My Procreate Drawing Process

February 9, 2023
I’ve been wanting to share more about my process of working in Procreate on my iPad Pro. So today I’ll show you the tools I use, my color selection process, and how I turn the crazy ideas in my head into cute lil illustrations.
Why I love Procreate

Procreate has changed the way I go about creating illustrations, I don’t have to be precious about the materials I’m using (compared to traditional methods), I can make mistakes and not have to worry about tossing it in the trash (we got digital trash now, yo), and I can pick up right where I left off without having to scramble through my Finder program to find my files. I like to think of it as a digital sketchbook that has all (okay maybe not all) the powers of Photoshop.

My favorite Procreate brushes & erasers

My favorite brush to use in Procreate is the Dry Ink Brush! I would say about 90% of all my illustrations start with this brush. It’s a great brush to sketch out rough ideas and give my line work texture. However, it’s kind of the worst brush to use for fills. I’ve noticed it leaves a fine line between the filled area and the outline which is hella annoying to clean up. So to avoid that, I switch to the Studio Pen to block out large areas of color on separate layers under my outlines.

The Color Palette

When deciding on a color palette, I try to keep them as simple as possible. My illustrations are usually 2D and flat so I don’t need a large range of colors. I usually start with a single color, then lighten or darken it, to use for shading and adding highlights.

The Process Video
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Thanks for reading this write up about this illustration I created! If you’re interested in learning more about Procreate, please let me know! I’d love to share more about how powerful this tool is!!!