Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog!
This week I put together a little mini-tutorial on how to use the drawing app Procreate! Procreate is a really useful app for creating digital designs, and it has so many tools you can use to make the artwork of your dreams.
However, with so many tools, it can feel overwhelming at times. That's why I created this mini-tutorial! To help you become accustomed to the many tools and skills of Procreate.
I must disclose that there are a few downsides, however. Procreate costs $9.99, and it does only work on Apple iPads.
*Note: I use the terms "artboard" and "canvas" interchangeably.
Without further ado, let's learn about Procreate!
Procreate icon
Stylus Pen
I'm not fancy enough to have an Apple Pencil. I found this stylus pen for $25 on Amazon and it works great! I tend to charge it overnight and use it during the day. To turn it on, all I have to do is press the button. When it glows blue, I know it's working. Apple Pencils are Bluetooth and connect to your specific iPad, but my stylus works on any electronic screen.
Creating an Artboard
The first thing you need to do on Procreate is create an artboard. This is the actual surface you will draw on. When you open the app, you will see a gallery. This is where your work will be stored. In the top right corner, you will see a + symbol. Tap on this to open a dropdown menu of the different sized artboards you can use. When you get into more specific design projects, you may select various sizes, or even determine the size yourself. For now, I used the basic "Screen Size" canvas.
Brush Library
Once you have created a new artboard, you will see many tool options in a toolbar at the top. The first one we will look at is the brush library. Tap on the icon that looks like a paintbrush. You will see a dropdown menu of all of the different types of brushes that Procreate has available. There are a LOT of options, but don't get overwhelmed! The brushes differ in opacity, texture, thickness, stroke, and more. Take some time to look through them and see what your options are.
Editing a Brush
After you've looked through the brushes, tap on one to select it. Here I'm using a brush called "Studio Pen," under the menu "Inking." This is one of my favorite brushes. Once you have a brush selected, each brush has more options for alterations. Simply tap on the selected brush, and a new menu will open up with editing options. Things can get kind of crazy here. The most common alteration I use is a tool called "Streamline." This affects the flow of the brush stroke when you are drawing. You can see how when I turn the streamline high, my brush stroke flows more smoothly. You can see there are many menu options on the side, such as "Stroke Path," "Taper," "Shape," "Grain," and more. These can truly transform a brush into a new brush. If you are going to make dramatic changes to a brush, I recommend that you make a duplicate of the brush, so you don't lose the original brush and you can keep the changes you make. I typically only adjust the streamline, so I didn't do that here. However, to make a new brush, return to the brush selection page and swipe left on the brush. Tap duplicate. Then, tap on your new brush, select "About this brush" at the bottom of the menu, tap on the name of the brush, and give it a new name. This is a really cool feature, because it allows you, the artist, to almost create your own brushes!
Line Thickness and Opacity
Outside of the brush editing menu, you can adjust the line thickness and opacity of your brush strokes at any time. On the left side of the screen, you will see a few sliding bars. The top one represents the thickness of the brush. When you raise the bar, the brush will become the thicker, and when you lower the bar, the thickness decreases. The lower bar is the opacity bar, and it works the same way. Different brushes allow for different levels of thickness and opacity, so you'll have to play around and see how you can transform a brush.
Fun Brushes
Here are some of the more fun brushes! As you can see, there are many different brushes to choose from, and don't forget that each one can be edited dramatically. The possibilities for brushes are essentially endless!
*Note: Many independent artists create and sell brushes you can purchase and download to use in Procreate. Some of my favorites are brushes designed to create strands of hair, which is something I find particularly difficult to draw. Not only are these brushes helpful to you, but you are supporting independent artists! Double win!
Using the Eraser
The eraser tool is located on the top of the tool bar. It works just like the brushes, only instead of adding strokes it takes away! You can also adjust the thickness and the opacity of the eraser. You can even pick a "brush" for the eraser. This means that the style of the eraser can change. For example, if you are using the smoke brush and you want to erase in the same style, tap on the eraser tool and select the smoke brush to transform the eraser!
Redo and Undo
Let's learn a shortcut! If you draw a line that you're not happy with, instead of switching back and forth between the brush and the eraser, simply tap with two fingers to undo the action. If you'd like to bring that line back, tap with three fingers to redo. This does work for extended pieces of actions; for example, say you drew 5 separate lines. If you double tap 5 times, you can undo each one. To bring them back, triple tap 5 times. The arrows on the side bar, under the opacity, work the same way. I just find it more efficient to double or triple tap to undo and redo my drawing actions.
