Creative & ArtBeginnerPreview
Procreate for Designers
A practical Procreate course for working and aspiring designers who want to make production-ready illustration, lettering, and texture on the iPad. You will set up canvases to print and screen specs, build a controlled brush and colour workflow, and export files your studio and print vendor can actually use.
Designers and visual creators who want to produce client-ready illustration, lettering, and texture in Procreate on the iPad.
Course content
Workbook & downloads
Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into reps. Each section maps to one course module and mixes hands-on exercises, fill-in worksheets, and checklists you can run on every project. Work through it with your iPad in hand, and keep the templates as living studio assets you reuse on real client jobs.
Procreate as a Design Tool: Canvas, Interface, and Setup
Lock in correct canvas specs and a fast, gesture-driven interface before you make a single mark.
Exercise: Set up three correct canvases
Create three new canvases from scratch in Procreate and record each one's exact settings. Do not draw yet; the goal is to internalise setup. Save each to your Gallery and name it clearly.
- Create a 5 by 7 in print card at 300 DPI with a 0.125 in bleed and a CMYK profile. What pixel dimensions does Procreate report?
- Create a 1080 by 1080 px Instagram post at 72 DPI in sRGB. How many maximum layers does your iPad allow at this size?
- Create a 2x web hero canvas at 2560 by 1440 px. Compare its maximum layer count to the print canvas and note why they differ.
Worksheet: Deliverable spec sheet
Before any new project, fill this out so resolution and colour are decided before you draw. Reuse one copy per deliverable.
- Deliverable name
- Final destination (print vendor / web / social / app)
- Final physical or pixel size
- DPI (300 for print, 72 or pixel-exact for screen)
- Bleed required and amount
- Colour profile (CMYK profile name or sRGB)
- Required export format(s)
- Due date and version naming pattern
Checklist: Gesture and QuickMenu setup
- Confirm two-finger tap undo and three-finger tap redo feel automatic
- Map six QuickMenu slots to Copy, Paste, Clear Layer, Flip Horizontal, Clipping Mask, and Reference
- Turn on the Reference companion window
- Set Apple Pencil double-tap to Eraser or last brush (Pencil 2 or Pro)
- Practise tap-hold colour sampling until it is reflexive
Brushes, Pencil Control, and Mark-Making
Build line confidence and a curated, reusable brush kit instead of brush-pack clutter.
Exercise: Daily line warm-up, logged for two weeks
Run the fifteen-minute warm-up each day on a single practice canvas and log the date. The point is visible improvement, not perfection on day one.
- Fill a page with straight lines, circles, and ovals; note where your hand is steadiest and where it wobbles.
- Draw twenty S-curves and twenty figure-eights, then twenty thick-to-thin tapers using pressure.
- Test StreamLine at 10 percent, 40 percent, and 70 percent on the same brush. Which value feels right for lettering versus sketching?
Worksheet: Project brush kit planner
Define the minimal brush set for one project so you stop hunting through a bloated library. Fill one per project.
- Project name
- Line / inking brush chosen
- Sketching / pencil brush chosen
- Painting / fill brush chosen
- Texture / grain brush chosen
- Lettering brush chosen
- Custom brushes built and their settings changed
- Brush set name saved in Procreate
Exercise: Customise one brush in Brush Studio
Duplicate an existing brush and change settings one at a time, testing a stroke after each change. Build the textured lettering brush from the course as your worked example.
- Which base brush did you duplicate, and why was it close to the target feel?
- Record the single change you made to Spacing, Grain, Taper, and Pressure curve, and what each did to the stroke.
- Export your finished brush as a .brush file and note where you saved the backup.
Checklist: Confident-line habits
- Ghost every long stroke two or three times before touching down
- Draw fast and confident rather than slow and careful
- Move from the elbow for long lines, the wrist only for detail
- Use the QuickLine snap for perfectly straight edges
- Tune StreamLine per brush and per task
Layers, Masks, and Colour for Production
Work non-destructively and control value and colour so screen art survives the press.
