If you’re a newbie at the world of art, it’s a good bet you’ve heard of the name of Procreate. But you may not know much about it. If you like to paint portraits, or you’re an artist who wants to create paintings on canvas, or do both, the name Procreate may ring a bell. For many people, the first brush they think of when they hear the word “Procreate” is a plasticizer brush, which is great for quick touch-ups and finishing touches. But it can be kind of limiting.
The brushes on this list are top choices for all Procreate users. They’re the original picks for how to go about creating artwork for Procreate, first, and second. Some of these were handcrafted; others are joint creations done by talented illustrators and artists we know. But all of these were created using the Procreate drawing app.
If you’ve only used the Procreate Color Palette, you know that it’s one of the most powerful tools in the program. The palette allows you to mix and match thousands of colors. But that’s not all. You can also add text to every single color in the palette and change the hue and saturation of every single hue. It’s truly a powerful app.
Another popular Procreate feature that most users love is its array of textures. This huge selection includes everything from sands to beach rocks, to ice cream scoops, and metallic salts. You can use the texture tool to apply a multitude of textures at once, or you can use the blend modes to change the look of the texture over time. In addition to being able to apply textures, you can also make your model completely opaque or translucent.
One other great feature of Procreate is that it has an amazingly large collection of paper, pencils, pens, and colored pencils. It can even export your drawings into files that can be imported into Photoshop and other graphics software. But it doesn’t stop there. You can import your artwork into Procreate itself, so that you can edit your sketches from within Procreate itself. There’s an amazing amount of functionality that this little pen program has.
All of these functions are incredibly useful for the serious illustrator who wants to create professional looking art. But Procreate goes way beyond the basic uses for those just starting out. The fact that you can import and edit artwork from many different sources makes Procreate so versatile that even the most technically-challenged computer users can easily take advantage of its drawing power. If you’re ready to get started with drawing, but are unsure where to start, I recommend trying out the free version of Procreate. You’ll be happy you did.
