How to Draw on Procreate: Unlock the Power of Adjustments

If you’re new to Procreate and have been messing around (good for you!), you definitely must have come across the Adjustments panel. You might be wondering what all of these different settings do and how they can help you improve your creative work. Don't worry, this How to Draw on Procreate blog is here to guide you.

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Think of these as the sprinkles in your cake of awesomeness! Your works are already awesome, you just need a small push to make it the best it can be— this is where these puppies come in! With a little exploring around with these sliders, you’re guaranteed one of two things— make your work a museum worthy masterpiece, or discover something entirely new!

Excited? Let’s get started!

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For those of you visual and audio learners, here's a neat video ready for you. Otherwise, go ahead and read along!

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Hue, Saturation, Brightness

First up, we have the 3 most basic Adjustment settings, these ones are pretty self-explanatory— Hue allows you to alter the colors of your artwork by adjusting the slider until you find one you like. This is a great way to fine-tune the colors in your artwork to get them exactly how you want them!

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Saturation will let you adjust just how vibrant you want your colors to be. Use this sparingly, though! It’s very easy to get caught making everything too vibrant. It’s always a great practice to try and sprinkle in some contrast here and there.

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Lastly, we have the Brightness adjustment— this one allows you to adjust the overall brightness of your artwork. Want to make your colors lighter and pop a little more? Increase the brightness! Want to create a moodier, darker piece? Decrease the brightness!

Color Balance

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You might think, “Why should I use Color Balance when I can just use the Hue Adjustment?”

Well, while the Hue Adjustment allows you to adjust the overall color scheme of your artwork, Color Balance is a tool that will help you adjust the colors in a more targeted manner. It allows you to shift the colors towards the warm or cool side, as well as adjust the balance of red, green, and blue in your image.

This can be really helpful if you want to correct any color imbalances or create a specific mood or atmosphere in your art. For example, you can use color balance to make a warm and cozy scene, or a cool and dramatic one.

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Curves

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Curves in Procreate are a super useful tool that can help you make adjustments to the tones and colors in your digital artwork. Essentially, they allow you to fine-tune the brightness and contrast of specific areas in your image.

To access the curves adjustment in Procreate, you'll need to go to the Adjustments menu and select "Curves." From there, you'll see a graph with a diagonal line running across it. This line represents the overall tonal range of your image, with the left side representing the darkest tones and the right side representing the lightest tones.

To make curve changes, simply tap on the line and drag it up or down to change the brightness of specific tones in your image. For example, if you want to darken the midtones in your image, tap and drag on the middle of the line. If you wish to lighten the shadows in your image, instead, tap on the left side of the line and drag it up.

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Gradient Maps

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Gradient maps in Procreate are a fantastic tool for transforming the colors in your artwork in a very unique way. A gradient map is essentially a way to apply a color gradient to your image, but instead of the gradient being applied directly to the image, it is applied to the current colors in the image.

Suppose you have an illustration with a lot of various colors in it. When you apply a gradient map to that image, the colors in the image will vary depending on the gradient you've chosen.

This is a great cool technique to add depth and complexity to your artwork, and it's super simple to achieve in Procreate. To make your artwork stand out, you can choose from a large range of gradients or even create your own custom gradient maps.

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Blur

Are you looking to add some blur effects to your digital art in Procreate? Well, you're in luck because Procreate has a few different blur tools that you can use to achieve some really cool effects!

First, there's Gaussian blur. This is a standard blur effect that you can use to soften the edges of an object or to create a sense of depth and distance. It's a great tool to have in your arsenal if you want to create a dreamy or ethereal look in your artwork.

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Next up, we have motion blur. This is a tool that you can use to create the illusion of movement in your artwork. It works by blurring the edges of an object in a specific direction, giving the impression that the object is moving or being swept away. This is a really fun tool to play around with if you want to create dynamic and energetic art.

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Last but not least, we have perspective blur. This is a tool that you can use to add depth and realism to your artwork by blurring objects that are further away in the distance. It works by simulating the way that objects appear to be out of focus when they are far away from the viewer. This is a really useful tool if you want to create a sense of depth and dimension in your artwork.

Filter Adjustment

The rest of the Adjustments all serve to create a certain unique “effect” in your illustration- let’s go through them! Each and every one of these has their own setting and adjustments inside them. There is no one way to do it so it’s best to experiment!

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Noise

Noise is a random variation in the color or intensity of pixels in an image. In Procreate, the noise feature allows you to add a random, grainy texture to an image or layer.

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Sharpen

The sharpen feature in Procreate increases the contrast between adjacent pixels in an image, making it appear sharper and more defined.

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Bloom

Bloom is a visual effect that simulates the way light appears to spread and diffuse when it hits a surface. In Procreate, the bloom effect can be added to an image to make certain areas appear softer and more luminous.

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Glitch

A glitch is an unexpected error or malfunction in a system. In Procreate, the glitch effect can be used to intentionally distort or corrupt an image, giving it a broken or malfunctioning appearance.

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Halftone

Halftone is a printing technique that uses a pattern of dots to create the illusion of different shades and tones in an image. In Procreate, the halftone effect can be applied to an image to give it a retro, comic book-like appearance.

Chromatic Aberration

Chromatic aberration is a visual distortion that occurs when the colors of an image do not align properly. In Procreate, the chromatic aberration effect can be added to an image to simulate this distortion, giving it a distorted, rainbow-like appearance.

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Last but not least

The last two adjustment settings on the list are Liquify and Clone. For those familiar with Photoshop, you might be familiar with both of these!

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Liquify is a feature in the Procreate app that allows you to manipulate and warp certain parts of your artwork where you can push and pull different parts of your drawing to create different shapes and effects.

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Clone is a tool in Procreate that allows you to copy and paste parts of your artwork onto another part of the canvas. It's a really useful tool if you want to repeat an element or create symmetry in your artwork.

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You’ve got the secret techniques to amp your designs, but it doesn’t end there! You’ll definitely want to check out our amazing Procreate Masterclass course! If this How to Draw on Procreate blog gave you a glimpse of just a few features, just imagine what a Masterclass can do for you! With multiple tutorials, lectures, and activities— sky’s the limit to what’s possible!

So now that you know these tricks, give them a try and see how it can enhance your digital art! Happy creating!

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