Hello everyone and welcome to Art and Design.
My name is Thorgeir and today we're gonna
learn about the basics of using Procreate.
This is gonna be a beginner's guide tutorial
on how to use Procreate.
So, without further ado, let's dive right
into it.
[Intro Music]
All right, now one of the beautiful things
about Procreate is that it's very simple to
get started but it has a high skill ceiling.
So, meaning that you can learn a lot of cool
techniques of using the tools in various combinations
in order to achieve effects that you didn't
really think was possible.
And that is the beautiful thing about Procreate
and in this video, we're gonna uncover some
of the tips and tricks that allow us to create
beautiful artworks.
But before we get to that point, we're gonna
need to dive into the basics of the program.
So, let's start with the Gallery View.
Now, this is where we find all of the artworks
that we have created or the artworks that
basically came with the program when you installed
it.
To create a new artwork, we can simply tap
on the (+) button right in the top right corner
right here and tap on Screen Size.
This is going to create an artwork that is
the size and resolution of the iPad screen.
Now, the first thing that I usually do when
I open up a new canvas in Procreate is change
the background color and that's done by tapping
on the Layers Menu right here and selecting
background color and then just simply swiping
on this disk right here, and now we can start
drawing on the canvas just like that.
Now, if you want to increase the size of the
brush that you have selected, that's this
one right here, and if you want to decrease
or increase the opacity making it more transparent,
then that's this one right here.
This button right here is the Action Menu
and here we have some quick access to the
Undo and Redo.
On that note, undoing is very simple, you
tap with two fingers on the canvas and that
undos, three fingers will redo.
And if you do happen to create a number of
strokes and you want to erase all of them
or undo all of them, the simple way to do
that is tapping with two fingers and holding
it down and that will undo and keep undoing
until you let go and the same works for the
three fingers.
So if you were to redo a lot of actions, then
you tap with three fingers, hold them down
and that'll redo the sequence.
Now, let's move back to the Gallery View by
tapping on this button right over here in
the top left corner.
Let's talk about the Gallery View for just
a moment; now, here we have the artwork that
we just created and if you want to do something
to the artwork, for example sharing, duplicating
or deleting, the way to do that is by swiping
to the left on the artwork and that reveals
the option to Share, Duplicate or Delete.
If we tap on Share, that reveals some other
options underneath that allowing us to specify
in what format we want to share.
So, if you want to create a JPEG or PNG file
or even something like an mp4, this is a video
format, then you can do so.
Tapping on Procreate, Image Format will allow
us to back up the artworks that we've created.
Now let's say that you want to move an artwork
from one place to another...
A simple way to do that is by tapping and
holding on it until you can pick it up like
so and there you can reposition it between
any other artworks.
This also works if you take the artwork outside
Procreate, so you can pick it up inside Procreate
and then drop it into for example, the files
app and that allows you to create a backup
of the artwork very simply by dragging and
dropping.
And this pretty much holds true throughout
the program.
Most of the major functionality in Procreate
is drag-and-drop compatible.
So you can take a brush that you downloaded
from the internet and you can simply drag
and drop it into Procreate and I actually
have a video about how to do that, so you
can check it out right over here if you're
interested but let's move on and talk about
how to create folders or stacks.
Creating a stack is a way to organize your
artworks.
What you do is you tap and drag the artwork
on top of another artwork and that will create
a stack and now you can see, if we tap onto
that stack, we can access the artworks in
that stack.
Now, to go back, you simply tap on the top
left right there and there we are back in
the Gallery View.
Renaming an artwork is very simple.
You simply tap on the name of it and there
you can access the ability to rename it.
Now, let's take a look at these options in
the top right over here.
Select basically allows you to select multiple
artworks.
Now, you can achieve this functionality in
the same way by tapping and holding on artworks
and simply add to the selection like so.
This is a very nice way if you want to move
a lot of items into a stack then you can simply
pick them up like so.
