Table of contents

1. Welcome to Procreate 1 8. Layers 114

1.1 What is Procreate? 2 8.1 Building up layered artwork 115
! 8.2 Extra layer options 122
8.3 Blending modes 126
2. Gallery 8 8.4 Quick layer actions 132
2.1 Create a new canvas 9 8.5 Advanced layer features 136
2.2
2.3
Organising artwork
Sharing artwork
14
21
!
2.4 Gallery groups 32 9. Adjustments 139
! 9.1 Applying an effect 140
9.2 Image adjustments 145
3. Gestures 36 !
3.1 General use 37
3.2 Advanced use 47 10. Transform 154
! 10.1 Basic manipulation 155
10.2 Advanced manipulation 163
4. Brushes 55 !
4.1 The Procreate brush system 56
4.2 Tweaking your brush settings 67 11. Selections 169
4.3 Making custom brushes 74 11.1 Making a basic selection 170
! 11.2 Modifying a selection 176
5. Smudge 82 !
5.1 Smudging colours 83 12. Actions 185
! 12.1 Importing images 186
12.2 Canvas actions 189
6. Erase 86 12.3 Sharing artwork 193
6.1 The Eraser tool 87 12.4 Connecting devices 204
6.2 Other ways to correct artwork 90
! 12.5
12.6
Preferences
Finding help
208
210
7. Colours 93 !
7.1 Selecting colours 94 13. Reference 216
7.2 Saving colours 99 13.1 Artwork credits 217
7.3 Loading more colours 103 13.2 Light reading 222
7.4 Fill with colour 110
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

 Apple Design Award
We were honoured to win an Apple Design Award for Procreate, recognising the technical,
aesthetic, and creative excellence of the product. Were pretty proud of this award. It's a reflection
of the heart and brain that's gone - and continues to go - into every aspect of Procreate.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 3

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

 A giant step forward
Procreate is different to other digital
painting apps: it puts the most-used
tools right up front. Youll always find
Live brush
preview your brush size and opacity handy, in the
form of 2 precision sliders.
Size

Precision is key
When you hold down a precision slider, a real-time
preview will appear. Letting go will select the value and
hide the preview.

No matter what zoom level you work at, the preview will
be relative to your canvas.

Unlike normal sliders, these have been engineered to

Opacity give you more control towards low values when
extreme precision is required.

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 5

 Fullscreen indicator

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

What youll learn
In this guide you will find a basic walkthrough of the Procreate application for iPad. Youll quickly pick up how to:

Create a new canvas and organise your Gallery with Groups.

Tweak the brushes to your liking.
Control brush results with the precision sliders.
Create your own brush from your own textures.
Use the smudge tool to blend colours eortlessly.
Erase mistakes and use the undo/redo system.
Layer artwork, isolate and merge elements.
Manipulate colours via layer blend modes.
Use Transform to easily create accurate 3D environments and move, scale and rotate layers.
Export JPEG, PNG & PSD files to your camera roll, iTunes, Twitter and Dropbox.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Welcome to Procreate: What is Procreate? 7

Gallery
Section 1

Create a new canvas

Learn how Procreate stores your artwork, how to import existing
artwork, and how to create your very own custom canvas.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Create a new canvas 9

 Introducing the
.procreate artwork format
Every artwork you make in Procreate is
stored as a unique .procreate file format
on your iPad.

Having a native file format brings many benefits to

you, the artist:

Your UHD artwork takes up less space on your iPad

Loading times significantly reduced
Layered artwork files
Super-easy to share
Painless backing up and restoring

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Create a new canvas 10

 Create new canvas
Preset canvas sizes
Procreate has a few standard sized
canvases to make creating a new
artwork quick and easy.

Retina
This size canvas is the same proportion as your iPad to
exactly fit the screen.

Square
The square canvas is perfect for creating your own
custom brushes.

4K
This ratiofamiliar to storyboard artistsis capable of
capturing incredible detail due to the generous size.

1080p
The standard 16:9 ratio seen in modern day movies.

A4
The ISO standard size of 297mm by 210mm at 300dpi,
which is perfect for printing.

Layers scale with the size of the canvas. The smaller the
canvas the more layers you will be offered.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Create a new canvas 11

 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 12

 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
Create a new canvas based on an image from your
iPads clipboard. Procreate supports TIFF, JPEG,
GIF and PNG file formats for importing. This option
will be greyed out if there is no compatible data.

Note: Images larger than 4096 x 4096 pixels will be

scaled, to stay within the iPads capabilities.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Create a new canvas 13

Section 2

Organising artwork
Create order from the chaos with Procreates simple yet powerful
artwork gallery. Use the Gallery Groups to keep your artwork tidy and
improve your workflow.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Organising artwork 14

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

 Bulk actions

Multiple actions
Swipe thumbnails to the right
to select multiple artworks.

Bulk actions save you time when you need to

edit more than one canvas simultaneously.

To carry out bulk actions, simply swipe a

thumbnail to the right. Successfully selected
thumbnails will appear blue. Once multiple
items have been selected, the bulk action
icons will automatically appear in the
navigation bar. These actions allow you to
delete or share multiple artworks at once.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Organising artwork 16

 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 Groups
Keeping artwork arranged in
groups can be very handy for
creatives on the move.
Gallery Group
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

 Renaming artwork
Capture the subject of your artwork
with the perfect name.

Tap the title in the artworks thumbnail to bring

Tap title to edit up the keyboard. Hit Done or dismiss the
keyboard to save the title. Until you edit an
artworks title it will be called Untitled Artwork.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Organising artwork 19

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Organising artwork 20

Section 3

Sharing artwork
Procreate provides several ways to share your masterpieces
with clients and colleagues.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 21

Choose your format
Sharing from Procreate offers you
4 different filetypes.

There are two ways to share artwork.

For a single item

Swipe the artwork thumbnail from right to left and
tap Share.

For multiple items

Swipe the desired artwork thumbnails left to right and
tap the Share icon in the top left corner. This icon will
only appear when multiple items are selected.

Once you have selected the filetype you can choose

how you would like to export it.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 22

 File formats
Procreate features several file formats with varying
features suiting different purposes.

