Procreate has changed the way I go about creating illustrations, I don’t have to be precious about the materials I’m using (compared to traditional methods), I can make mistakes and not have to worry about tossing it in the trash (we got digital trash now, yo), and I can pick up right where I left off without having to scramble through my Finder program to find my files. I like to think of it as a digital sketchbook that has all (okay maybe not all) the powers of Photoshop.
My favorite brush to use in Procreate is the Dry Ink Brush! I would say about 90% of all my illustrations start with this brush. It’s a great brush to sketch out rough ideas and give my line work texture. However, it’s kind of the worst brush to use for fills. I’ve noticed it leaves a fine line between the filled area and the outline which is hella annoying to clean up. So to avoid that, I switch to the Studio Pen to block out large areas of color on separate layers under my outlines.
When deciding on a color palette, I try to keep them as simple as possible. My illustrations are usually 2D and flat so I don’t need a large range of colors. I usually start with a single color, then lighten or darken it, to use for shading and adding highlights.
