How to Use Procreate on iOS

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methods

1Creating a Canvas

2Navigating Procreate

3Using the Drawing Tools

4Using Layers

5Selecting and Transforming

6Making Adjustments

7Using Drawing Guides and Drawing Assist

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Article Summary

Procreate is a powerful app that lets you create stunning drawings on your iPad. Although Procreate is made to work wonderfully with an Apple Pencil, a stylus is not required—you can use your fingers and still make great illustrations. And unlike other comprehensive illustration apps available for iPad, Procreate doesn't require a subscription—a one-time fee of $10 is all it takes to use this simple but powerful app. This How.com.vn article will help you get acquainted with Procreate on your iPad.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 7:

Creating a Canvas

1. 
   1
   Open Procreate on your iPad. When you launch Procreate, you'll be taken to the gallery. If you've already been working on a drawing, you could select it from the gallery to open it. But if you're starting something new, you'll have to create a canvas first.
2. 
   2
   Tap +. It's at the top-right corner.
3. 
   3
   Select a template (optional). Procreate has a template for nearly any type of canvas you'd want to create. Most are named after their sizes (or paper sizes).

   • Screen size is a canvas the size of your iPad's screen. This is a good place to start.
   • You can also swipe left on a template and select Edit to change its size and DPI.
4. 
   4
   Tap the rectangle icon to create a custom canvas. If you'd prefer to create a canvas from scratch, tap this icon at the top-right of the New Canvas menu to open the Custom Canvas menu.

   • You can enter the width and height separately in your preferred units (millimeters, centimeters, inches, or pixels).
   • 300 DPI is the minimum for high-quality printing and is great on the screen.
   • If you're printing your work, choose CMYK as the Color Profile. If not, choose RGB.
   • You can tap Canvas properties to set a different background color (the default is white), including a transparent background.
   • You can even name the custom canvas so you can easily select it next time. Just tap the Untitled Canvas field at the top and enter your name.
5. 
   5
   Tap Create to create your canvas. Now you're ready to draw!
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Method 2

Method 2 of 7:

Navigating Procreate

1. 
   1
   Find your painting tools at the top-right. The 5 icons at the upper-right corner are your primary tools for drawing.

   • The paintbrush icon opens your sketching, inking, and painting tools. The Brush Library is organized by tool type, and you can even import custom brushes you find elsewhere.
   • The finger icon is the smudge tool, which lets you smudge, blend, and mix colors. This tool also uses the Brush Library so you can use the same tool shapes to smudge that you do to sketch or paint.
   • The eraser icon launches the eraser, which lets you erase parts of your drawing. You can even use Brush Library-shaped erasers so your erasing matches your art.
   • The icon with overlapping squares is the Layers tool, which lets you place elements of your art on separate layers, making it easy to adjust entire aspects of your drawing in groups.
   • The colored circle is your color panel, where you can choose the color of the active tool.
2. 
   2
   Find the modification tools on the left sidebar. The left sidebar is where you'll the options for adjusting your drawing tools.

   • The top rectangle on the sidebar is the brush size adjuster, which controls the size of all your brushes, smudgers, and erasers.
   • The small square is the Modify tool, which brings up the eyedropper (for selecting and replacing colors).
   • The rectangle below that is the Brush Opacity slider, which controls the opacity and transparency of your tools.
   • Below that you'll see two curved arrows—one for undoing the last action or stroke, and the other for redoing it.
3. 
   3
   Find the editing options at the top-left. This is where you'll find what you'll need to make adjustments to your drawings:

   • Tap Gallery to open your gallery, where you can select images, create new canvases, and share art with others.
   • Tap the wrench icon to open the Actions menu, which is where you can insert objects, modify the canvas, share your image, and access your settings.
   • Tap the magic wand icon to open the Adjustments menu, where you'll find the option to adjust colors, brightness, sharpness, as well as add gradients and effects.
   • The S-like icon is the Selection tool, which lets you select parts of your drawing for editing.
   • The arrow icon to the right of the S is the Transform tool, which lets you move, stretch, resize, and manipulate your selections.
4. 
   4
   Tap the screen with 4 fingers to toggle the menus on and off. If you want to draw without seeing the menus and options on your screen, tapping with 4 fingers at the same time will hide all of the interface features. You can just tap 4 fingers again to bring the menus back up.
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Method 3