Shapes
Time to learn some basic shapes! To create a perfect circle, draw a shape that looks roughly like a circle, but don't lift up your stylus. If you complete the circle and keep holding, Procreate will automatically form an ellipse, or an oval. Then, still holding the shape with your stylus, use another finger to tap the screen, and the ellipse will snap into a perfect circle. Lift your pen before lifting your finger, and there you have a perfect circle! If you prefer, you can lift the pen after the ellipse has been formed. Then at the top of the screen you will see an new option that says "Edit shape." Tap that, and you will see options for the various shapes you can make. You can also see anchor points on your shape, that you can manually adjust to create the shape you are looking for. This works for any shape. You can see that I drew a rough outline of a square, and when I edited the shape, I had many options including a quadrilateral, a rectangle, a perfect square, and more. You have a lot of range when it comes to creating shapes!
Layers and Colors
Let's learn about one of the most important tools in Procreate: layers! Layers allow you to draw and erase different elements of your work without affecting others. As you can see, I drew a rough outline of a flower. Then, up at the top of the tool bar, I selected the "Layer" tab, which looks like two overlapping boxes. A dropdown menu appears, showing my layers. So far, my layers only consist of my background, which is the white background of the artboard, and Layer 1, which is my flower. By tapping the + in the top right corner of the menu, I can add a new layer, called Layer 2. I then clicked out of the layers menu and into the colors menu, which is little circle in the top right corner of the toolbar. The color wheel allows you to select any color you want! I chose to use pink, yellow, and green to roughly fill in my flower. Then we can see the magic of layers! By going back into my layers menu, I can see there are checked boxes on the right-hand side of each layers. By toggling these boxes on and off, I can control whether or not they are visible on my artboard. This is helpful if you need to see a layer individually, without deleting another. You can also adjust the stacking of layers. By tapping and dragging, I moved Layer 2 below Layer 1, which put the colors behind the outline of the flower. For more editing options, tap on an individual layer to see a menu, with options like "Rename," "Copy," "Fill Layer," and more. I chose to rename Layer 2, "Colors." I like to rename my layers so I know exactly what is on each layer. One final important tool in the layers menu is the little "N" icon next to the checked boxes. Tap on the N to open a new dropdown menu, where you can adjust things like the opacity or tint of a specific layer.
Colors in Shapes
If you'd like to add colors to your shapes, it's really simple! Start by creating your shape. Select a color. Then, tap and hold on the color icon and drag the color into the shape. If you drag into empty space, the entire background of that layer will fill with the color. You can change colors by tapping and dragging a new color. To go back to the previous color, tap and hold on the color icon until it changes to the previous color.
Adding a Picture
If you'd like to import your own pictures into your artboard, here's how! Tap the icon that looks like a wrench on the top left of the toolbar, next to "Gallery." Then tap "Add." Under this menu, you will see many options. Select "Insert a photo" to bring up your photo library (you may have to give permission to Procreate first). Choose the photo you'd like to add. Once it is on your artboard, you are free to adjust and resize the picture however you'd like. If you tap into your layers menu, you will see that the picture has it's own layer, so it won't directly affect any other work you may have on the canvas.
Adding Text
Adding text is very similiar to adding a photo! Under the same menu, select "Add text" to bring up a text box. Type what you'd like, and then you are able to edit the size and style of your text. You can get really advanced by stylizing the font, color, spacing and more. Text boxes also create their own layer automatically.
Saving and Sharing your Work
When you are satisfied with your work, it's time to share it! First, tap the word "Gallery" at the top left corner of the toolbar to bring you back to your gallery. Don't worry, your work is automatically saved! In the gallery, tap on the name below your artwork (it will say "Untitled Artwork") to change the title. Here I named it "Flower." Then, go back into your art and tap the wrench icon again. This time, select the "Share" icon, and you will see the various forms you can share your work in. I selected a PNG. From there, you would be able to save the art to your camera roll, email it, upload it, or even text it! There are many options. Choose what works best for you, and you're done! If you make any changes to your art after you've shared it, you'll need to re-share it to include the updates.
That's it!
Thank you for following along. I hope this mini-tutorial was helpful to you. There are so many factors to Procreate that it would take a LOOOONG blog to get through everything, and I can promise you that I don't even know all of the secrets of Procreate. But I use this app to create digital drawings, and it's really helpful and fun.
If you have your own tips and trips, leave them in the comments!
Again, thank you for following along.
Have a fantastic day!
Comments
Post a Comment