Mastering Procreate: Tips for Flawless Color Fills

Written by Daisie Team

Published on 11 July 2023 8 min read

Unlocking the full potential of Procreate's color fill capabilities can take your digital artwork to new heights. Whether you're a beginner to Procreate or a seasoned pro looking to refine your skills, this detailed guide will walk you through the ins and outs of flawless color fill usage in Procreate. So grab your Apple Pencil and let's dive in!

1. Getting Familiar with Procreate

Before we immerse deeper into the world of color fill Procreate, it's important that you become comfortable with the Procreate interface. It might appear a bit daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll find it incredibly intuitive and user-friendly. So, let's get acquainted with the basic tools and features.

Interface Overview

The Procreate interface is designed to maximize your creative space while keeping essential tools easily accessible. Here's a quick rundown:

Gallery View: This is your digital portfolio where all your artwork is stored.
Toolbar: Located at the top of the screen, it houses features like brushes, eraser, layers and more.
Action Menu: The wrench icon opens up a menu for actions like importing images, sharing your artwork, and accessing canvas settings.
Color Palette: The circle on the top-right corner is your gateway to colors. Tap it to reveal a spectrum of colors or to create your own.

Brushes and Layers

Brushes and layers form the backbone of any Procreate project. Here's what you need to know:

Brushes: Procreate offers a myriad of brushes to cater to every artistic style. From sketching to texture brushes, the possibilities are endless.
Layers: Think of layers as transparent sheets stacked on top of each other. They allow you to draw, color, or add effects without affecting the rest of your artwork. Plus, with Procreate, you can easily reorder, hide, or blend layers.

Setting up Your Canvas

Setting up your canvas correctly is the first step towards creating a masterpiece. When creating a new project, you can choose from a variety of pre-set dimensions or customize your own. Keep in mind, the canvas size impacts the number of layers available to you — larger canvases will have fewer layers. Once you've set up your canvas, you're ready to explore the exciting realm of color fill Procreate.

2. Understanding Color Fills

Now that you're familiar with the basics of Procreate, let's delve into the core of this guide — mastering color fills. Color fills are an efficient way to add solid, gradient, or pattern colors to your artwork. They're especially handy when you're looking to color large areas quickly. Let's break down the different types of color fills in Procreate.

Basic Color Fill

A basic color fill in Procreate is as simple as it sounds. You pick a color from your palette and fill your selected area with it. Here's how you do it:

Select the layer you want to fill.
Choose your desired color from the color palette.
Drag the color from the top-right color circle and drop it onto the layer. Voila! You've just applied a basic color fill.

Remember, the color fill Procreate tool only fills areas enclosed by lines. If your lines aren't connected, the color fill will spill over into the rest of the canvas.

Gradient Color Fill

Creating a gradient color fill in Procreate is a little more complex, but it can add a whole new depth to your artwork. It involves blending two or more colors together in a seamless transition. Here's a simple way to create a gradient color fill:

Create a new layer and apply a basic color fill with your starting color.
Choose your ending color and select the soft airbrush tool.
Paint over the first color, allowing the two colors to blend together.
Use the Gaussian blur tool to smooth out the transition between the colors.

Experiment with different color combinations to create stunning gradients!

Pattern Color Fill

Pattern color fills can add texture and interest to your artwork. While Procreate doesn’t have a direct pattern fill feature, you can create your own patterns and use them as a color fill. Here's how:

Create a new layer and draw your pattern.
Copy and paste the pattern to cover the entire area you want to fill.
Select all the pattern layers and group them.
Use the clipping mask feature to apply the pattern to your desired area.

This technique may require some practice, but once you've got the hang of it, you'll be able to create unique textures and patterns in your Procreate artwork.

3. Utilizing Color Dropper Tool

Now that you're well-versed in using color fills in Procreate, let's move on to another useful tool — the color dropper. This tool allows you to pick colors from your artwork and use them elsewhere, ensuring color consistency and cohesion throughout your piece. So, let's get into it!

Selecting Colors

The color dropper tool is super easy to use. Simply press and hold anywhere on your canvas, and the color under your finger or stylus will be selected. You'll see a circle appear showing the selected color. As you move your finger around, the circle will change color accordingly. Lift your finger, and now the color in your palette is the color you just picked. It's an artist's dream!