PNG JPEG Procreate Photoshop

PNG will flatten your artwork A lossy format that will The native format used for A standard PSD that will
and retain full quality (we call flatten your artwork into a storing all artwork data export layers, layer names,
this lossless). While slightly single layer. JPEG format is inside the app. If using opacity, visibility and blend
larger in file size, PNG will great for quickly sharing an the .procreate format, all modes exactly as per your
also save any transparency image as the file size is low. layer information will be Procreate doc.
you have in your artwork. kept intact.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 23

 Share Destinations
Depending on which filetype youve chosen, you will
see a combination of the following:

iTunes Dropbox Photos Email

Facebook Twitter Weibo

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 24

Email
Easily share your artwork using your
iPads Mail app.

Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.

Select the desired format and Procreate will load

your artwork into an email, ready to send. If you
select a PNG or JPG your image will be displayed
inline. A Procreate file will show an icon.

Pro tip
Why not collaborate with friends by sending
a .procreate file around to see what comes of it?
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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 25

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 Choose the Apps tab

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
Select Procreate View exported files
Create > Import > iTunes feature.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 29

Photos
Saving to Photos is a great way to
save work in progress, finished art or
frequently used items.

Supported filetypes
PNG and JPG.

Sharing to Photos will place your flattened artwork

into your Camera Roll.

Pro tip
If you keep using the same assets in your artwork,
why not save them out to Photos so you can keep
importing them and saving time? This works great
for characters, objects and your own signature.

Choose either JPG or PNG

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 30

Dropbox
Export to your personal Dropbox
account in style.

Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.

If you have the Dropbox app installed, it will open

and ask you to link your account. After doing so,
you are good to go.

If you dont have the Dropbox app installed, a

dialogue box will pop up asking you to enter your
details to access your Dropbox account.

Procreate is only a browser for your Dropbox and as

such does not modify your existing structure. If you
experience problems with Dropbox please contact
the Dropbox team or try unlinking and relinking your
account via Settings app.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Sharing artwork 31

Section 4

Gallery groups
Grouping artwork is another great feature of Procreates
Gallery. Stay on top of your gallery by learning how to
make and name groups.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Gallery groups 32

 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

Moving artwork out of a Group
A Group doesnt have to be permanent.
Its just as easy to move art out of a
Group as it is to move it in.

To move artwork out of a Group, drag one or more

thumbnails to the title bar and let go.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Gallery groups 34

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

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gallery: Gallery groups 35

Gestures
Section 1

General use
The following gestures are commonly used throughout
Procreate and are important to get you started.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 37

Paint, Smudge & Erase
Tap or drag your finger on the canvas
to apply paint, erase or smudge your
art. Try varying the speed of your
finger, as many brushes are affected
by how fast you paint.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 38

Undo an action
Procreate comes with 250 undo
states to make painting a little less
stressful. Just swipe with 3 fingers
from right to left to go back one step
at a time.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 39

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
To instantly fit the canvas to
screen, quickly pinch inwards. For
best results, try lifting your fingers
off the screen as your pinch
finishes.

To return to the exact place you

were before you quick-pinched,
simply reverse your quick-pinch.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 44

Hide or show toolbars
To go into fullscreen drawing, tap 3
fingers on the canvas. The toolbars
will disappear to reveal a small icon in
the corner.

Tap 3 fingers or press the icon to

bring the toolbars back.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: General use 45

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
The following gestures are much more task specific and
once learnt will save a lot of time with repeated tasks.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 47

 Merge multiple layers
Simply pinch two layers together to
merge those layers and any layer
in between.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 48

 Creating layers
Pinch apart 2 layers to insert a
new layer between.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 49

 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 50

 Alpha Lock
Swipe a layer from left to right to
quickly toggle Alpha Lock.

See page 137 for more info on Alpha Lock.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 51

 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

View canvas 1:1
Tapping the canvas with 4
fingers will frame your artwork
at a 1:1 pixel view, meaning 1
pixel onscreen equals 1 pixel
on your canvas.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Gestures: Advanced use 54

Brushes
Section 1

The Procreate brush system

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 56

Game-changing brushes
Youll notice the brushes feel
different in Procreate. Thats Shape
because they are different.

For the last 30 years, brushes in digital

Grain
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. Result

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 57

 Tap twice to open popover

Using the Brush tool

Tapping the paintbrush icon will switch
to paint mode. This where you will spend
most of your time.

Your selected tool will appear blue to indicate it is

active. Tap it again to show the brush library.

Your brush library is a collection of brushes shared

between all of your tools. This means quick and easy
access to an incredible arsenal for painting, smudging
or erasing.

At the top of the popover youll notice the Brush Sets.

These keep your brushes neatly organised. You can
swipe the Brush Sets Panel left and right to navigate.

Once youve selected a brush, tap outside the popover

to close it and begin painting.

Each tool will remember your last settings, so

frequently switching between brushes isnt a hassle.

Pro tip
Tap and hold an unselected Paint, Smudge or Erase icon
to transfer the active brush settings over from the
selected icon. This method can be great for painting and
erasing with exactly the same brush.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 58

 Swipe left and right

Navigating your Brush Sets

Enjoy the many brushes Procreate has
to offer through neat, organised Brush
Sets.

Multiple Sets
Procreate comes with many exciting brushes
organised into convenient themes.

To navigate the dierent pages, swipe left and right

over your Brush Set icons.

To the far right youll find an option to create your

own Brush Set.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 59

 Drag and drop amongst brush sets

Rearranging your Brushes

Drag and drop Brushes and Brush
Sets to improve your workflow.

Procreates shared brush library can be rearranged

to your liking with a drag and drop feature. They
can even be moved in and out of dierent sets if
you require.

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 you can drop it into a
new set.

If the brush you drag is a default brush (that was

there when you bought Procreate) it will duplicate it
so you dont misplace the original.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 60

 Brush Actions
Swipe a Brush from right to left to
reveal context-sensitive actions.

Share
If you have a brush youre finding useful, share it
with friends. See next page for more info.

Duplicate
If you want to further experiment with a
brush while retaining the original, use the
duplicate option.

Delete
Delete a custom brush. Be careful, this is final.

Reset
Default Procreate brushes cannot be deleted,
only reset to their original settings.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 61

 Sharing brushes
Share your best brushes with your
friends or find someone elses on
the inter net.

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
Search the internet or the Procreate Forums for
new brushes to download. See the next page for
more info on importing brushes.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 62

 Tap to import through Dropbox

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
If you have a .brush file online or in an email,
tap and hold it to be prompted to import the
new brush to Procreate. Your newly acquired
brush will be placed in a specially created
folder called Imported. Swipe to the last Brush
Set panel to find it.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 63

 Editing options New Set icon

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 64

 Emulate traditional media
Although Procreate is all about digital
painting, it also has the ability to
mimic real-life painting behaviour -
without the mess.

