Full Body Character
I’m super excited to bring you this in-depth Procreate tutorial where we’ll draw a full-body cartoon character together, Disney-style! I’ll guide you through every step—from the first sketchy lines all the way to adding color, texture, and personality. Whether you’re just getting into character design or want to refine your process, I’ve packed this one with tips, tricks, and layer-friendly techniques to keep things flowing smoothly. Let’s get sketching and bring this sassy, stylish character to life!
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Soft Brush
- Flotastic Brush
- Flotastic Hair brush
- Base Painter
- Line Brush
- Flotastic Inker
- Flat Painter
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Understanding gesture and proportion for cartoon characters: You learn how to create a balanced, expressive pose with a stylized head-to-body ratio typical of cartoon styles.
- Building volume and form through refined sketching: You develop shapes like arms, legs, hands, and facial structure with attention to anatomy and stylized exaggeration.
- Layer management and coloring workflow: The tutorial covers how to build up layers for skin, clothing, and details, using alpha lock and clipping masks for clean results.
- Hair rendering with stylized texture techniques: You explore how to use custom brushes to create dynamic, voluminous curly hair with depth and character.
- Adding expressive facial features and highlights: Focus is placed on shaping eyes, lips, and eyebrows to bring emotion to the character, using highlights and shadows effectively.
Realistic Butterfly
Ready for another deep dive into realism? In this session, I’m painting a butterfly on a flower—just me, my brushes, and the canvas, working through the process from the first loose sketch all the way to those satisfying final touches. I show you how I build up layers, choose colors intuitively, and refine the painting to create something that feels believable, not perfect. It’s all about taking the time to observe, make adjustments, and slowly bring it all to life.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Soft Brush
- Shader
- Light Shader
- Darken Line
- Lighten Line
- Overlay Brush
- Stippy Brush
- Spackle it Brush
- Standard Blender
Canvas Size:
- 3000 x 2000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Blocking in foundational shapes: Using rough sketches and negative space to accurately place butterfly and flower forms.
- Layer organization for realism: Strategically separating body parts and flower elements across layers for easier detailing and adjustments.
- Creating depth with texture and shading: Adding grain, light/dark contrast, and stippling to give life to wings and petals.
- Refining with detail brushes: Using fine line and spackle brushes to mimic natural markings and textures on wings and stems.
- Enhancing with finishing effects: Applying noise, color tweaks, and blending modes like Multiply and Screen to boost contrast and realism.
Tree with Lights
This tutorial was such a cozy one—I’m bringing you a peaceful, slightly magical tree painting filled with whimsical branches, soft clouds, glowing lanterns, and sparkly evening vibes. There’s something so calming about building a tree from sketch to fully lit centerpiece, and I loved showing you all the little tricks to make it feel balanced and alive. Let’s break it down.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Soft Mossy Grass
- Soft Brush
- Studio Pen
- Smudgy Leaves
- Scattered Leaves
- Flotastic Brush
- Bark Brush
- Simple Grass
- Flowers Brush
- Mercury Brush
- Lighten Line
- Darken Line
- Shiny Particles
- Overlay Brush
Canvas Size:
- 3000 x 2000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Building a balanced tree composition: Learn to loosely sketch and plan dynamic curves in branches, giving the tree a sense of flow and personality.
- Layering foliage with variation and depth: Use a combination of smudgy and scattered leaf brushes in layered shades to create believable light and form in the tree’s canopy.
- Using layer masks for natural overlaps: Mask grass over rocks and trunk bases for realism without messy erasing; this keeps things non-destructive and clean.
- Adding glowing effects and magical touches: Create realistic lantern glows using bloom and Gaussian blur, then finish with sparkles for a dreamy final atmosphere.
Painterly Portrait
This was such a fun one—first tutorial at the new desk, and we’re diving into a super expressive, painterly portrait! It’s all about loose brush strokes, bold colors, and embracing imperfection to create something full of life and character. We walked through sketching a stylized head, adding color with confidence, and finished with some of my favorite Procreate tricks to bring it all together.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Old Brush
- Chalk Blocker
- Round Smeary
- Opaque Thin
- Rake Brush
- Overlay Brush
Canvas Size:
- 3500 x 3500 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Sketching expressive facial proportions: Start with circles and guidelines to create a stylized but balanced head shape with facial feature placements.
- Layer-based coloring workflow: Separate layers for background, face, hair, neck, and clothing keep things clean and make adjustments easier.
- Brush blending for painterly effects: Use the Round Smeary and Chalk Blocker to create expressive color variation and texture without losing structure.
- Smudging with the Rake brush: Bring it all together with the Rake brush set to Smudge—perfect for soft painterly effects and stylized textures.
- Finishing touches with light and overlays: Use Overlay brush and Chromatic Aberration to fine-tune highlights, warmth, and depth for a professional polish.
Realistic Sunflowers
In this sun-drenched realism project, we’re diving into painting vibrant sunflowers, starting from a clever sketching method that eases you into observational drawing and ending with expressive, layered brushwork. This process isn’t about perfection—it’s about gradually building up a piece that feels alive, full of movement, warmth, and your own style. Whether you’re tracing to learn structure or sketching freehand to challenge your skills, this tutorial offers a flexible path forward. Along the way, there are happy accidents, smart layer organization (or fixing it when it goes wrong!), and a fun mix of soft blending and bold stylization. Let’s get to it.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Flotastic Brush
- Base Painter
- Standard Blender
- Soft Brush
- Darken Line
- Lighten Line
- Flo Darka Brush
Canvas Size:
- 4000 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Using photo references to guide sketching: practice creating simplified abstract shapes from reference photos.
