I was excited, and a little overwhelmed, when I first purchased Procreate on my new iPad. I wanted to get right into drawing but had no idea where to begin. In this blog, I'll go over my main canvas dimensions, useful brushes already downloaded with Procreate, layers and what you can do with them, as well as the different setting and effects available. Procreate has the ability to do so much for you, you just have to learn how.
Dimensions
When you first download Procreate, you'll see different canvas size options. There are a lot, so what should you use? Depends on what you are using it for.
A good rule of thumb is to change the DPI of whatever canvas you're creating to 300. DPI stands for dots per inch, and doing this will give you a crisper, less pixelated image. Another tip, if your image is pixelated, is creating a bigger canvas size. For my Instagram digital illustrations, my main canvas size is 3000x3000px. Check out more on canvas dimensions here.
Procreate Brushes
Procreate comes equipped with so many brushes, I didn't know where to start. The question I get asked the most is what brush I use for my digital illustrations. After trial and error, I found the Studio Pen under the inking tab worked best with what I was needing it for. There are calligraphy brushes, painting brushes, even textures and element brushes such as water and fire. Don't be afraid to take some time to play around with them all.
If you are still unhappy with the brushes provided, you can download your own for free! Here is a helpful link to Procreate Folio where you can find not only brushes, but templates and tutorials as well.
Layers
I had never worked with layers before, and when I first started using Procreate, I would draw everything on one layer. DON'T DO THIS! I mean you can, but adding layers can help you stack images on top or behind one another. You can edit certain parts of your artwork without altering other elements. You can hold and move a layer if you want it to be in the background or foreground of your artwork. You can turn off the visibility of layers by unchecking the box on the right. The possibilities are endless.
If you click on a layer, you'll get even more options to alter and edit your work. Rename the layer, alpha lock, mask, clipping mask, invert, reference, merge and combine down. But that's another blog post.
Effects/Adjustments
On the top left of your canvas, you'll see a magic wand. Click that and you'll get options on ways to alter the colors, blur effects, and fun tools like liquify to further your creativity. Play around with motion blur if you're drawing water, or gaussian blur to blend colors for a seamless background. Noise gives your image a grainy effect. Bloom is useful if your drawing light because it can create a glowing effect. Glitch, Halftone, and Chromatic Aberration, gives you glitchy effects. Liquify gives your art a cool marble effect, I even use it to push my art into a better perspective. Here is an example of what you can do with Liquify.
I hope this quick tutorial on the basics of Procreate was helpful. My main piece of advice is to play around. See what works best for you. Use the tools that Procreate has given and go make some art!
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