Dilution
Thinner paint Increasing the dilution value will simulate a thinner
paint with lots of water. It will apply paint and
Amount of paint
smudge at the same time, giving a very fluid result.

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 65

 The digital standard
To paint in a purely digital manner,
enable the Glaze setting.

Glaze
When you turn Glaze on (Advanced Brush Settings
> Dynamics tab) your brush will behave in a purely
digital manner much like Adobe Photoshop. It
Glaze setting will not build up on itself until you release your
finger and paint again.

Glaze and Dilution cannot both be on at the same time.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: The Procreate brush system 66

Section 2

Tweaking your brush settings

Tap a selected brush to see the 25+ settings that control your
brush. The following pages will briefly describe how each slider will
affect your brush.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 67

 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:
Start stroke taper
This will apply a taper to the start of your stroke. The higher the value the
greater the taper.
Stroke settings
End stroke taper
This will apply a taper to the end of your stroke. The higher the value the
What is a Stroke? greater the taper.

When you move your finger or stylus across the Opacity stroke taper
screen, Procreate is plotting your stroke using Opacity stroke taper allows you to adjust the amount of opacity applied
many points - much like a curve on a graph. These to a taper.
points all join together to form a line which can vary
greatly depending on your brushs settings. Size stroke taper
Size stroke taper allows you to adjust the size of the taper.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 68

 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 aected by brush
direction.

Rotation
The rotation slider aects how your brush reacts to directional change. A
range of unique eects can be achieved from a flat calligraphy brush, to
ribbon eects. The rotation slider has three main points:

Shape settings 100% Inverse makes the shape rotate inversely to stroke direction.
'Static' locks shape direction to remain static.

What is a Shape? 'Follow stroke' causes the shape to follow your painting direction.

A shape is just like a stamp. The image you select as Randomised

the Shape will be repeatedly 'stamped' over the When OFFInitial shape direction is based on the strokes beginning.
course of a stroke. You could also think of the Shape When ONdirection is dierent for the beginning of every stroke. This
as a container for the grain. can give each stroke a unique behaviour and a more organic feel.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 69

 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.

Grain settings Rotation

Grain rotation is very similar to Grain movement. This setting will smear
and slur the grain imagebased on directional stroke changes. The
What is a Grain? rotation slider has three main points along the slider:
Procreate brushes are created using dual images. One 100% Inverse makes the grain rotate inversely to stroke direction.
image is for the shape of the brush, and the other is
'Static' locks grain direction to remain static.
for the texture. We call the brush texture, the grain.
'Follow stroke' causes the grain to follow your stroke direction.
Think of the brush shape, as a container for the grain.
And think of the grain, like a paint roller. When you Filtered
paint a stroke, the grain is rolled inside the shape and ON applies Antialiasing to your grain texture. OFF can cause the grain to
on to the canvas. become jagged and coarse.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 70

 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
eect behaves exactly the same as default Photoshop brushes.

Dynamics settings
Opacity variance

What are Brush Dynamics? Speed

Opacity will vary depending on the speed of your stroke.
As the name suggests these settings are applied on-the-fly and allow
for very unique and organic results. Pressure
Opacity will vary depending on the pressure of your smart stylus.

Colour mix Jitter

The stroke will vary in opacity as it is stamped across the canvas.
Fallo
Aects the overall length of the stroke. All eects will be applied
within this setting. For example you might have a brush with Size variance
maximum wetness but if the fallo value is high, it will only be
Speed
applied over a short stroke.
Size will vary depending on the speed of your stroke.
Dilution
Pressure
Dilution is directly related to the Paint characteristic. Varying values
Size will vary depending on the pressure of your smart stylus.
of dilution will create dierent levels of water in your paint. When a
high amount of dilution is applied to your brush, the brush will mix Jitter
and pull more paint as you drag it around. The stroke will vary in size as it is stamped across the canvas.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 71

 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
General settings reach an incredible 400% radius. Essentially, more spacing allows bigger
sized brushes.
Here you will find characteristics that
apply to the brush as a whole. Min size
Minimum size is responsible for determining the minimum radius the
brush can be lowered to.
Properties
Orient to iPad Screen
Opacity limits
When ON, oriented will cause the brush to orientate
itself according to the iPad screen orientation. Max opacity
Maximum opacity is responsible for determining the maximum amount
Use stamp preview
of opacity the brush can reach.
When ON, stamp view will cause your brush preview
to display only the brush shape file. Stamp view can Min opacity
be very useful when the grain is not a significant part Minimum opacity is responsible for determining the minimum amount of
of the brush. opacity the brush can be lowered to.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 72

 Import shape/grain from:
iTunes
Use an image from Procreates iTunes folder on your iPad.

Dropbox
Import an image from your personal Dropbox account.

Photos
Load an image from your Photos library.
Source settings Pro Library
Tapping this option will load the Procreate source library. This library
What are source textures? contains the shapes and grains used to create the great tools that ship
with Procreate. The Pro library is a great way to familiarise yourself with
Procreate brushes are created using dual images; One
the Procreate brush system and see what kind of image makes an
image for the shape of the brush, and one image for
interesting brush!
the texture. Think of the brush shape as a container for
the grain. And think of the grain, like a paint roller. Pro tip
When you paint a stroke, the grain is rolled onto the Shape and grain files should generally be round in nature. Note that
canvas. Using the below settings, you can modify the white areas of the image will cause the brush to apply paint and black
image source files used to create the brush. areas be transparent.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Tweaking your brush settings 73

Section 3

Making custom brushes

Now that youve learnt about navigating your brush
library and the many characteristics behind each
brush, youll be ready to make your very own brushes
in Procreate!

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 74

 Tap to create a
custom brush

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 75

 Create your own brush
Grain
Source
Experimenting with new brushes can be
a lot of fun, with great results!

Tapping the + icon will take you to the brush creation

screen, where you can import images for the
foundations of a Procreate brush; Shape and Grain.

Shape
Source

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 76

The pieces that
make up a Procreate brush
Shape
The brush shape is a container that houses the Shape
grain. Whatever your grain is, it will fit inside the
shape just like a stencil.

Grain 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. Result

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 77

 Use 100% black for pure transparency
Create your own grain/shape
The most amazing brushes can come
from experimenting. A couple of
things to remember so you keep
making the best possible brushes:

With Procreates square canvas size creating a

brush has never been easier. Here are a couple of
tips to make your brush creation easier:

Pure black will be 100% transparent, while 100%

white will be solid. Anywhere in between will be
semi-transparent.

