Procreate for Beginners Video

00:00:00 - Intro

Procreate is a raster-based drawing app that is specifically designed for use with an Apple iPad and an Apple Pencil. You don't necessarily need an Apple Pencil (though you won't have the full functionality of the app), but you do need an iPad as the Procreate app is only available for download in the Apple App Store. The first picture below shows the versions of the iPad that are compatible with the Procreate app currently, and the second picture below shows which of the Apple Pencils are compatible with which of the Apple iPad models (last checked - as of 07/11/2023)

(Pictures taken from the FAQ portion of Procreate's website - listed below)

Procreate Website

Procreate Handbook

Link to Procreate on the Apple App Store (Current Price is $12.99 USD)

As I mentioned in the video, there is also a smaller version of Procreate called Procreate Pocket that you can use on an iPhone. This app is similar to the full version, but does not have the same range of functionality. I only mention this version for your information. I do not teach anything about this version of the app. Procreate Pocket is currently $5.99 USD on the app store.

Is buying an Apple iPad + Apple Pencil + Procreate worth it?

It depends on how often you plan on using it. There are so many uses for the app whether you are new to digital art or you're a pro. And if you want to, there are also plenty of ways to monetize your art once you learn how to use the program. Even if you don't want to monetize, you may just find doing art on Procreate very relaxing and therapeutic as a hobby (and you don't have to buy any extra art supplies)

00:05:46 - Gallery

When you first download Procreate, it will come with some sample artworks in the gallery. You can click on any of them and it will take you to the main interface. Clicking <Gallery> in the top-left corner of the screen will take you back to the gallery.

Once back in the gallery, you can click <Select> over in the top-right portion of the screen. When you do this you will see a blue bar appear at the top and you will see an empty circle appear next to all of the artworks (or groups if you have any - we'll talk about that in a minute) in your gallery. If you click on one of the artworks in the gallery, you'll see a blue checkmark appear in the circle and you will also see that along the top-right toolbar <Preview>, <Share>, <Duplicate>, and <Delete> will light up in white. You'll also notice that <Stack> remains grayed out. That's because you need to select multiple artworks (or groups) to use that option. The first option that I show you in the video is <Duplicate>. That will make an exact copy of, or duplicate, an artwork. Next, in the video, I use <Delete> to delete one of the duplicates (making sure it is the only one with a check next to it). A confirmation message will come up to make sure that you really meant to hit <Delete> because otherwise your selected artwork would be gone forever (and that would really suck). Then, I selected all four of the sample artworks and deleted them all at once. Then I clicked the <x> in the top-right corner to exit the <Select> menu. Just to confirm you are out of the <Select> menu, the blue bar at the top will disappear. Next to <Select> are the <Import> and <Photo> options. Import will take you to the iCloud file storage on your iPad. The Photo option will take you to your Photo Gallery on your iPad.

00:08:45 - Creating a New Canvas

Next, I click the <+> (plus sign) in the top-right corner. Anytime you see a <+> on this app, it means "create a new something" - in this case, you're creating a new canvas. Once you click the <+>, a menu will pop up on the screen that gives you a bunch of pre-loaded canvas types that Procreate gives you when you download the app. Some of the ones in my video are ones I've created and saved myself so you won't have some of them on yours. The units of measurement you can use to create a canvas are pixels (px), millimeters (mm), centimeters (cm), or inches ("). If you look at all of the options listed in this menu, you can see the size and units used for the canvas on the right side. In the middle, you will see some version of either an RGB or a CMYK color profile. Typically you use RGB for anything that will be viewed digitally on a screen, and you use CMYK for anything that will be printed in physical form (with ink or toner). And on the left is whatever you have named this canvas size.

When you click the other <+> (plus sign) within this menu, near the top, it will take you to a screen where you can choose the options for making your new canvas. The first category is Dimensions and that is where you will pick your units of measurement and the number of those units for both the height and width of your canvas. You can also adjust the amount of DPI or "dots per inch" that your canvas will have. This affects the quality of your image. For most projects, I keep this at 300. Underneath the DPI option, there is "Maximum Layers". This is not something you can click on and change. If you don't know what "layers" are or why they are important at this point, don't worry, I explain that more thoroughly later on in the video and obviously in my "Layers" video too. Short version here is, basically, it depends on what you're making. Sometimes you need lots of layers and sometimes you don't. If you need lots of layers, you will need to make changes to the other three things in order to change that number. Less height, width, and DPI will give you more layers. It will also lower the file size in that case (if that is important to you).

The next category is Color Profile and that is where you will choose either an RGB or a CMYK color profile for your canvas.

