Tutorials button on the
Support Page will take you straight here.
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Actions: Finding help 215
Reference
Section 1
Artwork credits
Artwork credits
The following Procreate art has been used in this User Guide. Many
thanks to the talented artists for their work:
Spanish Airport
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Relaxing
by Nikolai Lockertsen http://www.lockertsen.net
Summoner Apprentice
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111 http://www.asuka111.net
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Reference: Artwork credits 218
Pro Suit
by Pablo Uchida http://pablocafe.seesaa.net
Mystic Forrest Elf
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111 http://www.asuka111.net
Cherub
by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111 http://www.asuka111.net
Section 2
Light reading
About Us
Savage Interactive, or Si for short (as in Sci-Fi) is a
small, energetic studio based in Hobart, Australia.
We set our bar pretty high when it comes to our work and we
appreciate the same attention to detail in other peoples work.
Outside of software development, we indulge in the dark art of
video gaming.
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Reference: Light reading 223
Procreate Community
Even were learning cool tricks from Procreate artists,
so make sure you jump on the Procreate Forums!
Were really lucky to have a great community of talented and
passionate artists and even luckier that they dedicate their time to
helping others.
The Procreate Forums are all about sharing knowledge, ideas and
helping others take their artwork to the next level.
Perhaps you have some of the following you could share with
others:
Brushes
Reusable artwork resources Tips and tricks
Advice or critique
The forums arent just limited to talk about Procreate eithertalk
about whatever you like! Wed love to see you in there.
Procreate Artists' Handbook
Reference: Light reading 224
Blend mode description referenced from
http://photoblogstop.com/photoshop/photoshop-blend-modes-explained.
iPad is a registered trade mark of Apple Inc, registered in the U.S. and
other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple, Inc. Adobe and
Photoshop are registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems
Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Procreate is a
trademark of
Savage Interactive Pty Ltd. Im Ron Burgundy?
Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Light reading 225