Strawberry
For this realism project, we’re painting a strawberry. It’s been a long time since I painted one, and honestly they’re always a bit of a challenge with all those tiny seeds. But don’t worry. We’re going to approach this in a logical, layered way. No unnecessary struggle. Just smart steps, soft shadows first, bright highlights later and suddenly it all starts looking delicious.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Shader
- Flo Darka
- Flo Lighta
- Lighten Line
- Darken Line
- Overlay
- Standard Blender
- Basic Flo
- Multiply
- Forrester
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Thinking in 3D from the start
You don’t just copy a photo, you look at the strawberry as a rounded form. By squinting your eyes and focusing on big light and shadow shapes first, you instantly create depth. - Using layers in a smart, simple way
You separate the base, seeds, leaves, and background so everything stays flexible. With alpha lock, you shade safely without ruining your clean edges. - Letting shadows do the heavy lifting
You begin with soft, darker tones to define the dimples around the seeds. This makes the surface feel textured before you even add highlights. - Making seeds feel embedded, not pasted on
You shade mostly on one side of each seed and add tiny highlights on the opposite side. Just a few strokes and suddenly they sit inside the strawberry. - Building shine step by step
You add soft highlights first, then sharper, brighter ones on top. That layering of light is what makes the strawberry look glossy and juicy instead of flat.
Cozy Mugs
I’ve got a super cozy project for you that’s just perfect for Valentine’s Day, or honestly, any rainy afternoon. We’re drawing two adorable mugs sharing a warm moment indoors while it’s raining outside. From sketch to final lighting touches, I’ll walk you through the full process, layering in cozy details like heart-shaped leaves, a glowing candle, and even a love letter on the table. Don’t worry, we’ll keep things playful and light, with lots of room for your own little creative touches.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Soft Brush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Building cozy compositions with simple shapes
Start with basic ovals and lines to lay out your scene, then gently build in cozy elements like curtains, windows, and table legs. - Layering your sketch for easy line art
Lower the sketch opacity and add clean lines on top, making decisions early keeps the line art phase fun and relaxing. - Adding dreamy lighting with Bloom and Blur
Create glowing hearts in the sky, cozy steam swirls, and a flickering candle using Bloom, Gaussian Blur, and a touch of color layering. - Using Alpha Lock for shading and texture
Add soft gradients and shadows with the soft brush to create a gentle, lo-fi vibe across your curtains, mugs, and cozy corners. - Finishing with raindrops and texture for atmosphere
Top it all off with stylized raindrops, bloom effects, and a final overlay of noise for that perfect soft, rainy-day feel.
Girl with a Cat
In this tutorial, we’re drawing a cozy little scene: a girl with her white cat, sitting among simple flowers. We start with a basic sketch, block in flat colors, and then bring it all to life with texture and tiny details. It’s chill, nothing too tricky, just a relaxed drawing session with soft shapes and lots of layering. Let’s get into it!
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Studio Pen
- Nutgrove
- Florentine
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Sketching a basic composition
Start with simple lines to block out the girl, her cat, and a few gentle curves for posture and placement, no pressure to be perfect! - Building color with thoughtful layer organization
Use separate layers for each part, like the sweater, cat, and flowers. So you can tweak things easily as you go. - Adding soft textures with charcoal brushes
Bring everything to life using Nutgrove and Florentine brushes to gently shade clothing, hair, plants, and more with that lovely grainy feel. - Creating natural flow with varied leaf and hair shapes
Have fun playing with rounded and pointy leaves, and draw loose strands of hair to add movement and softness to the scene. - Finishing with delicate details and little starry extras
Top it all off with sweet star shapes and tiny touches that make your piece sparkle without overcomplicating anything.
