Procreate is packed with useful features, but some of the best ones are easy to miss.
Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been using the app for years, these 10 tips will help you draw faster, stay organized, and make the most of your creative time. I use them daily in my own workflow, and I wish I had known some of these when I was first learning the app. (Tip #7 and #9 are personal favorites!)
1. Snap Lines and Shapes
Holding your stroke auto-snaps it to a clean shape, saving you from redrawing messy lines.
2. Fix the Color Drop “Halo”
🤩 Grab my popular FREE Procreate Brush pack, plus color palettes, prompt lists, and more creative goodies!
Adjusting the color threshold gives you perfect fills without annoying white edges.
3. Use the Reference Window
Keeping a reference visible while you draw helps you stay focused and accurate.
4. Trace Directly on Canvas
Lowering a photo’s opacity lets you sketch tricky subjects with confidence.
5. Perspective Drawing Guide
Setting up vanishing points makes your environments instantly more believable.
6. Check Values in Grayscale
Flipping your artwork to black and white helps you spot lighting and contrast issues fast.
7. Paint Gradients with Soft Brushes
Manual blending gives you more control and better texture than auto-gradients ever could.
8. Organize Brushes into Favorites
Creating a “Faves” folder keeps your go-to brushes one tap away, so you stay in the zone.
9. Make Your Own Signature Brush
Turn your signature into a stamp to sign art fast and consistently.
10. Build PDFs Right in Procreate
Using Page Assist turns your canvases into scrollable, sharable booklets in seconds.
That’s it! I hope these tips help you feel more confident and make your creative process smoother. Want more shortcuts and tutorials? Check out my free Procreate cheat sheet, grab a brush set, or dive into one of my full classes.
Hi, I am Iva (rhymes with “viva”). I am a full-time self-taught artist behind Art Side of Life® and a Top Teacher on Skillshare. I have 15 years of experience in the creative field as a concept designer, illustrator, art director, and now freelance artist, content creator, and art instructor. My goal is to help you get your creative groove on with Procreate and make awesome art through practical classes, tutorials, Procreate brushes, and guides on art tools, supplies and resources. About me »
