How to Get Started Using Procreate: A Beginner’s Guide

If you’re trying to get into digital art, Procreate is a great place to start. Procreate is considered one of the best mobile apps for digital art, and there’s a reason for that.

Once you get the hang of it, Procreate is the perfect tool for both professionals artists and people who love to draw or design as a hobby. That being said, if you don’t know anything about Procreate, it can get overwhelming, and you probably won’t even know where to start.

Whether you’re a total beginner or just want to learn a bit more about the app, here are some tips for beginners.

What’s Procreate?

Let’s start with the basics. Procreate is a digital art and graphics editor app developed by Savage Interactive. Procreate was first released in 2011, and has since become the go-to app for digital artists for the iPad. That’s thanks to its many features, clean and responsive interface, and its ease-of-use.

As of right now, you can only use Procreate for the iPad, and Procreate Pocket for the iPhone. Most agree that it’s best to use Procreate on the iPad because of its size, as well as the features it comes with, including Apple Pencil support.

Let’s go over the basics to improve your Procreate experience, so you can start creating amazing digital art.

Download: Procreate ($9.99, in-app purchases available)

Download: Procreate Pocket ($4.99, in-app purchases available)

1. How to Create a New Canvas

Creating a new canvas is the first thing you should do when you launch Procreate. Fortunately, this is super easy, and it’ll only take a few steps:

1. Launch the Procreate app.
2. Tap on the plus (+) icon in the top-right corner of your screen.
3. A small window will pop up with some default canvas sizes. Choose the size you want to use.

   
   

Related: Essential Procreate Gestures You Need to Know

2. Create a Custom Canvas

Procreate offers a bunch of different canvas sizes for you to choose from, but if you can’t find the exact size you need, you can always create your own. Here’s how:

1. On the Procreate canvas gallery, and tap on the plus (+) icon at the top-right corner of the screen.
2. Then, tap on the plus (+) icon at the top-right of the popup window.
3. Customize the size of your canvas.
4. When you’re done, tap on Create.

   
   

3. Change Your Brush or Eraser

You can easily switch pens and eraser styles in Procreate. It’s pretty simple to do, and there are a bunch to choose from in the library.

1. On your canvas, tap the Brush icon in the top-right corner.
2. In the menu that pops up, you can pick your Brush Set (on the left) and your Brush (on the right).

   
   

You can follow these steps to change your eraser too. There are many options for you to try, so you can figure out which one you like best.

Our advice? If you just want to draw cartoon-style art, you can start by trying out either the Monoline or the Script Brushes. Both are in the Calligraphy section.

4. Automatically Create Straight Lines and Shapes

Now that you have your canvas set up, it’s time to start drawing. You might not be the best artist in the world, but Procreate can help you.

You can create straight lines and shapes in a few simple steps:

1. On your canvas, draw any shape you want.
2. When you finish, keep your finger or the Apple Pencil on the canvas for a couple of seconds.
3. Procreate will recognize the shape and immediately turn it into a perfect shape.

   
   

You can create circles, squares, straight lines, and more. But keep in mind that you need to make the most accurate representation of the shape so Procreate can recognize it.

5. Automatically Color Any Shape

Now that you have a shape, it’s time to add some color to it. Don’t worry; you won’t have to paint it yourself. Procreate will do it for you! Just follow these steps:

1. Press and hold the color at the top-right corner of the canvas.
2. Drag the color to your shape or drawing.

   
   

3. Lift your finger or Apple Pencil, and Procreate will automatically fill the shape with that color.

Procreate will automatically paint the shape where you release your finger. Keep in mind that the shape needs to be closed. Otherwise, the paint will cover the whole canvas.

Related: How to Use the Color Picker and Paint Bucket in Procreate

6. Create a New Layer

Layers help artists keep their art separated and organized. That way, if you make any mistake on a new layer, that won’t affect the rest of your drawing.

Here’s how you can create new layers:

1. On your canvas, tap the Layer icon at the top-right corner of the screen (it looks like two squares on top of each other).
2. Tap on the plus (+) icon at the top-right of the popup window.

   
   

Procreate will create a new layer; it’ll be automatically selected. You can change layers using this window too.

7. Never Paint Outside the Lines With Clipping Masks

Procreate has a neat feature that lets you paint your art without going outside your artwork’s borders. It’s called a clipping mask, and it basically enables you to clip a layer into another one, so you can only draw on or paint in the drawing that’s in the layer below.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a new layer, as we learned before.
2. Tap the New layer button, and a small menu will appear.
3. Tap on Clipping Mask.

   
   

4. Now, your new layer has a small arrow pointing to the layer below.
5. Go into your canvas and start painting or drawing. You’ll only see what’s inside the drawing of the layer below.

Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that anything you draw outside doesn’t exist. It’s there; you just can’t see it. This is perfect for adding shade or a new color to your drawings without worrying about going outside the lines.

It’s Time to Draw With Procreate

Now it’s your turn to create your art. You just learned the basics of creating your first canvas and drawing in Procreate. Now, all you have to do is practice and learn how to create amazing art.

Source: makeuseof.com