Remember, grains work better when they are

seamless. There are some great tutorials online on
how to make seamless textures.

The key to discovering great brushes is to

experiment. Put a random photo into grain or
Use 100% white for pure opaqueness shape, tweak a few sliders and see what happens!

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 78

 Inverting source images
Within the Source tab of the
Advanced Brush Settings popover you
can invert your source image.

Tap the thumbnail of the source image with two

fingers to invert it. 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
eect of a grain.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 79

 Rotating source images
Within the Source tab of the Advanced
Brush Settings popover you can rotate
your source image.

Pinch and rotate the thumbnail of the source image

to rotate it in 90-degree increments. This is
particularly handy for when you have a specialty
brush that needs to follow an exact path or direction.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 80

 Sharing custom brushes
Sharing your custom brush is simple!

By swiping the thumbnail of the brush in the Brushes popover you will reveal the Share option. Tap Share
to package your custom brush into a .brush file to sent to friends via email, push to your Dropbox account
or export to iTunes.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Brushes: Making custom brushes 81

Smudge
Section 1

Smudging colours
Find out how to get the most responsive colour-blending on a
mobile platform. Procreate uses 64-bits per pixel to smudge and
once youve tried it you wont go back to anything less.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Smudge: Smudging colours 84

 Different strengths,
different effects.
The Smudge tool gives varying effects
depending on the value of the opacity
slider.

Higher strengths
Full
strength By using Smudge at full pressure, colour will really
be pushed around, like wet paint. It will mess up
colours very quickly and quite often give harsh
drag lines as you smear the paint.

Lower strengths
At lower strengths smudge will be smoother and
softer. This is particularly useful for creating very
smooth gradients or smudging pencil drawings.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Smudge: Smudging colours 85

Erase
Section 1

The Eraser tool

Fixing mistakes has never been easier. Youll also
learn how to match erasing with artwork.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Erase: The Eraser tool 87

 Eraser tool

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Erase: The Eraser tool 88

 Match your eraser with the
style of the art
By matching your eraser with your
painting brush, youll hide obvious
areas that youve touched up.

Using the example of the artwork to the left, we

might choose something with very little texture, as
the strokes are quite smooth and flat.

Or, if youre sketching, pick an eraser that has a

similar texture to the pencil. That way, if you
happen to go over any lines you wont get an
obvious, harsh line like you would with a flat eraser.

You can also use this technique to fade o or

lighten areas where the pencil is too dark.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Erase: The Eraser tool 89

Section 2

Other ways to correct artwork

Read about how to quickly manage your mistakes
using undo/redo and clearing a layer.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Erase: Other ways to correct artwork 90

 Undo and redo
Procreate comes with up to 250 undo
and redo states. Thats a lot.

Tap the undo/redo arrow to find where you went

wrong, and try again. When cycling through your
undo/redo states a notification will let you know
which action was last aected by the undo/redo.

Alternatively, you can use the gestures. See page

37 for more information on gestures.

Once Procreate has been exited from Multitasking or

you return to the Gallery, all undo and redo states will
be cleared.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Erase: Other ways to correct artwork 91

 Clear the selected layer

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Erase: Other ways to correct artwork 92

Colours
Section 1

Selecting colours
Press the colour swatch in the top right of the toolbar to access
the Procreate Colour popover.

From here you can play with colour or use a favourite colour
that youve saved as a swatch.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Selecting colours 94

 Previous colour New colour Colour selection

Playing with colour

Procreate comes with a colour
Saturation picker that encourages you to play
Current colour reticle
and experiment.

Brightness Colour Ring

Tap on the colour icon in the top right, to open
the colour popover. By default you will see the
Colour Ring.
Hue

The previously selected colour will be displayed

on the left split of the preview to compare with
the new colour. You can return to the previous
Current palette title
colour by tapping in this area.

Once youre happy with the colour, tap o the

Favourite swatches.
Swipe right to left to pane to close it or see the next section on how to
reveal more palettes. save your colour as a favourite.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Selecting colours 95

 Even more control
When youve found the perfect hue, use the zoomable colour
disc to get even more colours to choose from.

Zoomable saturation disc

Pinch the saturation disc to expand it out to full size. Once expanded, the saturation
disc will work just the same as the smaller size but youll have much more control over
fine adjustments. Procreate will remember if you prefer to work in this mode which can
be great for complex shading using similar values.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Selecting colours 96

 Current Colour New colour Colour selection

An alternate colour picker

Procreate also comes with a classic
colour picker thatll be familiar to
veterans of digital art.

Classic colour picker

To enable this colour picker, head to
Actions > Prefs > Classic colour picker.

Tap on the colour icon in the top right to open the

colour pane. Choose your colour using the HSB
sliders.

Hue
The previously selected colour will be displayed on
the left split of the preview to compare with the
Saturation
new colour.
Brightness Once youre happy with the colour, tap o the pane
to close it or see the next section on how to save
your colour as a favourite.

Favourite swatches.
Swipe right to left to
reveal more palettes.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Selecting colours 97

Sampling from the canvas
Rapidly select a new colour from
anywhere on your canvas.

Eyedropper
Tap and hold anywhere on the canvas to invoke
the Eyedropper. If you find the gesture too quick,
head to the Actions popover > Prefs tab to
change the delay.

Your new colour is displayed on the top half of the

loupe and the current colour on the bottom half. As
soon as you let go, your new colour is selected.

See page 185 for more info on the Actions popover.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Selecting colours 98

Section 2

Saving colours
Finding the perfect colour can be a difficult task. Swatches
make things easier by allowing you to save an exact colour to a
Swatch Palette for later use.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Saving colours 99

 Currently
selected colour

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.

Swatch palette
Selecting a saved colour
Saved swatch
Tapping a saved swatch will load that colour, ready
Empty swatch for use.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Saving colours 101

 Removing unwanted swatches
When youre done with a particular
swatch, remove it from your palette.

Delete your swatch

Tap and hold on the unwanted swatch, drag it
outside the Colour popover and let go. The swatch
will fall o-screen and be permanently deleted.

Alternatively, double tap a swatch to be greeted

with the pop up menu to delete.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Saving colours 102

Section 3

Loading more colours

Procreates palette library allows you to save multiple colour
schemes for quick, app-wide access in every artwork.