However, if you tap on Select and choose the
artworks, you can see some options in the
top right over here.
We have Stack, so we can choose these artworks
and then stack them using this, you can Preview,
you can Share, you can Duplicate or Delete.
Now, what do we mean by Preview?
Well, if we tap on that, you can see we can
sort of preview the artworks.
Now, there's another way to do exactly this
and that is by pinching out on an artwork
that you want to view and that is a very,
very nice way if you just want to browse your
collection.
The other options on the top right here are
Import and Photo.
These pretty much do the same thing but from
a different point of view.
So, Import allows you to import from your
files app and basically allows you to import
a specific file.
So, you can import things like a Photoshop
file or something like that.
But if you just want to start working from
a specific photo, then you can tap on the
photo and that will open the photo app and
allow you to pick the photo that you want
to import and simply start working on it right
away.
So, this also works with drag and drop.
So, if you have a photo, you can simply tap
and hold on it in Chrome or you know, any
compatible app and simply drop it in to Procreate
and that will import the photo and you can
start working on it.
Now, the final thing that I want to mention
right here is the (+) and we talked about
that earlier, we created a screen sized canvas
but there are other options right here and
if you tap on this icon right here, you can
specify your own canvas and you can specify
the width, the height, the resolution or the
DPI of the canvas and that will show you how
many layers you will be able to create if
you use these settings.
Now, if you change these settings, if you
make the canvas bigger, that will limit the
amount of layers that you can have.
So if you have our super, super big canvas
that has a very high resolution, you won't
be able to use a lot of layers because basically
Procreate is limited by the hardware and probably
some software limitations also in there.
But the gist of it is that the larger the
canvas, is the lesser the amount of layers
you have.
So, that's something to have in mind.
We have a lot of color profiles both RGB and
CMYK available to us and I'm not going to
go to detail about color profiles in this
video.
If you want to see a video about color profiles,
then do leave a comment down below and I'll
be sure to take a look at it.
Time Lapse Settings allow us to sort of configure
how the time-lapse replay will behave.
This will basically allow us to specify the
quality of the time-lapse replay.
And the final one is Canvas Properties which
allow us to specify the background color of
the canvas before we create it or if we want
the background to be hidden by default.
Now, the first thing that I usually do when
I open up a new canvas in Procreate is change
the background color, and that's done by tapping
on the Layers menu right here and selecting
background color and then just simply swiping
on this disc right here and changing the background
color.
And once we're done we can tap on Done and
now we're in the Layers menu.
Now, most of you are probably familiar with
Layers but since this is a beginner's guide
tutorial, I'm going to explain a little bit
what layers are.
You can think about layers as pieces of paper.
So, each paper will represent a specific section
of the image.
So, you can create for example a hat of a
particular character on one layer and then
you can create a new layer and position the
eyes on that and then you can create a new
layer and have the mouth.
That will allow you to move the mouth separately
without having to sort of do some image adjustments
to the artwork.
So, you can quickly access each individual
component of the image and specify how it
interacts with the layers below.
So, layers are a very, very powerful tool,
it's probably THE MOST powerful tool of a
digital all artists' toolbox.
So I highly recommend that you get very familiar
with using the Layers Menu.
Now, within the Layers Menu, you can tap on
the little "N" over there and when we do that,
we can see sort of the properties of this
layer.
So, we can specify the opacity of the layer,
so, how transparent do we want this layer
to be and we can specify how this layer is
supposed to interact with the underlying layer.
So, you can for example create a coloring
layer and specify that this layer should only
affect colors, it shouldn't affect luminosity
or darkness or brightness, only affect the
color.
So, if you have a blue eye on an image, you
can create a new layer on top of that image,
paint a red color and then specify that this
red color on this new layer that is above
the underlying image should have a blending
mode of color.
So, that will basically color in the eye.
So, a very simple way to do image manipulation
in a non-destructive way.
