Want more tips for Procreate? I have more tips here!
QuickShape
QuickShape can be used to create a straight line, and some perfect shapes too. To create a line, draw a line and hold down at the end. QuickShape will activate and turn it into a straight line. As long as you keep holding your pen or finger down, you can drag the line around from its starting point until you’re happy with its orientation. Once you’re happy with it, lift your pen or finger and the line is created. This also works with curves. The process is the same as lines, except you draw a curve instead of a line. It even works with shapes. With circles when you draw and hold it first creates an oval. However, if you touch and hold with another finger, a perfect circle is created. Triangles and squares can also be created with QuickShape as well.
You can even edit the shape further. After creating a shape, text at the top that says “Edit Shape” appears. When you tap it, you can edit and change the shape even further from there.
By touching inside or outside the lines of the shape, you can move it around.
ColorDrop
ColorDrop is somewhat like a bucket fill tool. Tap and hold on the active color (as in: the color currently selected) and drag it to wherever you want on the canvas. It should fill in what you dragged it to, if what you’re trying to fill is on the currently selected layer. If there is in a hole in the shape of whatever you’re trying to fill, the color will bleed into the entire canvas.
If you tap when using ColorDrop and don’t let go, text at the top of the screen should appear that says “ColorDrop Threshold”. You can drag your finger to the right or left to change this threshold as needed. If you want to ColorDrop something tedious like something tiny with numerous holes, or something with strange edges, editing the threshold can be very useful. Something small would need a small threshold, while something with jagged edges would need a larger one. The ColorDrop Threshold can be edited at any time.
Bringing Brush
Want to use the current brush you’re using with another tool? Tap and hold the icon for the other tool, and that brush should become selected for that other tool.
Detaching the Color Menu
There should be a small shape at the top of the color menu. You can tap and detach it from the corner, so you can quickly change colors as needed. All the color-picking options and the palettes menu stay the same, that entire menu just becomes smaller. You can also move it around in this state.
Brush Studio
After selecting the brush, tap it again to open Brush Studio. Brush Studio is where brushes are created and edited. If you want to edit a brush but want to keep the default brush as well, swipe left with a brush selected, and duplicate a brush. You can edit the duplicate. You can swipe left and reset a brush to its default settings, if you want the brush to go back to how it was initially.
Adjustments
Procreate has an adjustments menu, and you get to it through an icon that looks like a magic wand. The adjustments menu allows for various color adjustments, blur effects, other effects, and retouching effects.
Layer Blending Modes
When a layer is selected in the layer menu, tap on the letter N to open up the Blending Modes menu. These blending modes do various things.
Clipping Mask
Clipping masks can be useful. Whatever layer you want to make a clipping mask mare sure it is above the layer you want to edit, as when a clipping mask is created, it visually affects the layer below, without committing to these changes. Meaning, you can work on a layer without having to undo a bunch if you end up not liking those changes, you can just edit the clipping mask that the changes are on. To make a layer a clipping mask, select the layer, open the layer options menu, and tap clipping mask. An arrow pointing downwards appears near the layer preview. This means the layer is now a clipping mask.
Locking a Layer
To lock a layer, swipe right to left on a layer and a few options should appear. These are lock, duplicate, and delete. Lock locks a layer, duplicate, well duplicates the layer, and delete, deletes the layer. When a layer is locked, a padlock will appear near the name of the layer, that signifies the layer is locked. When you try to edit a locked layer, you can’t, and instead a prompt will appear that says the layer is locked.
StreamLine
StreamLine is something within Procreate that is especially helpful for those with an unsteady hand. Within the Brush Studio, StreamLine can be found. In regular Procreate it is in the Stabilization menu, while in Procreate Pocket it is found in the Stroke Path menu. You can adjust the StreamLine option however you’d like. The higher the amount, the smoother the lines.
Layer Masks
To create a layer mask open the layer menu, then layer options for a layer. Tap mask, then a mask is created for that layer. The mask will appear above the layer it was created for. How do you edit a layer mask? Paint or erase in black or white. Using black hides parts of the layer, while white reveals parts of the layer. Using shades of grey affect the opacity of areas of the layer. You can still edit the actual layer even after creating the mask. When selecting the layer the mask is for, both are selected in a way. If you tapped the actual main layer, the mask is selected as a secondary selection. This occurs automatically with layers that have masks. It occurs so you can easily move both the layer and its respective mask at the same time. A mask will stay connected to its specific layer until they are merged together or deleted. As with any normal layer, you can delete a mask without affecting the layer it is tied to. However, when you duplicate a layer with a mask, both the layer itself and the mask are duplicated.
I hope these tips help you!