You can even share your own or import another artists favourite
swatch palette.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Loading more colours 103

 Accessing more Palettes
Quickly load and unload swatch
palettes through Procreates simple
Palette Library.

Open the Palette Library

With the Colour popover open, swipe from right to
left over the currently loaded swatch palette to
reveal the Palette Library. Alternatively, tap the title
of the currently loaded palette.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Loading more colours 104

 Choosing a new Palette
Swap Palettes in and out as you need.

Loading the Palette

Tap the header of the swatch palette (where the
title sits) to select that palette. Youll see a tick
appear on the right to say that it has been loaded.

To exit the Palette Library, swipe anywhere in the

popover from left to right. Youll notice that your
selected palette has now replaced the old one.

Pro tip
You can directly select a swatch in this view without
selecting the whole palette by tapping on it. This
can be very handy to work between several palettes
without having to constantly switch them out.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Loading more colours 105

 Organising swatch palettes
As your collection of swatch palettes
grows, keep them organised in a few
easy steps.

Renaming your swatch palettes

Tap the title of a selected palette to invoke the
keyboard and rename it.

Arranging your palettes

Tap and hold a palette to pull it out of the stack.
Drag and drop it to the desired location.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Loading more colours 106

 Sharing your palettes
Procreate allows artists to share and
import their favourite swatches.

Share a swatch palette

Swipe from right to left over the palette you want to
share. This will expose the Share option.

From here you can share to iTunes, Dropbox or

Email. Your swatch palette will take the title of the
palette and add a .swatches file extension.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Loading more colours 107

 Using other artists palettes
Use the Import Swatches function to
expand your library of colour schemes.

Import a swatch palette

Swipe from top to bottom in the swatch palette
popover to reveal the Import Swatches button. Tap
the button to be greeted with the options to import
from iTunes or Dropbox.

Alternatively, while using your iPad you can just tap

the file in your email client or internet browser to
import it directly. Procreate will recognise the file
and automatically place it in your Palette Library.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Loading more colours 108

 Removing unused palettes
When you no longer need or use a
colour scheme, delete a whole palette
in one action.

Delete a swatch palette

Swipe from right to left over the palette you want
to delete. This will expose the Delete option.

Tap Delete, and then confirm that you still want to

delete the palette. Be careful, because once you
delete a swatch palette there is no way of getting
it back.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Loading more colours 109

Section 4

Fill with colour

ColorDrop is Procreates answer to the well known paint bucket.
Its been fine tuned to give amazing fills when you quickly need
to block out colour. Read on to see how to fill your shapes,
adjust the threshold and keep your ink and colour separate.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Fill with colour 110

 Drag from here

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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 o, simply swipe it the

same way you did to activate it.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Colours: Fill with colour 113

Layers
Section 1

Building up layered artwork

Layers are an extremely versatile benefit, unique to digital painting. Tap
the second icon from the right in the toolbar to access the Layers
popover. This section will cover the basics of working with layers.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Building up layered artwork 115

 Create new layer

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Building up layered artwork 116

 Moving layers
Rearrange layers with a tap and hold.

To change the order of the layers, hold the layer

and drag up or down. Release to set the new order.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Building up layered artwork 117

 Visibility OFF

Layer visibility
Turn a layers visibility on or off by
tapping the left-aligned 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Building up layered artwork 118

 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 eects 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Building up layered artwork 119

 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 bottom layer. Every
layer in between will be merged into one.

Merging layers will apply any blending mode

to the pixels below and will also disregard
any alpha lock.

If you reach your layer limit, look through

your layers for any you are happy with to
merge together. Its best to merge only once
youre happy with what youve drawn.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Building up layered artwork 120

 Background layer
Procreate gives you a free layer to
place a solid colour of your choosing
underneath your canvas.

To change the colour, tap on the Background layer

at the bottom of the layers panel. You can choose
any colour you like and access any favourites you
have saved along the way.

In some cases, you may want to turn the layer o

to export a PNG with transparency. To do this, tap
the Layer Visibility icon, as per turning o a normal
layer. You will then see the grid background,
indicating transparency.

Tap the Background layer

to change the colour

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Building up layered artwork 121

Section 2

Extra layer options

Once you have the Layers popover open, select a layer by tapping on
it and tap it again to access the layer options.
Read on for explanations of each feature you can tweak per layer.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Extra layer options 122

Tap title to edit

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 4th, that layer will be
called Layer 4.

Selecting the Rename option will invoke the iPad

keyboard. When you are finished editing, tap the
return or dismiss keyboard key.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Extra layer options 123

 Clear and Fill

Clear and Fill layer

Quickly clear a layers contents or fill
it with the currently selected colour.

Clear layer
Just like it suggests, it will clear the entire layer. It
will not, however, reset the blending mode, or
opacity levels you have set for that layer.

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Extra layer options 124

 Masked area Select Contents

Select layer contents

Quickly choose the area of paint on
the canvas for greater control over
further actions.

By tapping Select layer contents, you will enter

Selections mode and immediately see an applied
selection. From here you can transform your
selection, copy it, paint inside it, etc.

When you are finished with the selection, just tap

the Selections icon to finalise it.

Non-masked area

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Extra layer options 125

Section 3

Blending modes
This section will give a brief description on the blend modes available
in Procreate. You can change the blend modes by tapping the letter
representing the blend mode running down the right side of the Layers
popover.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Blending modes 126

 Darken blend modes
Multiply
The best mode for darkening. Great for creating
shadows and removing whites and other light colours.

Linear Burn
Darker than Multiply but less saturated than
Color Burn.

Color Burn
Darker than Multiply with more saturated
mid-tones and slightly reduced highlights.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Blending modes 127

 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 eect, causing awesome
eects like blooming lights or image burn.

Color Dodge
Brighter than the Screen blend mode. Typically
results in saturated mid-tones and blown highlights.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Blending modes 128

 Contrast
Overlay
Uses a combination of the Screen blend mode on
the lighter pixels, and the Multiply blend mode on
the darker pixels.

Hard Light
Works similar to Overlay but uses the selected
layers intensity.

Soft Light
A half-strength application of the Overlay mode
resulting in a softer, more organic eect.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Blending modes 129

 Difference
Exclusion
Produces an eect like that in a negative
photograph but with less contrast to the Dierence
blend mode. Mid range colours tend to go grey and
washed out.

Dierence
Produces a negative or inverted eect relative to
the dierence between the layers. Black pixels
denote no dierence 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Blending modes 130

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Blending modes 131

Section 4

Quick layer actions

Swipe a layer to the left to access 4 options:
Select, Copy, Duplicate or Delete.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Quick layer actions 132

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Quick layer actions 133

 Duplicate
Duplicating a layer can be great for
trialling changes without affecting the
original.