Now, if you want to learn more about layers,
then I have a separate video about that, so
you can go ahead and check it out right over
here if you are interested in learning more
about layers.
But let's move on and talk about the actions
that you can take on a layer.
Now, the first set of actions that you can
take on a layer is by swiping to the left,
and here you can see you can lock the layer,
you can duplicate it or delete it.
Now, another thing that you can do is you
can tap on the layer and that allows you to
Rename it, Select it, Copy, Fill, Clear, Alpha
Lock, Mask, Invert and Reference.
Now, all of these things are explained in
my video, so, I highly recommend you to go
and check that out and I'm not going to dive
into this in this video but just note that
you can do these actions.
Now, they're also some gestures that you can
do on the layers and the one that I'm gonna
mention here is swiping to the right.
So, if you want to select multiple layers,
you can swipe to the right and select them
that way.
But yeah, there's a lot to talk about with
regards to the layers but I'm going to move
on now to the Brush Menu and let's go ahead
and check that.
Now, the brushes in Procreate are very, very
powerful.
There are a bunch of cool brushes that come
with Procreate.
I highly recommend that you go ahead and familiarize
yourself with the brushes that are available,
they have some very cool and unique properties.
And the same gesture that I mentioned in the
Layers Menu also works in the Brushes Menu.
So, if you swipe to the right, you can select
multiple brushes, then you can sort of arrange
them the way that you want.
You can also create a new brush set, so all
of these right here are brush sets.
So let's create a new brush set and name them
"Favorites".
And what we can do now is we can select brushes
that we like, our favorite brushes, and I
simply tap and hold them, go into Favorites
and drop them there and there we have access
to our favorite brushes.
Now, we also have an option to tap on a brush
in order to access the Advanced Brush Settings.
And that's basically a universe of its own
and the amount of options that you can specify
to configure that brush the way that you want
it.
And if you wanna learn more about the Advanced
Brush Settings, then I highly recommend this
video right here, but just note that you can
configure the brushes in a lot of different
ways.
Procreate also supports importing Photoshop
brushes.
So, you can import Photoshop brushes directly
into Procreate.
Now, I made a video about that process, so
you can go ahead and check that out right
over here.
But I'm not gonna dive into more details about
the brushes in this video, but one thing to
mention is that the smudge tool has access
to the same brushes as the brush tool and
it also holds true for the eraser tool.
So, the eraser tool also has access to the
same brushes as the other two tools.
So, you can actually erase using a texture
or you can smudge using a texture.
Now, smudging just allows you to sort of drag
the pixels around and to blend them with the
neighboring pixels.
And that's a really nice way to sort of get
a specific texture on a painting or an artwork.
Now, painting something obviously requires
that we have something to paint with, and
that something is color.
So, let's talk about color in Procreate.
Now, the first thing to note is that you can
detach the color picker so you can drag on
this thing right here and position the color
picker where you want it.
But for the purpose of this video, I'm gonna
have it attached just so that we have the
real estate to work with.
And to choose a specific color, what we do
is we specify the hue which is sort of what
we normally refer to as the color, so we want
it red or green or blue or whatever color
we want and then we specify the brightness
of the color.
The brightness is the y-axis right here, so
if you want it really dark or very bright
or how saturated we want the color.
So, if we go to the left, we have it all the
way de-saturated, there's no color in there,
it's just the light information or if we want
it very saturated.
Now, if you want the absolute highest value
or the highest saturated color, then you simply
tap twice on any of the corners.
So, tapping twice on any of the corners will
sort of snap it to that place.
So, that's a very nice way to sort of get
the absolute highest color intensity.
And this thing right here is the Color History,
so you can very quickly access the colors
that you have been sampling.
So, that's very nice.
And this thing right here is your active color
palette.
Now, you can access all of the color palettes
by simply tapping on this mark here and you
can even create a new color palette.
So, this is just a collection of colors that
you have created or that you've downloaded
or that come with the program.