Exercise: Build a clean, named layer stack
Recreate a small illustration using the recommended stack so every element stays editable. Name every layer and group as you go.
- Set up Background, Flats, Shadows, Highlights, Lines, and Texture as separate named layers or groups.
- Put shadows on a Multiply layer clipped to the flats and confirm the shading cannot leak outside the shapes.
- Recolour one element by editing a single layer to prove the workflow is non-destructive.
Exercise: Clipping mask versus layer mask drill
Practise both masking tools on the same artwork so you know which to reach for under pressure.
- Use a clipping mask to add a pattern and shading inside a single flat shape.
- Use a layer mask with a soft brush to fade a texture into the background with no visible seam.
- Note one situation from a real project where each mask type would save you from a destructive edit.
Worksheet: Colour and value check sheet
Run this on every piece before you call it done. Fill one per artwork.
- Palette name and source (brand spec / extracted from image)
- Hex or HSB values of the three to five core colours
- Grayscale value check passed (yes / no)
- Shapes still read in black and white (yes / no)
- Canvas colour profile (CMYK name or sRGB)
- Critical brand colours cross-checked against a Pantone swatch (yes / N/A)
- Adjustments still needed before export
Checklist: Non-destructive discipline
- Line art, colour, shadow, and highlight live on separate layers
- Finished, approved sections are duplicated and flattened, with the editable original kept and hidden
- Masks are used instead of the eraser on client work
- Layer budget is monitored on large 300 DPI files
- Value is checked in grayscale before fussing with hue
Exporting, Handoff, and a Finished Piece
Export the right format for each destination and complete a portfolio-ready deliverable end to end.
Worksheet: Export decision worksheet
Fill out before every export so the format and settings match the destination. One copy per file you send.
- Destination (web / print vendor / Photoshop / Illustrator / Figma / InDesign)
- Chosen format (PNG / JPEG / PSD / TIFF / PDF)
- Transparency needed (yes / no) and background layer hidden
- Resolution and DPI confirmed for destination
- Colour profile confirmed (sRGB or CMYK)
- Layers named and tidy if exporting PSD
- Final versioned filename
- Editable .procreate master saved
Exercise: Raster-to-vector handoff
Take a hand-lettered word or simple mark from Procreate into Illustrator (or Affinity) as clean vector.
- Finish the lettering in solid black on transparency at 3000 px wide and export a transparent PNG.
- Run Image Trace with a Black and White preset and tune the Threshold; record the setting that gave the cleanest edges.
- Expand the trace, clean stray anchor points, and confirm it scales without losing quality.
Exercise: Capstone: one piece, two destinations
Produce a single deliverable that works as a 5 by 7 in printed card and a 1080 by 1080 px social post, following the full course workflow.
- State the concept and words in one sentence and lock a three-to-five-colour palette.
- Build the print master first at 300 DPI with bleed and CMYK, then adapt a square sRGB version.
- Export a print TIFF or PDF and a social PNG, keep the layered master, and write a short honest self-critique against a professional bar.
Checklist: Pre-handoff quality gate
- Resolution and colour profile correct for the destination
- Transparency handled the way the next app expects
- PSD layers named and organised if sending editable files
- Filename clearly versioned with project and date
- Editable .procreate master archived alongside the exports
Your Action Plan
- Set up and save your three reference canvases (print card, social square, 2x web) so you never start a project at the wrong size.
- Run the fifteen-minute line warm-up daily for two weeks and log visible improvement.
- Curate a minimal house brush kit: default sets plus one lettering pack and one texture pack, organised into named sets.
- Build and export at least one custom brush as a reusable studio asset.
- Adopt the named layer stack and use clipping and layer masks on every piece instead of erasing.
- Add the grayscale value check to your routine before calling any artwork finished.
- Set canvas colour profiles correctly at creation and cross-check critical brand colours against printed Pantone swatches.
- Use the export decision worksheet before every send so format, transparency, and DPI are always right.
- Practise one raster-to-vector handoff so hand lettering can become a scalable logo.
- Complete the two-destination capstone and add the layered master plus both exports to your portfolio.
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