Duplicated layer To duplicate your layer, swipe the layer thumbnail in

will be placed the Layers popover to see the Duplicate option.
above original
Tap the Duplicate icon and your layer will be copied
and pasted as a new layer.

If you have reached the maximum number of layers

you will need to merge layers to make room for the
duplicate layer.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Quick layer actions 134

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Quick layer actions 135

Section 5

Advanced layer features

This section explains 2 advanced features:
Alpha Lock and Reference Layer.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Advanced layer features 136

 Alpha Lock
indicator 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 o, 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Layers: Advanced layer features 138

Adjustments
Section 1

Applying an effect
Transform your artwork with professional image effects.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Applying an effect 140

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Applying an effect 142

 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!

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Applying an effect 143

 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 Adjustments : Applying an effect 144

Section 2

Enhancing an image
This section will help unlock the power of advanced image
adjustments such as HSB, Color Balance and Curves.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 145

 Hue, Saturation, Brightness
HSB allows you to adjust the hue, colour strength and
brightness of any given layer.

Hue

Toggle visibility

Saturation

Brightness

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 146

 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 dierent 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 147

 Fine tune colour
Finely adjust the tonal values of your
artwork, by using Color Balance
Highlights
modifiers.

Midtones
Highlights
Shadows
Highlights will adjust the lighter levels in the layer.

Midtones
Adjusting the middle tones of a layer is the best
way to achieve a fairly even adjustment. By
default, Midtones are ON

Shadows
Tapping Shadows will allow you to adjust the
colours of the darker areas in a layer.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 148

 Curves
The tonal curve is probably the most powerful adjustment.

White point

Highlights

Midtones

Shadows

Black point

The layer tonal values are represented as a straight line on the grid. Moving a node in the top area of the grid will
adjust the highlights of your layer. Moving a node in the centre of the line, will adjust the midtones and moving a
node in the bottom section will adjust darker areas of your layer.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 149

 New node

Manipulating points
Tapping anywhere inside the grid will
create a node which will bend the
curve.

Dragging a node up will aect the lightness of

your layer. Dragging a node down will aect 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 150

 RGB channels
Overall Gamma Unlock the power of curves
by isolating the RGB channels
Red channel
of your layer.
Green channel With Procreate, youre not limited to adjusting
the overall gamma. You can also adjust layers
Blue channel 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 eects.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 151

 Recolor
Quickly and conveniently change areas of colour with a live preview.

Current
colour

Threshold

Cancel
Recolor crosshair

Recolor is a great way for graphic artists to tweak specific areas of colour without the hassle of erasing and re-
cutting into existing shapes. In the above image weve turned the previously red backpack to a green. Recolor
works best on flat colours.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 152

 The Recolor crosshair
There are two methods to moving
the crosshair: tap or drag.

Tap
Tapping the screen will apply the recolour that
was being shown and move the crosshair to
the new location. This works great for doing
multiple fills in quick succession.

Make use of the

Drag
Colour popover to nail Dragging your finger will move the crosshair
that perfect colour
around without applying the recolour. Use this
to retarget ares to recolour.

Both methods let you use Recolor with the

Colour popover open which can be great for
fine tuning your colour in situ.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Adjustments : Image adjustments 153

Transform
Section 1

Basic manipulation
Learn the basics for Procreates Transform tool with a rundown
of each UI element and how your layer contents can be
manipulated.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 155

 Transform mode ON Node Object bounds

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 156

 Origin point Blue Magnetics guide

Magnetics
Think of magnetics as intelligent
Toggle guides to help you keep your
Magnetics
transforms aligned and ratios correct.

To turn on Magnetics, tap the icon of the magnet

so it turns blue. To turn it o, tap it again so it
returns to silver.

How can it help me?

While Magnetics are on you will see blue guides
pop up on the screen while youre dragging a silver
node around. This shows you a particular
alignment that might be helpful.

For example, when dragging a silver node on the

right/left edge of an object, Procreate will maintain
perfect movement along only the x axis.

Magnetics will help you out with rotation, x/y axis

movement and scale. It can even be turned o
mid-transform to get the best of both worlds.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 157

Magnetics readout

Repositioning your work

Artists will be constantly tweaking
their art to get the perfect layout. With
Procreates Transform tool, its super
quick and easy.
Rotate 45
clockwise

Moving
Rotate 45
anti-clockwise After activating transform just tap and drag one
finger to move the layer.
Flip horizontally

Rotating
Flip vertically
Pinch and rotate your fingers to change the
orientation of your layer. Alternatively, use the quick
rotate buttons to snap it to 45 increments.

Flip
Flip the subject horizontally or vertically from its
centre point.

Pro tip:
Dont forget that Magnetics can be handy for
moving layers precisely by snapping to certain
angles and axes.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 158

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 159

 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 o). 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 160

 The Fit tool
Quickly fit your imported image
or layer to the canvas.

With Magnetics
Fit the layer contents to uniformly fit the
canvas with maximum coverage. This will
result in the image overflowing the canvas
boundaries, resulting in cropped artwork
once committed.
Fit to screen

Without Magnetics
Fit the layer contents uniformly to the
canvas boundaries. No part of the image will
be cropped.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 161

 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.

Undo and redo

If youre in the middle of a complex
transform and you only want to go back
one step, simply tap the undo button! All of
your steps are saved separately while in
Reset
Transform to make life easier.

Pro tip:
Once you leave transform mode Procreate
Undo
will compact all of those transform actions
into one step, making them into one undo.
Redo This is great for undoing and redoing to see
if the change you made looks right or not.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Basic manipulation 162

Section 2

Advanced manipulation
This section will explain the power of the distort and shear tools.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Advanced manipulation 163

 Distort
Procreates impressive distort feature
makes three-dimensional 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Advanced manipulation 164

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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 aected by zoom level,

so the closer you are to your painting, the smaller
the nudge will be.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Advanced manipulation 166

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Advanced manipulation 167

 Quick Transform shortcut
While painting it is possible to transform your layer quickly.

If you want to quickly move or scale your layer, hold the Transform button down with one hand and move your layer with the other hand. As soon as
you let go of the Transform button, Procreate will commit the transform and switch you right back to whatever tool you were using before!