The next category is Time-Lapse Settings. If you don't already know this, Procreate will keep a recorded time-lapse video of everything you draw on the canvas and you have an option to view and export/share this video if you want. These settings are for that video. So, this is where you can choose to make changes to the video quality. I don't go into too much detail about this. I usually leave the settings as they are.

Finally, the last category is Canvas Properties and these settings are all things you can change within the canvas itself, so I don't usually bother changing anything here. The only reason to do that really is if this canvas was going to be used with the same type of background every time. If you want to, you can change the background color here or you can hide the background (that would give you a transparent background). At any point, while you're in this menu you can click on the Title on the top. It says "Untitled Canvas" and then type in a new title for it. Then, you can click <Create> when you've got all your parameters set for your canvas. This will automatically open this canvas that you've just made. Now you are in the main interface.

00:13:57 - Canvas Interface

You'll see me pinch the canvas between two of my fingers and move it to the side (I always do this automatically - it's a habit). This is one of the many gestures that Procreate has built into it's software. Starting with the buttons in the upper right portion of the interface (from left to right in this group), there is a <Paint Brush> icon which is how you apply "paint" or "ink" to your canvas, a <Smudge Tool> which looks like a finger and is how you can smudge the "paint" or "ink" that is already on your canvas, an <Eraser Tool> which is how you can erase the "paint" or "ink" off of your canvas, a <Layers> button -- which looks like two overlapping squares -- and this is where you can change or manipulate your layers in your artwork (again, I'll explain more about layers later on), and finally the circle in the top-right is where you pick your color. Throughout these videos, I use the terms "Color Picker" or "Color Drop" or sometimes even "Primary Color" to refer to this. Procreate technically calls it "Active Color". I'll try to remember to use that term in future videos to minimize confusion.

Moving on to the upper left part of the tool bar and going from left to right, there is the <Gallery> option, which I mentioned earlier will take you back to the gallery screen. The next button that looks like a wrench is the Actions Menu or Settings (again, I have used both these terms throughout these videos). The next button that looks sort of like a magic wand is the Adjustments Menu - This is where you'll find options for blurring or otherwise changing your artwork in some way after you've already drawn/painted it. The next button is the Selection Tool where you can select things on your canvas to do different actions to your selection. And finally, there is the Transformation Tool in which you carry out those actions to your selection. (Most of the time, these two tools work in tandem with each other). You can also use the Transformation Tool to select everything on a layer to transform in some way.

Then, there are two vertical sliders that are on your canvas on either the left or the right side (you can change which side you want it on in the actions menu/settings). The slider on the top will change your brush size. The slider on the bottom will change your brush (or "paint" or "stroke") opacity. Underneath those two sliders are two arrow keys. The upper one is Undo, the lower one is Redo. In the video, I show you another common gesture that Procreate has built into it. Tapping the screen with two fingers will undo an action. Tapping with three fingers will redo an action. In between the two sliders is a little hollow square button. That button by default will bring up the Eyedropper Tool which you can use to highlight a color that is already on your canvas to select that color again. You can change what this hollow square button does in the actions menu/settings if you want to.

00:17:54 - New Canvas, Brush, Smudge, and Eraser Tools

For the next part of this video, I went back to the gallery and clicked the <+> again for "new canvas". Then, I selected the pinned canvas at the top which is "Screen Size" (The actual size of this canvas depends on the size of iPad you're using). Then, I selected the Paintbrush button in the upper right section of the screen. Since it was already highlighted in blue, it opened up the Brush Library. The left part of the Brush Library menu lists different categories of brushes. The first few on my screen in the video (the ones that have the paint stroke from the Procreate logo) are categories for the brushes I have made for myself. The categories below those (with their own icons) are the ones that the Procreate app comes with. The first category with the star icon is "Recent". Any brush you have used recently in the app will show up there. For this portion of the video, i ended up picking the "Studio Pen" from the "Inking" Category. Next, I demonstrated how the top vertical slider on the left or right side of your canvas changes your brush size (since I didn't really do that earlier in the video when I talked about it).

To invoke the Smudge Tool, I had to click on the finger button (next to the paintbrush button) twice. Once to select it and highlight it in blue, and once to open the Brush Library. For the video, I chose the "Stucco" brush in the "Painting" Category. To use the smudge tool you just drag it over the paint that is already on the canvas to smudge it.

