Top 6 Tips for Digital Artists Using the Procreate App

Posted by Leo Smith
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Jul 23, 2020
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While some countries are trying to recover from the global pandemic, the general public has a lot of spare time that they can use for learning various skills or anything they like. In this article, we will address the digital artists around the globe to utilize their time by practicing some art skills using the Procreate app on their iPads.


Procreate app is available on the App Store for $10, and it offers an Ultra high-definition canvases, intuitive interface, revolutionary quick shape feature, and more. This is a perfect app for creating professional art in stunning 64-bit color. It includes multiple breakthrough brushes with customizable settings for each brush. You get to use tons of design tools, colors, a full-featured layered system, dramatic finishing effects, timelapse replay, and more. Now that you know which app to use to create the best designs, we present some tips that will prove useful when you are at your initial stage with the app.

Layers

To make your art look like a professional creation, you must add layers to it. This is one of those essential features that take some burden off your shoulders while giving your creation a beautiful artistic touch. To add layers to your artwork, click on the second last option that looks like an overlapping page in the upper right corner of the screen. Locate and click on the plus icon (+) for adding layers. You can add multiple layers and unlock a lot of features like duplication, lock, vivid lighting, overlay, and more. You can adjust or add colors to the layers as well. Use the Merge Down feature to turn two layers into one, and Combine Down feature to form a group out of each layer.

Quickshape

As a beginner, you might find a lot of trouble creating perfect shapes with freehand. It is common to have shaky hands, asymmetrical shapes, and poor designs. This is where the Quickshape feature comes handy. Using this feature, you won’t have to worry about lopsided circles or asymmetrical designs. It will ensure that all your designs are in proper shape and size. It automatically detects the shape and size you are trying to create for automatically fixing the mistakes. You can also adjust the shape and size after Quickshape works its magic. To enable this feature,

  1. Click on the wrench icon to go to Preferences.
  2. Click on Gesture Controls and enable Quick Shape.

Alpha lock and clipping mask

Both of these features are useful for creating coherent and impressive designs. Alpha Lock is an essential feature for editing the layers to a specific limit. You can manually turn on or off the Alpha lock on your layers. While the Clipping Mask feature proves to be beneficial when it comes to blending the layers flawlessly. To know if this feature worked on your layers or not,

  • Click on the overlapping square.
  • You will find a download pointing arrow under the Layers section that implies using a clipping mask.

Customize color palette

The Procreate app offers three pre-built palettes. If you follow a unique aesthetic or have a consistent style or color pattern in your art, it would be a great option to create a customized color palette for yourself. This will save you a lot of time while finding the right shade of color for your art pieces. To create your personalized palette,

  1. Besides the Palette option on the top right side of the screen, click on the plus icon (+).
  2. It will open a blank color palette under the Colour Panel section.
  3. Start adding colors to your empty palette.

If you want to remove any color from your palette, then press and hold on to that color and click on the Delete button.

Blending technique

For this technique, you will need to use the Blend tool. If you use this tool, you won’t have to continually zoom in onto the pixels to add a smoother finish to create a gradient effect. The finger-like tool on the top right corner, between the paintbrush and eraser tool, is the blending tool. Tap on the blend tool and choose any brush you want for blending the colors. You can select brushes from any consistency and size. The opacity of the brush is also adjustable.

Gesture control

The iPadOS allows you to use gesture controls on the Procreate app to help you create customized arts and get a personalized experience. To know all the customization options, click on the wrench icon, and click on Preferences. Then open Gesture Controls. From there, you can customize like tapping three fingers to add layers or tapping four times for erasing the screen or anything you prefer.

There are a lot of amazing features on the procreate app that will eliminate mistakes from your artwork. Using the steps and tools mentioned above, always prove helpful in bringing the best out of your artistry. Don’t get disappointed if you couldn’t get the tools right in the first trial, as artwork like these takes a lot of patience and practice.

John Smith is an avid technical blogger, a magazine contributor, a publisher of guides at mcafee.com/activate and a professional cyber security analyst. Through her writing, she aims to educate people about the dangers and threats lurking in the digital world

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