Procreate Artists' Handbook Transform: Advanced manipulation 168

Selections
Section 1

Making a basic selection

Use Procreates powerful freehand selection tool to isolate
elements of your artwork for further refinements.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Making a basic selection 170

 Selections mode ON

Enabling Selection mode

As soon as you tap the Selections
icon, Selection mode becomes active
and the icon glows blue.

You'll notice that when you touch the canvas you

Modifiers won't be painting any more, you'll be outlining
your selection.

Youll notice the sidebar has several disabled

selection modifiers. These become available as you
start to draw your selection.

When you're finished using your selection, tap the

Selection icon and you'll notice it turn grey to
indicate the selection is now o. You can now paint
on the canvas as normal.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Making a basic selection 171

 Selection starting point Tap finger for straight lines

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 o, 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.

Drag finger for freehand curves

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Making a basic selection 172

 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Making a basic selection 173

 About masks
If youre unfamiliar with masks and
how they work, heres a basic
explanation to quickly get you on your
way:

Procreate masks work just the same way as you

would mask your house if you were painting the
walls. You put masking tape over the parts you
dont want to get paint on and then paint the parts
that arent covered by the mask.

In Procreate, the masking tape is shown by the

diagonal lines across your painting. These are the
safe areas that wont be aected.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Making a basic selection 174

 Selections mode ON Paint ON

Painting with a mask

With an active mask you can stop
worrying about ruining the important
parts of your artwork.

When you have made your selection and are ready

to get back to your artwork, tap the Paint, Smudge
or Erase tools.

Youll now notice that both the Selections icon and

the Paint/Smudge/Erase icon is highlighted. This
lets you know that youre ready to paint inside your
new mask.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Making a basic selection 175

Section 2

Modifying a selection
Once you're familiar with the basics of Procreate's Selection
tool, check out this section to give you even more control
over your artwork.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 176

 Painting area Masked area Newly added painting area

Add to your selection

You can add extra shapes to your selection by using the Add icon on the side toolbar.

Each time you tap Add, the area inside the dashed line will be added to the current selection. In the example above, you can see the result of
the Add Selection action indicated by the blue line (for example purposes only).

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 177

 Painting area Masked area Newly subtracted masked area

Subtract from your selection

You can cut away shapes from your selection by using the Subtract icon on the side toolbar.

Each time you tap Subtract, the area inside dashed line will subtract from the current selection. If they are overlapping, it will appear to cut a
chunk out of your selection. In the example above, you can see the result of the Subtract Selection action indicated by the blue line (for
example purposes only).

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 178

 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:

Clear
If you have a mask (diagonal lines on canvas)
beneath a non-committed selection (dashed
outline), tapping Clear will remove the non-
committed selection first.
Tapping Clear again will clear the mask, leaving you
with no selection.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 179

 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.

Undo

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 180

 Invert
At any time you can invert a selection by
Invert
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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 181

 Hold to reload mask Notification

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 182

 Tap field to select only painted pixels

Select Layer Contents

Use any existing layers pixel data to
make a selection.

By using the Select Layer Contents feature from

the Layer Details menu, you will select any painted
pixels from that layer. Procreate then activates
Selection mode, giving you the same options as
any other selection.

Using Select Layer Contents will reference

transparency on the current layer, which can be
great for feathering eects.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 183

Adjusting the
selection mask UI
Tucked away in Actions > Prefs, you
will find a setting to adjust the
Selection mask visibility.

Adjusting the slider will change the strength of the

mask pattern so you can get it just the way you
like it. For the best results, adjust it while the
mask is active. Undo

Procreate Artists' Handbook Selections: Modifying a selection 184

Actions
Section 1

Importing images
Learn how to import artwork or images into Procreate.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Importing images 186

Insert from Photos
Import an image from your Access your camera roll
Camera Roll straight to your
canvas.

The first time you use this option your

iPad will ask for access to your
Photos library. Once you allow it youll
see a feed from your camera roll.

Once you select the image you can

move and scale it however you like.

Pro tip:
You can use an image to trace, or just
as a reference. You can also try saving
assets you always use to Photos and
reusing them to save you drawing
them all the time!

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Importing images 187

External source

Take a photo
Take a photo and drop it straight onto your canvas.

Import from iTunes

To access a file from your Procreate iTunes folder,
youll need to add them manually through the
iTunes interface (see page 198 for a screenshot)

Not always
Download from Dropbox available

Procreate can pull an image from your Dropbox

account to your 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 diculties, head to the
Dropbox website.

Paste from Clipboard

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Importing images 188

Section 2

Canvas actions
Flip your canvas for proportion checking, copy
merged artwork and check canvas metadata.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Canvas actions 189

Flip canvas
Flip orientations

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Canvas actions 190

Copy canvas to clipboard
A handy feature that will grab your
whole canvas and take a snapshot
to the clipboard.
Copy whole canvas
Copying your canvas to the clipboard will capture to clipboard
all layers just as you see them. If a layer is turned
off, it will not be captured.

Once the canvas is copied you can paste it into

the current artwork, another one in the gallery or
even another app that accepts images.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Canvas actions 191

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 Details
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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Canvas actions 192

Section 3

Sharing artwork
A brief explanation of the file formats Procreate outputs and
how it uses email, Twitter, Facebook, Weibo and iTunes to
share your artwork and its video.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 193

 File formats
Procreate features several file formats with varying
features suiting different purposes.

PNG JPEG Procreate Photoshop

PNG will flatten your artwork A lossy format that will The native format used for A standard PSD that will
and retain full quality (we call flatten your artwork into a storing all artwork data export layers, layer names,
this lossless). While slightly single layer. JPEG format is inside the app. If using opacity, visibility and blend
larger in file size, PNG will great for quickly sharing an the .procreate format, all modes exactly as per your
also save any transparency image as the file size is low. layer information will be Procreate doc.
you have in your artwork. kept intact.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 194

 Share Destinations
Depending on which filetype youve chosen, you will
see a combination of the following:

iTunes Dropbox Photos Email

Facebook Twitter Weibo

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 195

Email
Easily share your artwork using your
iPads Mail app.

Supported filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.

Select the desired format and Procreate will load

your artwork into an email, ready to send. If you
select a PNG or JPG your image will be displayed
inline. A Procreate file will show an icon.

Pro tip
Why not collaborate with friends by sending
a .procreate file around to see what comes of it?
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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 196

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 Actions: Sharing artwork 197

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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 Actions: Sharing artwork 199

iTunes Choose the Apps tab

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
Select Procreate View exported files
Create > Import > iTunes feature.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 200

Dropbox
The super-handy cloud service
Dropbox makes an appearance to
help you access data online.

