Creative & ArtBeginnerPreview
Procreate Lettering
Learn to hand letter in Procreate from the first stroke to a finished, scalable file: the exact brush settings that make smooth scripts, a construction-layer workflow that lets you draw a word and fix it, bounce lettering and textured strokes, and how to turn raster lettering into a clean SVG vector you can sell or scale to any size.
For iPad owners, illustrators, and small makers who want to hand letter words and quotes in Procreate and hand off clean, scalable vector files for prints, logos, and products.
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 Procreate Lettering course into hands-on reps. Work through it on your iPad with Procreate open: tune real brushes, build words on construction layers, drill bounce and texture, and finish by tracing a piece into a clean SVG. The exercises, worksheets, checklists, and trackers are built so that by the end you have a finished lettering piece and a tidy, scalable file package, not just notes.
Setting Up Procreate for Lettering
Build a tuned lettering workspace and a brush that glides before you letter a single word.
Worksheet: My Lettering Brush Settings
Open your chosen lettering brush in Procreate, tune it for a smooth script, and record the exact values here so you can rebuild it if a reset ever wipes it. Re-test by scribbling the word 'minimum' down the canvas after every change.
- Brush name and source (built-in set or pack)
- Streamline percentage (Stabilization tab)
- Taper on or off, and pressure-taper amount (start / end)
- Pressure curve shape (linear / gentle S / steep)
- Brush size and whether tilt is on or off
- Notes: what felt better after each change
- Saved duplicate brush name (your tuned copy)
Exercise: Warm-Up Drill Sheet
On a fresh 3000 by 3000 canvas with the 2D grid guide on, fill one column per drill at light pressure for the thins and firm pressure for the thicks. Aim for consistency, not prettiness: same slant, same weight, every repetition.
- Fill a column of light, thin diagonal up-strokes, then a column of heavy, thick vertical down-strokes.
- Fill two columns of the pattern 'minimum' so the line glides thin going up and swells thick going down with no jump.
- Fill a column of overlapping ovals and a column of ascender and descender loops, keeping the slant identical throughout.
- Repeat the word 'hello' at slow, medium, and fast speed and mark which speed gave you both control and flow.
Checklist: Workspace-Ready Gate
- Canvas created at a deliberate size and DPI (e.g. 3000 x 3000 at 300 DPI), not the default
- Drawing Guide 2D grid is on with a baseline and a consistent slant line
- The five core gestures (two-finger undo, three-finger redo, cut/paste, pinch-to-fit, eyedropper) feel automatic
- A tuned lettering brush is saved as a renamed duplicate so the original stays safe
- A blank set-up canvas is duplicated in the Gallery as a reusable template
Constructing Words on Layers
Build a real word on stacked skeleton, refine, and ink layers and fix its spacing deliberately.
Exercise: Three-Layer Word Build
Pick a single short word (a name or 'create'). Build it through the full construction stack, lowering each layer to about 30 percent opacity before tracing the next pass on top. Name every layer as you make it.
- Skeleton layer: letter the word fast as thin single-line bones, locking slant and spacing only.
- Refine layer: at 30 percent skeleton opacity, redraw cleaner letterforms and add thick down-strokes, thin up-strokes.
- Ink layer: at 30 percent refine opacity, letter the final committed version that becomes the artwork.
- Hide the layers above and confirm your skeleton foundation still matches the final spacing and slant.
Worksheet: Letterform Anatomy Audit
Take your inked word and audit it against the anatomy and contrast rules. Fill in what you find and what you will fix on the refine layer.
- Baseline, x-height, ascender, descender: are the same letters touching the same lines? (yes / fixes needed)
- Slant: chosen angle and whether every down-stroke is parallel to it
- Contrast: are all down-strokes thick and all up-strokes thin? (list any letter breaking the rule)
- Counters: are the open spaces inside letters even, or any cramped letter to open up
- Entry and exit strokes: do letters connect with thin hairlines that flow
- One specific weak letter to redraw and why
Checklist: Spacing-and-Rhythm Pass
- Squinted at the word until blurred and judged the dark clumps and bright holes
- Nudged individual letters with Transform so the visual area between letters is even, not the literal gaps
- Flipped the canvas horizontally to expose spacing and slant errors, then fixed them
- Confirmed a clear hierarchy if more than one word (one hero word, quiet connectors)
- Each word sits on its own layer so the composition can be moved and resized without re-lettering
Bounce, Texture, and Style
Add controlled bounce and non-destructive texture, then finish the piece with colour and one depth effect.