So, you can swipe to the left and share this
color palette or delete it and this button
right here sets it as the default.
So, that's the color palette that you see
right here.
So, if I set this one as the default and now
we see that this one appears in the Color
Picking Disc.
Now, I have a separate video about colors,
so you can check that out right over here.
I'm not gonna go into too much detail about
all of this but just note that there are various
ways of picking color in Procreate, you can
use a Classic color picker, you can go into
the color Harmony which allow you to select
Complementary colors.
Really, really nice.
This is a recent feature in Procreate 5.
If you tap on this one right here, you can
select how the complementary colors will be
selected if you want Complimentary, if you
want Split Complementary, Analog, Triadic
or Tetriadic.
That simply adds more points.
And if you move them you can see how they
move as a result.
And final one is Values which basically allows
you to specify exactly the Hexadecimal or
the RGB or the Hue Saturation brightness values
of the color.
So yeah, that's pretty much the colors with
exception to one thing and that is, if you
want to pick a color from the cameras, what
you do is simply tap and hold anywhere on
the canvas and that will bring up the Color
Picker and now I've sampled this color and
I can start drawing with it.
Now, if you think this delay is too short
or too long, you know, if you want this menu
to pop up even quicker, what you can do is
you can go into the Settings, Prefs and then
go in to Gesture Controls, there you can see
the Eyedropper and there you can specify the
Delay of how long it'll take for this tool
to appear, and you can even change the interaction
itself so we can have the Action button triggered
or even the Apple Pencil.
So, there's a lot of customizability, but
let's move on now and talk about the Transform
Tool.
Now, at a certain point you might want to
move things around on the canvas.
So, for example you might want to move this
layer around.
Now, a simple way to do that is using the
transform tool and basically just sort of
pinching on it and picking it up.
Now, using one finger, you can also move it
around on the canvas and you can also use
the little anchor points over here in order
to move the image around and manipulate it.
But the purpose of the Transform Tool is to
do exactly that; it's to transform layers.
Now, we have four modes of transformation
available to us; the first one is called Freeform,
we also have Uniform.
Uniform allows us to uniformly transform the
object mostly maintaining the aspect ratio.
Distorts basically allows us to distort the
image, sort of change the perspective of it,
make it look like it's further in the distance.
And the final one is Warp which basically
transforms the image into a sort of a cloth
so you can sort of pick up the corners and
sort of move it and just sort of play around
with it like it's a piece of paper that you
can fold and manipulate.
Now, I'm not gonna dive too much into detail
about everything but there's one function
that I want to mention, that is Magnetics,
and that basically allows you to sort of move
the image in a straight line.
And this function also observes a different
purpose, so if we rotate this image like this,
90 degrees and tap on Fit to Screen, you see,
the image now gets fitted to the top of the
screen but there's plenty of room on the sides.
But if you tap on Magnetics and now tap Fit
to Screen, it'll cover the entire canvas.
So, if you want to scale an image to the entire
canvas, tap on Magnetics and then Fit to Screen.
So, the Selection Tool basically does what
the name implies; it selects.
So, you can basically draw a boundary, where
you want the selection to be.
When you tap on the dot right there, you make
the selection.
Now, you can save this selection for further
reference.
If you want to use this election again and
again, then you can tap on that and there
you've saved the selection.
You can also Feather this selection, so making
it just a little bit more fussy on the axis,
not so harsh and that's done with this one
right here and you can specify the feathering
amount.
Aside from that, you can Copy/Paste, you can
Invert this selection.
So if you want everything except what you
select it to be selected, then you can use
the Invert.
And if you want to remove something from the
selection, what you do is you toggle this
button right here and then you draw into the
selection and that removes from the selection
that you've just selected.
So that's how you can remove something from
a selection.
Rectangle pretty much does what you would
expect, it selects a rectangle.
Ellipse basically does also the same, just
select an ellipse and the Automatic Selection
basically allows you to select based on a
threshold value of the colors and the luminosity
that you have on the canvas.