Support filetypes
PNG, JPG, Procreate and PSD.

If you have the Dropbox app installed on your

device, the first time you choose this Procreate will
switch to it and ask you to log in. Once you have
logged in, it will remember the link.

If you dont have the Dropbox app installed, a

dialogue will pop up prompting you to enter your
account details. Again, once you have logged in, it
will remember the link.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 201

Photos
Saving to Photos is a great way to
save work in progress, finished art or
frequently used items.

Supported filetypes
PNG and JPG.

Sharing to Photos will place your flattened artwork

into your Camera Roll.

Pro tip
If you keep using the same assets in your artwork,
why not save them out to Photos so you can keep
importing them and saving time? This works great
for characters, objects and your own signature.

Choose either JPG or PNG

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 202

Video
While you create your artwork
Procreate is always recording in
glorious, 1080p high definition!*

Seeing how someone creates a masterpiece can

be just as interesting as the finished product. Its
great for learning new techniques, too!

Procreate can export your video to Photos, email,

Dropbox or iTunes (which can all be seen on the
previous pages). The video will be automatically
sped up too, to keep it interesting.

By exporting to Photos you can use the built-in

sharing features of iOS, making it even easier to
share with friends!

Pro tip:
Why not add some music to your video before you
share it? There are some great video editing apps
for iPad that can help you edit, re-time and add
music to your video.
* On the condition that your canvas resolution is a
minimum of 1080 pixels high.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Sharing artwork 203

Section 4

Connecting devices
If youre using a smart stylus supported by Procreate youll
find information on how they work with Procreate and how to
sync them to the app.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Connecting devices 204

Choose your stylus
If you have no stylus selected,
youll see a list of the
Select stylus
supported devices.

Selecting your stylus will enable the SDK

(Software Development Kit) that makes
your stylus work with Procreate.

Procreate will scan for your device and if

youve turned it on, once found, the panel
will update to reveval a host of options.

At any time you can turn o the SDK and

return to finger painting by tapping the
name of your stylus.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Connecting devices 205

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
The stylus can send Procreate a small amount of
information. Once your stylus is connected, this will
update with the relevant information.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Connecting devices 206

 How Procreate works with a
smart stylus
When you have a smart stylus
connected Procreate will dynamically
alter the opacity and/or thickness of
a brush to simulate real life.

For instance, changing the Opacity Pressure slider

to Max will strongly aect the opacity strength as
Stylus behaviour
you apply pressure.

Likewise, with Size Pressure. Setting that to Max

will strongly aect how large the brush gets
according to the pressure you apply.

A brush that has Glaze turned on will not have

opacity settings available as those are overruled by
the glaze rendering technique.

Stylus behaviour Pro tip:

If you wish to have your stylus operate like a dumb
stylus (i.e. turn off pressure sensitivity) all you have
to do is go to Actions > Devices > None.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Connecting devices 207

Section 5

Preferences
This is where you will find ways to customise the
interface to better suit your workflow. You can change
the toolbars from right to left, make them autohide, and
play with the delay of the Eyedropper.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Preferences 208

 Quick pinch fits the canvas inside the interface

Canvas remembers your manual canvas rotation

Show an outline of your brush while painting

Locate the sidebar on the left or right

Use the square colour picker with HSB sliders

Interface hides at set duration

Eyedropper activates at set duration

Adjust how obvious the selection mask is

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Preferences 209

Section 6

Finding help
A list of useful links that you might find handy down the track.
From the Handbook you are reading now to links to the artists
Community and Support Forums.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Finding help 210

 Follow this link

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 Artists' Handbook Actions: Finding help 211

Procreate Handbook
If you want to re-download or access
this guide later.

Should you ever need to redownload this

Follow this link
Handbook, tap the Customer support button to go
to the download link.

For those countries that we cannot oer the

Handbook through iTunes, we have oered 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Finding help 212

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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.

Search is your friend

Before submitting a new bug report or idea, check
whether someone has already reported it. It may
even already be answered, in which case you save
everyone some time!

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Actions: Finding help 215

Reference
Section 1

Artwork credits
Artists all over the world are creating astonishing artwork using
Procreate. This section is a quick reference to credit artists
work which appears in this handbook.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Artwork credits 217

Artwork credits
The following Procreate art has been used in this User Guide.
Many thanks to the talented artists for their work:

Spanish Airport Summoner Apprentice

by Nikolai Lockertsen by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111
http://www.lockertsen.net http://www.asuka111.net

Relaxing Cherub
by Nikolai Lockertsen by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111
http://www.lockertsen.net http://www.asuka111.net

Pro Suit Mystic Forrest Elf

by Pablo Uchida by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111
http://pablocafe.seesaa.net http://www.asuka111.net

Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Artwork credits 218

Artwork credits (continued)

Stargazer New Drink

by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111) by Nikolai Lockertsen
http://asuka111.net http://www.lockertsen.net

Sub Fire Marshmallows & Monsters

by Nikolai Lockertsen by Bill Robinson
http://www.lockertsen.net http://flimflammery.com

Linggo Ng Wika Marketplace

by Juan Paolo Ferrer by Nikolai Lockertsen
http://www.lockertsen.net

Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Artwork credits 219

Artwork credits (continued)

Kasumi Outpost
by Pablo Uchida by Felix Haas
http://pablocafe.seesaa.net http://www.felixhaas.de

Subway Chase Rainbow Circuit

by Nikolai Lockertsen by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111)
http://www.lockertsen.net http://asuka111.net

Memories Lamp Wrong Turn

by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111) by Patipat Asavasena (aka Asuka111)
http://asuka111.net http://asuka111.net

Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Artwork credits 220

Artwork credits (continued)

Escaping Time
by Kyle Lambert Coloured Hair
http://www.kylelambert.co.uk by James Cuda

Diner Bizango
by Nikolai Lockertsen by Shane Plante
http://www.lockertsen.net http://shaneplante.blogspot.com.au

No further Drabbit
by Nikolai Lockertsen by Ben Hickling
http://www.lockertsen.net http://benhickling.deviantart.com/gallery/

Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Artwork credits 221

Section 2

Light reading
A quick section shining some light on us, Savage Interactive,
our Community Forums and the obligatory legal mumbo jumbo
we need to disclose just in case.

Procreate Artists' Handbook Reference: Light reading 222

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.

Procreate Artists' Handbook 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