Method 3 of 7:

Using the Drawing Tools

1. 
   1
   Tap the brush icon to open the Brush Library. It's in the upper-right corner of Procreate. This displays all of the installed brushes, pens, and other drawing implements in neatly-organized categories.
2. 
   2
   Tap the brush you want to use. You can use pencil and pen "brushes" for sketches and paintbrush-like brushes for adding color.
3. 
   3
   Select a color. Tap the colored circle at the top-right to open the color panel, and then tap the color you want to use.
4. 
   4
   Select the brush size and opacity. On the left sidebar, you'll see two tall rectangular sliders. The top rectangle is for adjusting the brush size—drag your finger or stylus up or down to change the size of the drawing tool. The bottom rectangle adjusts the opacity.
5. 
   5
   Drag your finger or stylus on the canvas to draw. You can switch between brushes, colors, and tools at any time while drawing.
6. 
   6
   Tap with two fingers to undo at any time. This is a quick gesture that will undo the last action. You can also undo the last action by tapping the back-arrow icon on the left sidebar. You can undo up to 250 actions.
7. 
   7
   Tap the Smudge tool to smudge your art. This is the finger icon at the upper-right corner. Like with the Brush tool, you can choose a "brush" and select its size and opacity. Then, use your finger or the stylus to smudge over the desired area.
8. 
   8
   Tap the Eraser tool to erase anything. The Eraser works like the Smudge and Paint tool in that it lets you choose a brush and customize its size and opacity. Once you choose an eraser "brush," you can use your finger or the stylus to remove lines and color from the canvas.
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Method 4

Method 4 of 7:

Using Layers

1. 
   1
   Tap the Layers icon to open the Layers panel. It's the icon of overlapping squares in the upper-right area.

   • When you're working on more elaborate art, it can be helpful to add different elements of your drawing on their layers.
   • When you start a new drawing, you'll just have one layer—the Background Color layer.
2. 
   2
   Tap the + to add a new layer. This places the new layer on top of any existing layers.

   • You can rearrange layers by tapping and dragging the layers to different positions.
3. 
   3
   Name a layer. To give your layer a descriptive name (such as "Reds" or "Accents"), tap the layer twice, and then select Rename. You can then type the name and then tap anywhere on the canvas to close the panel.
4. 
   4
   Tap the checkbox next to a layer to hide/unhide it. If you hide the background layer, this gives you a transparent background, which is great for web graphics.
5. 
   5
   Tap any layer in the Layers panel to make it the active layer. Once you're working with multiple layers, you can tap the layer you want to work on to switch to it instantly.
6. 
   6
   Tap a layer twice to bring up its Options menu. Here is where you'll find helpful options for layers such as the option to Select, Copy, and Merge.

   • The Fill layer option fills the current layer with the color that's currently selected.
   • To color just the artwork on the selected layer, tap Alpha Lock first and then tap Fill layer.
   • Tap Clear to remove everything from the layer without deleting the layer itself.
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Method 5

Method 5 of 7:

Selecting and Transforming

1. 
   1
   Tap the "S" icon to open the Selection toolbar. It's in the upper-left area of Procreate. The toolbar will expand at the bottom.
2. 
   2
   Choose a selection mode. The options are in the tabs in the Selection toolbar:

   • Automatic is helpful when you want to select multiple areas of the drawing. To use it, just tap each of the areas you want to select—dashed lines will appear around all selected areas.
   • Freehand allows you to draw a selection line around any part of the image you wish. You can also switch to Freehand selection mode after making Automatic selections to fine-tune the selection mask.
   • Rectangle and Ellipse let you draw squares or circles around areas to make selections.
3. 
   3
   Draw or tap your selections. If you're using Automatic selections, just tap the items you want to select. Otherwise, use the stylus or your finger to surround the area you want to select.
4. 
   4
   Tap Add to apply your selection. Now that you've selected an area, you can use any of your drawing tools on the selection, add color, and transform it.
5. 
   5
   Tap the arrow icon to open the Transform menu. It's at the top of Procreate. The Transform toolbar will appear at the bottom.
6. 
   6
   Move a selection. Moving your selection is easy:

   • Drag a selection anywhere to move it.
   • To snap it to a grid, tap Snapping at the bottom of the toolbar.
7. 
   7
   Resize or stretch a selection. You can change the size of a selection in two different ways:

   • Tap Freeform at the bottom to drag any of the blue nodes on your selection to bend or stretch it to the desired size.
   • Tap Uniform to retain the proportions of the selection as you change its size.
   • Tap Distort to change the perspective with distortion—just drag one of the corners in the direction that works best for your needs.
   • Tap Warp to move any corner of the selection in the direction of your choice, creating a warping effect.
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Method 6

Method 6 of 7:

Making Adjustments

1. 
   1
   Select a layer or make a selection. You can add adjustments to any layer or selection to fine-tune its coloring, brightness, and sharpness, as well as add blurring, liquification, and cloning effects.
2. 
   2
   Tap the Adjustments menu. It's the magic wand icon at the top-left. This is where you'll find all sorts of enhancements you can make to an image, selection, or layer.
3. 
   3
   Use the first group of adjustments to modify color. The first group on the menu contains options for adjusting the Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Color Balance, Curves, and Gradient Mapping.

   • Each of these tools opens its toolbar that lets you see your changes in real-time before committing.
   • The changes you make will only apply to the active layer or selection.
4. 
   4
   Add blurring effects. The next three options are three different types of blurring effects (Gaussian Blur, Motion Blur, and Perspective Blur) you can customize.
5. 
   5
   Try a filter. The next group, which includes Noise, Sharpen, Bloom, Glitch, Halftone, and Chromatic Aberration, are customizable filters you can use to add special effects. Each of these filters has its adjustment panel—play around!
6. 
   6
   Use Liquify to add warping effects. This option lets you Push, Twirl, Pinch, Expand, add Crystals, and warp Edges for some cool 3D-like effects. You can adjust the size, distortion, pressure, and momentum of the effect in real-time.
7. 
   7
   Try Clone to copy and paste one part of the image onto another. Cloning is easy:

   • After selecting Clone, position the selector over the area you want to copy, and then use your finger or stylus to paint where you want that area to appear.
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Method 7

Method 7 of 7:

Using Drawing Guides and Drawing Assist

1. 
   1
   Tap the Actions menu. It's the wrench icon at the top-left corner.

   • Drawing Guides are lines and grids placed on your drawing that can help you stay within the right proportions.
   • You can also use Drawing Guides to mirror parts of your image for symmetrical drawings.
2. 
   2
   Tap the Canvas tab. It's the second tab at the top of the menu.
3. 
   3
   Toggle Drawing Guide to On

   

   . When Drawing Guide is on, you'll see a basic grid on your canvas.
4. 
   4
   Tap Edit Drawing Guide. This opens a screen that lets you change how the guides work and appear.
5. 
   5
   Select a drawing guide mode. The tabs at the top of the bottom menu define how the guides work:

   • Tap 2D Grid (the default) for a basic square grid that helps you make flat shapes.
   • Tap Isometric to create a triangular grid for 3D drawing.
   • Tap 'Perspective' for a star-shaped grid, also for 3D drawing, but with vanishing points.
   • Tap Symmetry to mirror everything you draw on one side of a directional grid to the other side. This is great for repeating, kaleidoscopic designs.
6. 
   6
   Adjust the look of the guides. The sliders at the bottom let you choose how strongly the guides will appear on the canvas. You can decrease the opacity and thickness if you want them to be less distracting while you draw.
7. 
   7
   Toggle Drawing Assist on or off as needed. Drawing Assist aligns each of your strokes to the guides, sort of like a digital ruler.

   • Drawing Assist is automatically enabled when you're using Symmetry guides.
   • Toggle Drawing Assist back off if you want to draw freehand/against the guides.
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