So, if I just want to select this thing right
here, I could just tap on it and while I hold
the pencil down, I can push it to the right
or push it to the left in order to increase
the threshold basically increasing the selection
range and that allows you to sort of dial
in exactly what you want to select.
So, that's really nice and you can just copy
paste that and there we have, this selection
is now on a separate layer so we can manipulate
that in whatever ways we want.
Now, I also have a video about the Selection
Tool, so go ahead and check that out right
over here or - I'll also leave links to all
of the videos that are mentioned in this video
in the description.
But now, let's move on to the Adjustments.
All right, so the Adjustments basically specify
ways of manipulating the image.
So, you have things like the Opacity, you
can change the opacity of the layer in the
same way so you can tap on the end right here
and change the opacity.
Gaussian Blur basically blurs the image using
Gaussian effect.
Motion Blur blurs it so that it sort of looks
like a motion.
You can sort of move your finger while you
are blurring in order to specify the direction
of the blur, so that's really cool.
Perspective Blur allows you to sort of create
a single point perspective and blur everything
from that perspective.
So that's really nice if you're looking for
this specific effect and you can also change
it to a directional blur which basically blurs
everything in a cone, in that direction.
Sharpening basically allows you to sharpen
the image.
Sometimes it works better than other times.
I personally don't use sharpening all that
much in my artworks but - but it's nice that
it's there.
We also have Noise, so we can add noise to
the image.
Liquefy, I have a couple of videos about this
and I really, really love this effect, it
works really smooth.
It basically just allows you to play around
with the artwork, you know, you can also make
adjustments to an existing image.
So you can you know, increase the size of
your nose or make your eyes bigger or transform
the image in various ways using these settings
right here by twirling it, by pinching it
or expanding it or sort of creating this crystalline
effect.
The Edge is also super, super useful.
Really, really nice, a lot of functionality
here.
A Clone tool allows you to specify an area
of the image that you want to paint with.
So, instead of specifying a color, you specify
"I want this area to basically appear when
I draw over here".
So, that allows you to remove for example
spots on your face or simply draw in a textured
area.
So, it's a really, really nice and versatile
tool that can be used in various, various
ways, so, that's accessed by using the Clone
tool and then specifying where you want this
[?] to be and you can specify the brush that
you want to use, the size and the strength
of the brush.
Now, the final ones are Hue, Saturation, Brightness,
Color Balance, Curves and Recolor.
I'm not going to dive into all of these in
this video but just note that you can change
the colors of the image using these sliders
right here and all of these settings.
I have a separate video about adjustments,
so, you can check that out over here.
The final thing to mention is the Actions
and I have a separate video about that as
well, but just quickly going over this; basically
it allows you to insert files and photos and
text.
Now, adding text is fairly simple, you just
tap on Add Text and that allows you to write
in the text that you want to write.
And if you want to change the style of the
text, that's this blue button right here.
Let's just tap on that and there we have access
to control things like the Kerning the font
and the size of the text and all sort of stuff,
basically allowing you to customize the text
as you see fit.
Another very useful feature is Copy & Paste.
Now, you can also copy and paste by simply
making a selection on the canvas and then
swiping down with three fingers and that reveals
the cut, copy and paste functionality.
Another very useful feature is Copy Canvas
and then you can just swipe down on the canvas
and paste.
So there you've sort of captured the canvas
exactly like it is right now.
That's a very useful feature that I use a
lot.
Going into the canvas properties, we can Crop
and Resize the canvas or if you want it to
be a little bit smaller or change the aspect
ratio or whatever you need, then you can sort
of adjust and crop it there.
Animation Assist basically allows you to do
animations within Procreate.
The animation tools are very powerful and
is a lot to uncover.
I'm not gonna do that in this video, so let's
move on into the Drawing Guide.
You can turn that on right there and if you
tap on Edit Drawing Guide, there you can see
the various ways in which you can have Procreate
help you draw essentially.