You can invoke the Eraser Tool the same way as the Smudge Tool, just with clicking on the eraser button instead. For the video I used the "Medium Hard Airbrush" in the "Airbrushing" category. And again, you can just drag the eraser over the paint that is already on the canvas to erase it. The next thing I demonstrated was a fairly common beginners issue - the difference between erasing and painting over with the background color. I clicked on the Layers button (which is to the right of the eraser button), and I click the little checkbox to the right of the layer that says "Background color" to turn that layer off. This makes your background transparent rather than the default white color. I clicked the same little checkbox again to turn it back on with a white background. Then I painted over my blue paint with white paint. Since you have a white background it looks the same as erasing it, but when you go back into layers and turn the background layer off to have a transparent background, then it shows both the blue and the white paint because you didn't actually erase it you just painted over it.

00:23:08 - Layers

Each new canvas on Procreate comes with a "Background color" layer and a "Layer 1" layer. You cannot draw or paint on the "Background color" layer. You can only change the background color or click the checkbox to turn it off. By default, the canvas will open with "Layer 1" selected so you can start drawing/painting right away. The <+> in the upper right corner of the layers menu means "new layer". If you click it, Procreate will add a new layer on top of the one you have selected (highlighted in blue) -- in this case, "Layer 1". The new layer will be named "Layer 2". You can select the layer you want to work on by clicking on it. In the video, I select "Layer 2" and draw with white on layer 2. Then, I show you, by going back into the layers menu and clicking the checkbox to the right of "Layer 1" to hide that layer, that the blue marks that I painted on layer 1 have disappeared, but the white marks that I painted on layer 2 are still on the canvas. And then I do the opposite, turn on layer 1 and turn off layer 2.

Next, I show you how to reorganize your layers. To do this, you click and hold a layer and then drag it up or down the list and release it. In this case, I dragged layer 2 under layer 1. And on the canvas, the blue that I painted on layer 1 was now in the foreground with the white that I painted on layer 2 was in the background. After this, I drag layer 2 back on top of layer 1.

Once you have a layer selected, if you click on it again, it will bring up the Layer Options Menu, where you can perform certain actions on a layer. I go over this more in the "Layers" video and in the "Masks" video.

To group layers together, you first select one layer, and then click on another, hold down, slide it to the right, and let go. This will highlight both layers in blue (the original layer is a brighter blue). In the upper right of the layers menu, there are two options: <Delete> or <Group>. If you click <Delete>, you will delete both layers (or more if you selected more than two). If you click <Group>, you will group the layers together. To ungroup the layers, you can click and hold a layer and move it out of the group just as if you were moving it above or below any other layers.

If you slide a layer or a group of layers to the left, you can either <Lock>, <Duplicate>, or <Delete> them. If you lock the layer, you won't be able to draw on or make any changes to the layer. This will prevent you from accidentally messing something up while working. Duplicate will make an exact copy of either the layer or the group you selected. Delete will delete the layer or group you selected.

00:30:20 - Color

The circle in the upper right corner of the interface is where you click to bring up the color menu. The color that is shown in the circle is the current color you have selected. At the bottom of this menu there are 5 categories: Disc, Classic, Harmony, Values, and Palettes,

In the video, disc was automatically selected when I opened the menu so that is what I show you first. The outer ring has all of the different Hues of color that you can choose. The inner circle allows you to adjust the Saturation and Brightness. Underneath the circle, on most iPad models (some of the smaller ones don't have this), there is a row called "History" which displays the last colors you selected and used on the interface. You can clear this out by pressing clear to the right of this bar. Underneath that is the Palette you currently have selected. We will talk more about Palettes later but this shows up on the bottom of all 4 of the other categories. You can save colors that you want to use again in the little squares. To put your current selected color in a square, just click and empty square and it will fill that square with your current color.

Next, for the classic category, on the square you can move the cursor up and down to change the Brightness and left and right to change the Saturation. To change the Hue, you need to slide the top bar underneath the square. The second bar is also for changing the Saturation and the bottom bar is for changing the Brightness.

I also pointed out, because I forgot to earlier, that the two rectangles at the top of the menu represent your primary (or currently selected) color and the secondary color. As I said in the video, the main use for a secondary color is that some brushes in procreate use it. (I talk about this in the Brush Studio videos)

Next, I skipped over the harmony category temporarily to go to the values category. This can look different depending on whether you have an RGB or a CMYK color profile. The first three slider bars represent Hue, Saturation, and Brightness. With an RGB color profile, the next three slider bars represent the amounts of Red, Green, and Blue there are in your selected color. (With a CMYK color profile, it is similar, except there are four slider bars for each of the colors). Underneath all of the slider bars is Hexadecimal which is a 6-digit code for the specific color you have selected. This can be helpful if you want to replicate the same colors on a different program or you want to use the same colors in Procreate that you used in a different program.