- Layer organization for efficient painting: The tutorial stresses thoughtful layer use to separate background and foreground elements, making editing and detailing more manageable.
- Selective detail and focal points: Detail is concentrated in the foreground sunflower while the background stays soft and blurry, teaching visual hierarchy and emphasis.
Girl with Flowers
In this tutorial, we’re creating a sweet, spring-inspired girl surrounded by loads of flowers. I’ll walk you through my full process — starting with a super rough sketch to figure out the pose and composition, then building it up with cleaner lines, soft colors, and all the finishing details. You’ll see how I like to plan things out, experiment with color (lots of flower power!), and bring everything together in a relaxed, playful way. Nothing too polished or perfect here — just a fun, creative flow. Feel free to follow along, tweak things, and make it your own!
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Flotastic Brush
- Studio Pen
- Shader
Canvas Size:
- 3000 x 4000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Planning a composition using the rule of thirds: Positioning the main subject and elements thoughtfully for balance and flow.
- Layer management for efficient workflow: Using multiple layers and clipping masks to keep elements organized and editable.
- Sketching and refining stylized anatomy: Breaking down the face, hands, and body into simplified forms, then cleaning them up.
- Color blocking and building palettes: Laying down rough color shapes to test compositions, with tips for palette inspiration.
- Adding texture and detail with brush variety: Bringing life to flowers, fabric, and skin with sketchy lines, shading, and subtle gradients.
Golden Berries
This tutorial is all about keeping it loose and painterly with a still life inspired by golden berries. No sketching—just diving straight in with expressive brush strokes, exploring texture, color, and light. It’s more about the feeling and less about the details, making this a perfect exercise to let go and loosen up. Grab your brushes and let’s make something beautiful together!
Brushes used:
- Round Smeary
- Smeary Damp
- Basic Sketcher
- Overlay
- Opaque Thin
- Painterly Mixer
- Flo Darka
- Flo Lighta
Canvas Size:
- 3000 x 2000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Blocking in without sketching: Jump straight into painting by laying down big, expressive shapes, skipping the traditional sketch phase to keep things fluid and intuitive.
- Using painterly brushes for texture: Learn to blend and layer using textured brushes like Round Smeary and Smeary Damp, building depth while maintaining looseness.
- Manual brush tracking and labeling: Smart tip: jot down the brushes you use on a dedicated layer with a writing brush to keep track for future projects or tutorials.
- Photo editing tricks for painterly contrast: Use duplicated layers with Multiply and Screen blend modes plus layer masks to add contrast, depth, and light, borrowing techniques from photography.
Chibi Boy
If you’ve ever wanted to draw a super cute chibi boy in Procreate, this tutorial’s for you. We go step-by-step without speeding anything up, making it easy for anyone to follow along — even if you’re totally new to drawing characters. Whether you copy the look exactly or mix it up with your own style, you’ll walk away with a finished drawing that’s full of personality.
Brushes used:
- Monoline
- 6B Pencil
- Studio Pen
- Soft Brush
- Round Chalk Pencil
Canvas Size:
- 2500 x 2500 pixels
Skills Learned:
- Using symmetry tools for balanced facial features
Learn how to activate and customize Procreate’s symmetry settings to draw perfectly mirrored elements like eyes, ears, and eyebrows. - Shaping facial structures with Liquify
Master the Liquify tool to sculpt your base head shape, elongate features, or tweak proportions to get that classic chibi style. - Layer management for clean design workflow
Understand how to use clipping masks, alpha lock, and layer order to control shading, highlights, outlines, and more. - Creating expressive eyes with shadows and highlights
Discover how to layer shapes, use subtle gradients, and add highlights to bring your character’s eyes to life. - Detailing hair with light, shadow, and texture
Learn how to build depth in the hair using shape layering, gradients, highlights and crisp outlines.
Top Down Room View – Part 2
Now that our line art is done, it’s time to bring our room to life with color, patterns, and lighting. We’ll start by laying down flat colors, adding shadows, and then transforming our scene into both a day and night version using Procreate’s blending modes and effects.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Soft Brush
- Medium Brush
- Flower Pattern Brushes
- Stippel Brush
- Tiny Patchy Brush
- Signs Brush
Canvas Size:
- 4500 x 2500 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Adding Flat Colors Efficiently: Use separate layers for different elements, drag-and-drop colors, and apply the selection tool with color fill to speed up the coloring process.
- Applying Patterns for Texture: Use clipping masks with pattern brushes like stipple and patchy textures to add subtle detail to rugs, walls, and beddings.
- Creating Realistic Shadows: Multiply layers help cast soft shadows from objects, giving depth and dimension to the scene. A soft brush and selection tool refine shadow placement.
- Adding Light Rays for a Day Scene: Use Add blending mode with a soft brush to paint in sunlight streaming through the windows. Gaussian blur and layer masks help control the intensity and realism.
- Crafting a Night Scene with Glow Effects: Use Bloom and Soft Light blending modes to make lamps glow, adding warmth and contrast. Adjust shadows for a darker ambiance while keeping key highlights.