How to Group Layers in Procreate

Knowing how to organize your work properly is a necessary skill when it comes to digital art. 

Since we’re working with layers, sometimes it gets too cluttered and confusing. Being able to group our layers just makes life so much easier, especially when working on bigger projects.

Fortunately, grouping layers is easy! Don’t confuse it with merging layers though, but it works well with groups when it comes to organizing layers.

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How to Group Layers in Procreate

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There are actually two ways we can group our layers. The first method is used when you want to group 2 adjacent layers, while the other method can be used to group 2 or more layers.

Let’s go!

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Combine Down to Group Layers in Procreate

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Start by opening one of your old projects. Today I’m working on this one.

Open the Layers Menu. It’s located at the top right corner of your workspace. You’ll be able to see all the layers in your work.

I want to group together the layers named ‘WOW’ and ‘WOW Detail’ so it would be easier for me to move them. To do this, I’ll tap on the upper layer to open the layer options. In this case, it’s the ‘WOW Detail’ layer.

Tap on ‘Combine Down’ to group the two groups together. You'll now see that the two layers are combined into a new group. I’ll rename the group ‘WOW’

When you tap on the arrow down, the group will collapse and only the group name will be visible.

If you want to see the layers to work on them or rearrange them, you can tap on the arrow again to expand your group.

Grouping Two or More Layers in Procreate

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Now that we know how to group together two adjacent layers, how about if we want to group two or more separate layers?

It’s as simple as the first one. On the same project, I’ll open the layers menu.

Then, select the layers you want to group together. You can combine two or more layers in a group. I want to combine all the red shadows in my work so I’ll select them.

You’ll see that two options will appear in the upper corner of the Layers Menu, ‘Delete’ and Group’

Once you’ve selected the layers, tap on ‘Group’

The layers are now combined together in a group.

Notice that grouping a lot of layers just makes the layers menu tidier since you can collable your group.

You can also combine layers and groups together. I’ll select the ‘WOW’ group, the ‘New Group’, and the three background layers that are left. Then, I’ll tap ‘Group’ to combine them into a single group.

If you collapse the newly formed group, now you can only see one item in your layers menu. But when you notice the thumbnail, it shows a preview of the layers in the group.

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Knowing how to group layers and actually applying them to your work is definitely a game changer. 

It will definitely do you good if you get used to organizing your layers into groups!

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