For the harmony category, underneath where it says "Colors" at the top, you need to click on the word underneath that to select the type of harmony you want. In the video, I change it to Complementary first. Whichever color you have selected will be represented by the bigger circle on the color wheel. And you will see a smaller circle appear exactly opposite it on the color wheel. So, this is an easy way to find any color's complementary color.

For Split Complementary, it shows you the colors that are one slot to the left and right of the color that is complementary to your selected color.

For Analogous, it selects the colors directly to the right and left of your selected color on the color wheel. This works great for more monochromatic pieces.

For Triadic, it shows you the colors that are 1/3 of the way around the color wheel

For Tetradic, it shows you the colors that are 1/4 of the way around the color wheel.

And then, for the palettes category, this is where you can save different collections of colors or palettes. Procreate provides a few for you when you download the app. You can delete them, you can add to them, you can create your own. I explain more about how to do this in the Procreate for Beginners: Color video.

00:37:13 - Settings (Actions Menu), Adjustments Menu, Selections, and Transformations

In the Actions Menu (again, I use "Settings" interchangeably in the video), there are several subcategories at the top: Add, Canvas, Share, Video, Prefs, and Help.

In the Add subcategory, you can insert files and photos, add text, and do copy and paste actions. I briefly show how to add text, but I explain this in more detail in the Procreate for Beginners: Text video. I do also explain that Procreate is a raster-based program rather than a vector-based program which means it is based on pixels to create the image rather than paths. Because it is based on pixels, when you try to stretch your images out to be larger, it can get distorted because the pixels don't know how to fill in themselves as the image is stretched larger. Whereas when using a vector program, everything is based on points on paths that can more easily replicate themselves as the image grows larger. My point of bringing this up now, is that fonts are vector-based. So, Procreate allows you to increase the size (and other things) temporarily in their vector form, but in order to seamlessly integrate with the rest of your art (which is raster), you need to rasterize your text. Once you rasterize it, you won't be able to change the size (within the same menu - instead you would have to stretch it out like you stretch out your other images on Procreate).

The next subcategory in the Actions Menu is Canvas. I briefly go over some of the things in here. I show you how you can use the "Canvas Information" button to view information and statistics about the Canvas. In here, you can also name your Canvas and put your name on it as the artist. You can also flip the canvas vertically or horizontally from the Canvas subcategory screen. You could also resize the canvas from the Crop and Resize button. There is also reference, animation assist, and page assist in this subcategory.

Finally, also in this subcategory, you can turn on your Drawing Guide and then edit it to meet your needs. There is a 2D grid (like graph paper/grid paper), Isometric, Perspective, and Symmetry. I go over all of these in more detail in the Procreate for Beginners: Guides video so head on over there for a better explanation.

In the Share subcategory, you can export your files. There are a number of different file types under two headings: Share Image and Share Layers. Sharing the Image will share one file from whatever layers you have visible on the screen at the moment. Share layers will save all of your layers as separate files. Notice that the animated file types are all under this heading as well. That's because the animations use the layers in your document as each frame of the animation.

The next subcategory is Video, This is how you can view or export the time-lapse video that Procreate keeps of all of your work on the canvas. You can also turn off the time-lapse recording here in this menu.

The next subcategory is Prefs, short for "preferences", This is where you can make individual changes that fit your particular needs.

And the last subcategory is Help where you can look up how to do things on Procreate from the guides that Procreate provides.

Moving out of the Actions Menu and into the Adjustments Menu (the little magic wand button next to the wrench). In the video, I briefly show how to do a Motion Blur. I explain all of this in more detail in the Procreate for Beginners: Adjustments Menu video.

Next, there are two more buttons next to the magic wand for the Adjustments Menu, the one that looks sort of like an "S" (which is the Selection Tool) and the one that looks like an arrow (which is the Transform Tool). With these two tools you can select and transform something that you've already drawn on the canvas. You can do things like increase/decrease the size, flip, rotate, etc. I go over these things in more detain in the Procreate for Beginners: Selections and Procreate for Beginners: Transformations videos.

00:56:41 - Quick Lines and Quick Shapes

Holding down your pencil at the end of drawing certain lines or shapes, will make Procreate snap to a more perfect version of that line or shape (and you can make adjustments to it afterwards too). Again, I go over this in more detail in the Procreate for Beginners: Gestures video that I made.

For the rest of the video, I walk you through a few different practical applications you can use Procreate for (there are many more - these are just the ones I commonly use it for).