Now, the way that Procreate can help you draw
is by giving you this grid.
Now, this grid can be in the form of just
a 2d grid, it can be isometric, it can be
a perspective grid which you basically draw
yourself.
So, if you add points, you can sort of create
the depth effect using the grid.
Really, really nice if you want to create
like three dimensional structures or you can
use symmetry.
Symmetry, that's the one that I use most often
because I just love playing around with it.
So, let me just show you what that does.
Whenever we draw something on one side, it
gets replicated on the other side.
So, you can create some really, really
cool effects very quickly using this method.
And we're going to the options right here,
we can specify how the Drawing Guide will
basically work.
So if you have the vertical, you want it to
mirror Horizontally or in Quadrant or Radial.
You can also turn on Rotational Symmetry,
that basically does this sort of thing allowing
you to create spirals very, very quickly.
So, very powerful, love this feature.
The other options right here are flipping
the canvas horizontally or vertically and
seeing information about the canvas that you
are working on, how many strokes have been
made, how long you've been using this canvas
and yeah, that's pretty much canvas information.
Moving into the Sharing, basically allowing
you to share in a specific format.
And into the Video, we can access the Time-lapse
Replay so we can see everything that we've
done so far on this canvas and play that back
and we can export this time-lapse video as
full-length video or a 30-second video.
Moving into Prefs; these are basically just
sort of preferences.
So, if you prefer using a light interface,
then you turn that on.
I can move the tools to the right using this
one right there.
Brush Cursor, you can have that show.
You can Project the Canvas using airplay,
you can connect third-party Bluetooth styluses
so that you don't really need to use the Apple
pencil.
You can adjust the Pressure Curve, so how
much you need to press down in order for the
paint to be applied and then you can edit
the Gesture Controls.
Now, this is a world of its own and very personal,
some people like to use the finger to smudge,
they do a lot of smudging then you can just
tap on this one right here and that means
that anytime that they use their finger, that
enables the smudge tool.
So, they can just draw using the pen and then
as soon as they touch the canvas, they start
smudging the paint around.
And there are a lot of settings right here.
I'm just gonna show you how I set things up
just so that we have this as a reference for
future videos.
The Quick Menu, I have that set to touch.
So, whenever I tap on the canvas, I have access
to this really cool quick menu.
And that basically allows you to select a
specific brush or you can specify a specific
action like adding text, Alpha Lock, clearing
the layer, copying it, flipping it...
You know, there's a whole, whole bunch of
things that you can assign to the Quick Menu.
So, depending on your workflow, I would highly
recommend that you go ahead and configure
this to suit you best.
And we'll go into full screen right here,
so, four finger tap will act like that, clearing
the layer is scrubbing with three fingers
back and forth.
So, if I go ahead and use three fingers and
scrub back and forth like this, I clear the
layer.
Copy/paste is three finger down swipe, we
talked about that.
Layer Select basically allows you to select
a layer by pointing at it.
So, if you assign this to Touch or Touch and
Hold, then you can just point to the layer
that you want to select on the canvas and
that allows you to sort of just quickly go
ahead and select it.
And moving on to General, this is how I set
that up.
Moving on to the Help...
If there's something wrong with your Procreate,
if something is not working, please tap on
this button right there, that will get you
in contact with the customer support.
Their job is to help you to get things working.
The final button that I wanna mention here
is the Advanced Settings which allow you to
specify even more settings, some permission
stuff and language and some other settings
right there.
But yeah, that is gonna do it for this video,
turned out to be a bit longer than what I
expected.
Procreate has added so many new features.
My original Procreate tutorial which is a
few years old now is out of date.
And if you want to see more Procreate related
content, go ahead and click that Subscribe
button, we do a lot more art and design related
stuff on this channel and hit that Like button
if this video helped you out.
Other than that, thank you all very much for
watching.
See you in the next one.
Take care. Bye bye.