Mountain Cabin
In this tutorial, we’re diving into another relaxing painting session, this time, a cozy little cabin nestled in a mountain landscape. It’s not about copying the reference exactly; instead, I’ll show you how I loosely interpret it and build something a bit more painterly, more stylized, and very us. We’ll play around with composition, texture, lighting and of course, take full advantage of creative freedom. This is one of those projects that lets you focus on shapes and mood without getting lost in the details. So grab your stylus, let’s go!
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Flotastic Brush
- Flotastic Sketcher
- Flotastic Hair
- Flotastic Inker
- Flat Painter
- Lighten Line
- Darken Line
- Smear it Around
- Soft Brush
- Dabby
- Flowers 2
- Wild Grass
- Flower Field
Canvas Size:
- 3000 x 2000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Working loosely with clipping masks and alpha lock
You’ll see how I use them to build depth, play with lighting, and add detail without messing up the base layers, super handy! - Creating painterly shapes with expressive brushes
We’re not going for photo-real here. I’ll show you how to use brush shapes and textures to get that loose, impressionistic vibe, especially for the mountain and grass. - Using blur to push depth and softness
Perspective blur adds a nice dreamy effect in the foreground, I’ll guide you through a few smudging tricks too to blend skies and soften shapes. - Layering textures to build detail
We experiment with different brushes (yes, including some “flower” brushes that totally work as grass) to create texture in the rocks, field, and cabin. - Finishing touches that add atmosphere
Little things like a vignette, lighting layers, and a bit of noise go a long way in making the whole piece feel more polished and moody.
Deer in a Forest
In this cozy little tutorial, we’re creating a whimsical fall forest with a sweet stylized deer tucked right in the spotlight. This isn’t about getting everything perfect, it’s all about relaxing, playing with color and texture, and just having fun with your brushes. We start with a loose sketch to set the mood, layer in colorful tree shapes, add some playful patterns, and then bring in our little deer to complete the scene. It’s a gentle, creative process, so no pressure, just enjoy painting something a little magical.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Gatsby
- Lily
- Sanderling
- Soft Brush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Sketching a loose and playful composition
Start off with a light sketch, trees, bushes, and a little deer. Keep it loose and fun, no need for precision here. - Building soft, stylized tree shapes with color harmony
Layer trees from back to front using gentle, matching colors that flow nicely together. Each tree gets its own space and vibe. - Adding textures with clipping masks and hand-drawn patterns
Use light hatching, dots, leafy shapes and lines to give each tree its own personality. It’s all about those small, simple details. - Painting tree trunks and softly fading them into snow
Draw simple, natural trunks and fade the bottoms with the soft brush to make it feel like they’re gently sitting in snow. - Bringing the deer to life with just a few shapes and accents
Keep the deer nice and simple, add soft shadows, a little eye, some dots on the back, and you’re done! Super sweet and easy.
Castle in the Hills
In this cheerful and beginner-friendly Procreate tutorial, you’ll be creating a colorful, whimsical scene of a castle tucked into rolling hills. No drawing experience needed. I’ll guide you step by step. You’ll start with some cozy hill shapes, layer them up for depth, and then build your own fun little castle with playful towers and quirky rooftops. You’ll be adding fluffy clouds, bright flowers, dreamy textures, and a winding path to complete the scene. It’ll be relaxed, messy, and full of charm, and by the end, you’ll have a piece you’ll be proud of!
Brushes used:
- Oberon
- Salamanca
- Jagged
- Niko Rull
- Inker
Canvas Size:
- 3500 x 3000 pixels
Skills Learned:
- Layering with Clipping Masks and Alpha Lock
Use clipping masks and alpha lock to seamlessly apply texture and shading to specific areas without disrupting your base shapes. - Stylized Hill and Background Building
Craft expressive, overlapping hills using different brush sizes, opacities, and hues to build depth and create a playful, stylized look. - Creating a Custom Fantasy Castle
Design a layered castle with towers, roofs, and walls using the selection tool and color fill, adding personality with imperfect lines and wonky shapes. - Texture and Detail with Multiple Brushes
Add life to your artwork using textured brushes like Niko Rull and Jagged to build detail on plants, rocks, paths, and architecture. - Foreground Depth with Flowers and Foliage
Enhance the scene with large foreground flowers, custom stems, and layered plants using expressive strokes and color variation to build visual depth.