Exercise: Controlled Bounce Drill
Start from a straight, evenly spaced version of a short word, then deviate from it on purpose. Keep the slant and weight identical and only change baseline position.
- Letter the word straight on the baseline first as your controlled reference.
- Redraw it letting round and looped and descender letters dip below and rise above, slightly more than feels comfortable.
- Reconnect the letters with entry and exit strokes that follow the new up-and-down path so the bounce flows.
- Flip the canvas horizontally and rebalance any letter that makes the word sag to one side.
Exercise: Non-Destructive Texture Test
Letter clean, solid strokes first, then add grit on top two different ways and compare which you prefer. Keep the letterforms legible the whole time.
- Alpha Lock the lettering layer and brush a grain or charcoal brush across the solid letters.
- On a duplicate, add a new layer set as a Clipping Mask and brush the same texture onto it instead.
- Lower the texture opacity until the grit reads as a finish rather than noise, keeping texture off the thin hairlines.
- Zoom out and confirm the word still reads at a glance; note whether Alpha Lock or the clipping mask gave you more control.
Worksheet: Finishing Plan: Colour and Depth
Plan how you will finish the piece on dedicated layers. Pick a small palette and exactly one depth effect, and keep the light direction consistent.
- Palette: two or three hex colours that work together
- Layer plan: which layers hold line work, colour fill, shadow, background
- Chosen depth effect (drop shadow / long cast shadow / highlight / inline-outline) and why
- Light direction (e.g. top-left) and where the shadow therefore falls
- ColorDrop check: are all ink shapes closed so colour will not leak
Checklist: Style Pass
- Bounce is deliberate and balanced, with slant and weight unchanged
- Texture sits on its own mask or Alpha Lock and can be dialled down or removed
- Thin strokes are protected from heavy texture and still read
- Colour, shadow, and highlight each live on separate layers
- Exactly one depth effect is used and the light direction is consistent across every letter
Exporting Clean Vectors and Files
Prepare a clean trace, vectorise the lettering into a scalable SVG, and package the deliverables.
Exercise: Trace-Ready Prep and Vectorise
Prepare a high-contrast version of your finished lettering and run it through a vectorising app, then prove the result is true vector by scaling it huge.
- In Procreate, flatten a copy to solid black on transparent or pure white, hiding all colour and texture, and Share a high-resolution PNG.
- Import the PNG into a vectorising app (Vectornator / Linearity Curve, Affinity Designer, Illustrator Image Trace, or Inkscape Trace Bitmap) and run a black-and-white trace.
- Adjust threshold and corner/path settings for the fewest anchor points that still keep curves smooth and serifs intact, then check the inside corners of letters like a and e.
- Export as SVG, reopen it, scale it to a huge size, and confirm the edges stay razor sharp with no pixelation.
Worksheet: Delivery File Plan
Decide exactly which files you will deliver for your piece and how you will name them, so a buyer is never guessing. Use the export tracker template alongside this.
- Final use case (fixed-size print / scalable logo / vinyl / merchandise)
- Raster file to deliver (transparent PNG and/or JPEG) and the reason
- Vector file to deliver (SVG, and EPS or PDF if requested)
- Clear file names (e.g. project-name-transparent.png, project-name-vector.svg)
- Master file kept and archived (layered Procreate or PSD)
- Licence and allowed uses note (personal vs commercial)
Checklist: Final Ship Gate
- Sketch, skeleton, and guide layers are hidden so they do not export
- Transparent PNG checked on a coloured background with no stray pixels or hidden white fill
- Clean SVG verified by scaling it large with razor-sharp edges and no loose points
- A simple mock-up shows the lettering placed in use
- Deliverable folder contains the editable master, a transparent PNG, and the clean SVG, all clearly named
Your Action Plan
- Build and save your reusable lettering canvas template and a tuned, renamed lettering brush, recording its settings.
- Warm up with the drill sheet for five minutes and only then start lettering, every session for one week.
- Pick one short word and build it fully on skeleton, refine, and ink construction layers, naming each layer.
- Audit the word against the anatomy and contrast rules and redraw the single weakest letter on the refine layer.
- Fix spacing by nudging letters for even visual area and flipping the canvas horizontally to catch errors.
- Re-letter the word with controlled, balanced bounce, keeping slant and weight unchanged.
- Add texture non-destructively with a clipping mask, then finish with a small palette and exactly one depth effect.
- Prepare a clean black-on-white copy and vectorise it into an SVG, pruning to the fewest faithful anchor points.
- Verify the SVG scales razor-sharp, then export a transparent PNG and assemble the deliverable folder.
- Archive the layered master and log the finished piece and its files in your export tracker for reuse.
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