Just opened Procreate and feeling a little overwhelmed? 😅 Don’t worry — this beginner-friendly guide will walk you through the main interface elements so you can start drawing with confidence! 🖌️
🏠 Gallery Screen
This is your Procreate home base. Here you can:
- Create a new canvas
- View all your artworks
- Organize your projects into stacks (like folders)
➡️ Tip: Tap and hold to drag artworks into stacks and keep things tidy!
🎨 Canvas Interface: What You See When You Start Drawing
Once you open a canvas, the interface is clean and powerful. Here’s a breakdown of what’s what:
🔝 Top Menu (Left to Right)
- Gallery: Takes you back to the home screen
- Actions (🔧 Wrench Icon):
- Add text, import files, share/export artwork
- Set canvas guides and preferences
- Adjustments (Magic Wand ✨):
- Apply blur, sharpen, liquify, hue/saturation, etc.
- Selections (S-shaped Ribbon):
- Select specific areas to move or edit
- Transform (Arrow Icon):
- Move, scale, rotate elements
🖌️ Left Sidebar
- Brush Size Slider: Adjusts the size of your brush
- Brush Opacity Slider: Controls transparency
- Undo/Redo Arrows:
- Two-finger tap = undo
- Three-finger tap = redo
- Modify Button (Square): Works with tools like QuickShape
🎨 Right Side Icons
- Brush Library: Where all your brushes live 🖌️
- Tap to choose brushes by category (Sketching, Inking, Painting, etc.)
- You can import custom brushes too — check out my collection on artbychao.co to level up your toolkit!
- Smudge Tool: Blends colors — great for shading
- Eraser Tool: Uses any brush to erase
- Layers Panel: Organize your drawing by layers — essential for clean workflow
- Color Panel: Choose and customize your color palette
🔄 Quick Actions & Gestures
- Pinch to zoom/rotate
- Tap with two fingers: Undo
- Tap with three fingers: Redo
- Hold color circle: Quickly pick previous color
- Three-finger swipe down: Quick menu (copy, cut, duplicate, paste)
You’re All Set! 🚀
Now that you know what everything does, it’s time to explore and create. Procreate is powerful, but it’s also incredibly intuitive once you get used to it.
Need help finding the right brushes for your favorite style? Check out artbychao.co — I’ve created beginner-friendly sets to make drawing more fun and less frustrating! 💫
Have a question? Drop it below or send me a DM — I love helping new artists! 💬❤️