Adjusting Tolerance

But what if you want to pick a color from a gradient or a textured area? This is where adjusting the color dropper's tolerance comes into play. The tolerance setting controls how sensitive the color dropper is to different colors. A higher tolerance will select a broader range of similar colors, while a lower tolerance will select a more specific color. Here's how you can adjust the tolerance:

Press and hold on the canvas to activate the color dropper.
Without lifting your finger, drag it left or right. Dragging left decreases the tolerance, and dragging right increases it.
Once you've set your desired tolerance, lift your finger. The selected color is now in your color palette.

Remember, finding the right tolerance level might require a bit of trial and error, but it's a powerful tool once you master it.

Quick Fill

Did you know you can also use the color dropper for quick color fills? It's a handy trick when you're coloring areas with lots of similar colors. Here's how to do a quick fill:

Select the color dropper and pick the color you want to fill with.
Tap and hold on the area you want to fill. The color from the color dropper will flood the area.

And just like that, you've saved yourself some serious coloring time!

To sum up, the color dropper tool can greatly enhance your color fill Procreate experience. It's all about selecting colors with precision, adjusting tolerance levels, and using quick fill to speed up your work process.

4. Working with Color Palettes

So, you've explored color fills and the color dropper tool in Procreate. Now, let's dive into the world of color palettes. Working with color palettes can streamline your coloring process and help bring your artwork to life. Let's look at how we can create, import, and share color palettes in Procreate.

Creating Custom Palettes

Creating your own color palette can be a game-changer. It allows you to keep your go-to colors at your fingertips, ready to be used in any artwork. To create a custom color palette:

Open the colors tab and then click on the + symbol in the top-right corner.
Give your new palette a name.
Add colors to your palette by selecting a color and then clicking on an empty square in your new palette.

Now, you can color fill Procreate designs with your own personalized color palette!

Importing Palettes

Importing color palettes can enrich your color fill Procreate experience. You can import palettes created by other artists, or you can import your own palettes from another device. To import a palette:

Go to the colors tab, then click on the palette icon in the top-right corner.
Select 'import' from the drop-down menu.
Navigate to the location of your palette file, select it, and click 'open'.

And voila, you've successfully imported a color palette into Procreate!

Sharing is caring, and that's true for color palettes too! Share your custom palettes with other artists, or even between your own devices. To share a palette:

Select the palette you want to share from the colors tab.
Click on the share icon in the top-right corner.
Choose how you want to share your palette (email, AirDrop, etc.).

Now, you're not just creating with color; you're sharing your color vision with the world!

Working with color palettes can truly take your color fill Procreate experience to the next level. By creating, importing, and sharing color palettes, you're giving yourself a wider range of colors to play with and making your coloring process more efficient.

5. Mastering Advanced Color Techniques

Now that we've covered the basics, let's dive a bit deeper. The world of color fill Procreate techniques is vast and exciting. Let's explore blending modes, opacity, and color dynamics — these advanced techniques can add depth and dimension to your artwork.

Using Blending Modes

Blending modes are a powerful tool that can completely transform your color fill Procreate projects. They allow you to change the way colors interact with each other, creating unique effects. To use blending modes:

Select a layer.
Click on the "N" icon next to the layer name.
Choose a blending mode from the list. For example, "Multiply" darkens colors, while "Screen" lightens them.

Experiment with different blending modes to see how they change your artwork. Remember, there's no right or wrong here — just what looks good to you!

Utilizing Opacity

Opacity is all about adding transparency to your colors. This can be particularly useful when you want to create subtle color variations or add a sense of depth. Here's how you can adjust opacity:

Select a layer.
Slide the opacity bar at the top of the layers panel to adjust the layer's transparency.

Playing with opacity can make your color fill Procreate designs feel more dynamic and layered. It's a simple trick, but it can make a big difference!

Exploring Color Dynamics

Color dynamics can add a whole new level of complexity to your color fill Procreate designs. They let you vary your colors based on the pressure or tilt of your Apple Pencil. To explore color dynamics:

Select a brush.
Open the brush settings and go to the "Color Dynamics" tab.
Adjust the settings to your liking. For example, you can set the color to change based on pressure, stroke, tilt, or even speed.

Playing with color dynamics can add a sense of realism and depth to your artwork. It's a bit more advanced, but with a bit of practice, it can take your color fill Procreate designs to new heights.

Mastering these advanced color techniques can truly transform your Procreate experience. They allow you to play with color in new and exciting ways, adding depth, complexity, and personality to your artwork. So go ahead, get experimenting — and most importantly, have fun!

If you're looking to expand your Procreate skills beyond color fills, don't miss the workshop 'Animating with Procreate and Photoshop' by Nyanza. This workshop will teach you how to create beautiful animations using both Procreate and Photoshop, taking your digital art to new heights.