Paper Boat
In this cozy realism project, we’re painting a little paper boat floating on the water. We start with a loose sketch, then slowly build up the water using layers of shapes, colors, and textures until it feels believable. No need for a pre-made palette, we’ll pick colors as we go and just have fun experimenting. But of course you can also download the color palette I created along the way.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Soft Brush
- Base Painter
- StandardBlender
- Flo Darka
- Flow Lighta
- Darken Line
- Lighten Line
- Overlay Brush
- Multiply Brush
- Studio Pen
- Soft Light Brush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Building a base sketch: Start with loose lines to find the angles and shapes before refining.
- Layering water textures: Stack darker and lighter strokes to create ripples and depth.
- Blending and blurring for realism: Use smudge, Gaussian blur, and bloom to soften and add atmosphere.
- Crisp-edged object painting: Lock alpha and work with precise brushes for neat, clean boat edges.
- Creating reflections and ripples: Combine multiply layers and light strokes for believable water movement.
Blue House
Today we’re keeping it simple and super fun, we’re painting a sweet little blue house with fluffy clouds, fresh greenery, and all those tiny details that make it feel alive. We’ll start with a nice symmetrical sketch, use a bit of perspective magic for the fences, and then bring it all together with soft shadows, crisp highlights, and lots of playful texture.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Soft Brush
- Studio Pen
- Adjusted Soft Airbrush
- Aurora Brush
- Soft Rounded Mossy Grass Brush
- Dry Ink Brush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Making symmetry and perspective work for you: use the symmetry guide for a perfectly balanced sketch and the perspective guide to nail those fences and tiles so everything sits just right in the scene.
- Laying down flat colors in neat layers: build the sky, house, roof, plants, and details each on their own layer so it’s easy to tweak colors or fix shapes later.
- Bringing surfaces to life with texture: from the soft, fluffy feel of clouds to the grain in wooden fences and stairs, different brushes add personality to each part of the illustration.
- Adding depth with shadows that feel natural: multiply layers and a soft brush help you place gentle shadows in just the right spots to give the house a cozy, three-dimensional look.
- Using light and reflections to add charm: soft highlights on the windows, little glints on the door, and sun-kissed edges on bushes make the whole piece pop.
Bear with Coffee
In this cozy little painting session, we’re creating something super cute, super chill, a sleepy bear on a tree stump, sipping on coffee (or tea, or cocoa, totally up to you), all wrapped in a calm, foresty vibe. It’s loose, painterly, and just really fun to do. We start with a soft sketch, build up those lovely background layers, and then slowly bring our bear and the world around him to life, one gentle brushstroke at a time. Nothing too precise, just relaxing and going with the flow.
Brushes used:
- Basic Sketcher
- Jagged
- Wet Acrylic
- Dry Mixer
- Tapered
- Impressionistic
- Soft Brush
Canvas Size:
- 2300 x 3000 pixels
Key Skills Learned:
- Sketching a peaceful scene with simple shapes
We start loose and light, a bean shape here, a soft circle there, just enough to map things out without overthinking it. - Layering painterly textures for atmosphere
Using big, soft strokes and playing with color gives us that dreamy, almost storybook forest look. - Using color to create calm and depth
We mix warm tones and soft shadows to gently lead the eye, with no harsh lines or loud spots, it’s all about the mood. - Adding soft texture and detail with purpose
Fur, bark, foliage, it’s all about little touches that keep things feeling fluffy, natural, and handmade. - Framing your subject to guide the viewer
We gently surround our bear with leaves, bushes, and soft shadows to keep him cozy and right at the heart of the scene.