Procreate is probably the app I use the most as an architect. I’ve been using it for almost 10 years now, and I think, if you have an iPad, this is the most essential and useful app you’ll ever download if you want to draw, whether you’re an architect, a designer, a concept sketcher, a game artist, or anything else. It’s a great tool for creating any kind of drawing and illustration.
So today I’m going to talk about 5 Procreate features that are important to know and that can completely change the way you work and sketch on your iPad. Some of these I use every single day and I’m always surprised how many people don’t know about them.
And I also made a new free PDF that goes with this video, you can download it by subscribing just below! So let’s start!
Get subscribed to get your FREE guide now!
1. Layers & Settings
If you’re not using layers properly in Procreate, you’re making your life so much harder than it needs to be.
The idea is simple: one layer per element. Your foundations on one layer, your walls on another, your furniture on another, your shadows on another, your annotations on another. This way you can edit, move, recolor, or delete anything without touching the rest of your drawing.
But here’s where it gets really interesting, the layer settings.If you tap on a layer, you get options like Alpha Lock and Clipping Mask.
For Alpha Lock: when you turn this on, you can only paint on the pixels that already exist on that layer. Nothing outside the shape. I use this all the time for quickly recoloring trees, changing line colors, or adding texture to a specific element without affecting anything else.
For the Clipping Mask: this is like a stencil. You create a new layer above your shape, clip it to the layer below, and everything you paint on that new layer stays inside the shape. Perfect for adding shadows, textures, or colors on separate layers that you can turn on and off independently.
Once you start using these two properly, you will never go back.
2. Custom Brushes
Procreate already has a lot of brushes, but as an architect the default brushes are just the beginning.
You can import brushes or even create your own, and this is one of the biggest productivity boosts I’ve given myself. I have a brushset for annotations I use in site analyses and concept diagrams, and another one for drawing trees in plans and sections. I draw them once and reuse them forever. It saves so much time and keeps everything consistent across all my projects.
If you want you can also create your own brushes (I explain in the video how you can do that!)
There are really infinite possibility on the brushes you can do. For my annotation brushes, I’ve made some zigzag, dashed, squared, doubled or dotted lines like that.
I have also made some stamps like these arrows, people, trees and more. I’ve only drew them once and now I can use them everywhere. If you want access to my brush sets, I’ve linked them in the description below, and let’s see the feature 3.
3. Drawing Guide
This one is kinda hidden in a place most people never look, and it can be a really useful features for architects. Go to Actions → Canvas → Drawing Guide → Edit Drawing Guide.
You’ll find four different guides: the 2D grid, isometric, perspective, and symmetry. All of these are useful on their own. Except the symmetry in my case, that I don’t use a lot. The other 3 are amazing. I use the 2D grid, to draw to scale. The isometric for well, isometric drawings or infographic cute little illustrations. And perspective for literally any kind of drawing where you need to sketch with depth and dimensions. I’ve made a whole video about that.
You can place you vanishing points, and then, as you draw, your lines automatically snap to the correct perspective angles. This is incredible for quickly blocking in architectural scenes. Don’t forget to enable Assisted Drawing while the guide is on, so every line you draw automatically aligns to the grid.
4. Selection & Transform
This one sounds basic but most people don’t use it to its full potential.
Basically, the Selection tool lets you select any part of your drawing, freehand, automatic, or by rectangle or ellipse, and then with the Transform tool you can move it, resize it, rotate it, flip it, or even distort it or warp it. This one lets you push and pull specific corners of an element. It’s very useful for adjusting perspective on an imported photo or texture for example.
You can use the different selection, for example, if you sketch a floor plan, you realize the sofa is in the wrong place just select it and move it. You can flip it or rotate it.
5. Split Screen
This last one is more of a workflow tip but it’s also very useful. If you keep making the same kind of floor plan or sections, you can create PNG libraries of furniture, plants, decoration objects, things that again, you draw once and reuse forever. Instead of drawing the same sofa or the same tree every single time, just drag it in, resize it, and place it.
For that split your iPad screen, Procreate on one side, your photo library or files on the other. Then just hold any image from the library and drag it directly into your Procreate canvas.
This also works incredibly well for collages and moodboards. There are also other things you can do with split screen like you can open a reference photo, a 3D model from SketchUp, a floor plan with dimensions, you can open pinterest or you photo library for creating moodboards.
So Procreate is really the app you need whatever you want to sketch. It’s also cheap, a one time payment and you can do so much more than just architecture and design.
If you just started out, I know these can be a lot to take. But just take it easy, one step at a time, I would say the best thing to do is to really learn how to use the layers first, it’s really important.
So don’t forget to download the free PDF, it has all of this summarized so you can refer back to it anytime. You can also watch the full Youtube video.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me, and I’ll see you in the next video and post. Bye! 🙂