#procreateforbeginners

Sometimes you don't want to go through the trouble of remaking little things that you use constantly in your art. An example of this would be a little signature. While you can just copy and paste it from another art piece, you can simply make a stamp for it!

To start, begin a new canvas and remove the background by selecting the checkbox next to Background color. When you've done this, draw your desired art.

Once you're happy with your art piece, go into Actions and then select the PNG option under Share Image in Share. This will save your image to your photo library or wherever you decide to save it.

Next, you have to go into your Brush Library and create a new brush. When you're brought to the Brush Studio, go into Shape and select Shape Source.

Selecting Shape Source will open Shape Editor, which is something you may or may not be familiar with. Click Import, select the source option that you saved your art, and then choose the art that you've made. Once this is complete and your art has been placed into Shape Editor, press Done.

Next, you have to adjust some of the Brush Settings. First, under Stroke Path, drag Spacing to Max. Under Apple Pencil, drag Opacity to None. Lastly, go into Properties and turn on Use Stamp Preview. After this, you can name the brush or do any other adjustments that you'd like to make. Once you're satisfied, exit the Brush Studio and test out your new brush!

When I first started using Procreate, I had a lot of trouble with masks and alpha lock, as I didn’t full understand it. Because of that, I wanted to take a lesson to specifically talk about it! Some people may use these tools a lot, while others may not use it at all, but at least knowing how to use them is very useful!

Alpha lock is something that I use often. It allows you to only draw or color within the existing art in that layer. This can be helpful when doing something like shading or adding little details without going outside of the space in the layer. If you didn’t read the last post, to turn on Alpha Lock, as well as the other options like Masks, you have to go into the layer settings. Selecting a specific layer within layer settings will open up the list of options and allow you to turn on Alpha Lock. You can tell when Alpha Lock is on not only by seeing whether or not there is a check mark next to it, but by noting whether or not there is a transparent background surrounding the existing art. No check mark and no transparent background? Alpha Lock is not on!

Mask gives you the ability to edit a layer in a way that doesn’t completely ruin everything around it. It shows you the alterations that have been made on a “mask” without actually affecting the masked layer. For example, say I wanted to see what it would look like if I erased a heart out of this circle. 

I could use the eraser directly on that layer, or I could apply a mask to the layer. This would bring me to the mask, where I could edit the circle without actually editing it. If I wanted to go back to the way it was, I could get rid of the mask or select the checkbox on the right side of the layer, which would just hide the alteration. If you wanted to keep the alteration, you can select the masked layer and then select Merge Mask.

Clipping Mask is somewhat similar to Mask, but instead of using a single layer and masking it, it clips the selected layer and the lower layers, making the selected layer the mask. This can be beneficial when trying to test out alterations for several layers. 

Although I’ve briefly mentioned adjustments, I thought that it would be helpful to give more of an explanation, as it may include something that you might want to use often.

The adjustments tab can be accessed by selecting the wand-like icon that’s located in between Actions and the Selection Tool.

The first four effects are Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Color Balance, Curves, and Gradient Map. All four give you the ability to edit all the colors within a layer at once, but in a different way. Hue, Saturation, Brightness and Color Balance both use sliders to do their job, but while Hue, Saturation, Brightness allows you to change all three of those, Color Balance’s sliders work to fix the hue balance in shadows, midtones, or highlights. Selecting Curves opens a graph that by moving the line or adding new plot points, adjusts the color. Gradient Map is less complicated compared to Curves, as it transforms the colors based on the given Gradient Library.

Gaussian Blur, Motion Blur, and Perspective Blur all allow you to apply a form of blur to your art, using a slider. Gaussian Blur gives the layer a softer look, blending the colors flawlessly. Motion Blur adds streaks of blur, making it seem as though the subject is moving quickly. This would be good if you were drawing someone running or driving fast. Perspective Blur places a small center point and adds a blur based on wherever you’ve placed it.

Next is Noise, Sharpen, Bloom, Glitch, Halftone, and Chromatic Aberration. Noise applies a static-like effect to your layer, growing adding more grain the further you go along the slider. Sharpen does exactly like the name; sharpens the image, highlighting even the smallest details in the layer. Bloom helps give the impression that a light is glowing in a certain area. This could be good for adding emphasis to a sun or a moon in an image. Glitch, Halftone, and Chromatic Aberration all add cooler effects to your art. Glitch is for art that takes on a more sci-fi look; there are four modes and various ways to make it seem as though there's a glitch! Halftone also adds a cool, distorted effect, transforming the image into a dotted pattern and as you drag your finger further along the slider, the dots get larger. Chromatic Aberration gives the image a look similar to a distorted camera lens, separating it into three colors.

Liquify is something that I've talked about before, so I'll just briefly explain that it allows you to modify your image in various ways from distorting it to pushing little sections in a certain direction. It's something that I find very useful whenever I make a little mistake that I don't want to completely erase. Clone allows you to quickly duplicate or replace a layer or specific image within the layer with another part of the layer. It can be a little difficult to understand at first, but once you test it out for a little bit, you should get used to it!