Procreate is one of the -if not the most popular drawing app out there. With millions of users, Procreate must be doing something good. Still need some convincing?
Here are 11 reasons why Procreate is better than other drawing apps!
1. Procreate is a one-time purchase
You read that right!
Procreate costs $14,99 USD as of 2023. There are no in-app purchases and it remains subscription-free. Every single update, small or major, is completely free of charge.
Updates range from bug fixes and small improvements to huge new added features. Like in the 5.2 update when all of a sudden you could paint 3D objects in Procreate!
If you don’t know, painting in 3D usually requires heavy and expensive software. The fact this was free (and even possible) is very generous. I can’t wait to see what future updates there’ll be!
2. Procreate is great for beginners and non-artists
The reason why Procreate is so great for beginners and non-artists is that the UI interface is very simple. Other drawing apps often seem overwhelming. Procreate, therefore, has an easy learning curve which makes it perfect for beginners and nonartists.
This is the Procreate interface when you start it:
Not overwhelming at all right?
If you need a little help to get started, here’s how to set up your Procreate canvas with the best settings. It literally takes seconds to set up (but of course I tell you why we choose those specific settings as well).
3. Procreate can be used to make money
Procreate is used by many industry professionals and therefore can be used to make money. If you are not a professional you can still make money with Procreate by selling your designs.
You can sell your designs on places like Etsy, RedBubble, and Society6. You can also run your own shop and advertise on social media.
It’s all about building a following.
4. You can animate using Procreate
Did you know you can animate in Procreate?
It’s fairly easy. In short: your layers function as frames. You can make as many frames as you want and let them loop. You decide how fast it runs. You can then export it as a .GIF or MP4.
Just keep in mind that Procreate is an app designed for illustrations and not necessarily for animation. But it has all the basics to create a nice animation!
I did this cute effect in just a few seconds:
Of course, if you spend a little time more on your animation you can create something really amazing!
5. You can customize your own brushes (and sell them!)
Procreate has an elaborate brush library in which you can design your own brushes. You can either start from scratch or edit an existing brush. You can even create your own brushes, group them and sell them.
My favorite place to sell my Procreate brushes is Gumroad. This particular brush pack (hosted on Gumroad) for extreme Portrait realism is a bestseller by Laura H. Rubin:
6. Procreate has every feature you need
The interface shows all you need to start creating amazing illustrations. But there are other features you can’t see at first glance.
Some of Procreate’s Features:
- You can choose a color palette by using harmonies
- Like complementary, triadic, analogous etc.
- You can use curves
- This allows you to edit your values
- Use drawing guide
- With this drawing guide you can draw in symmetry
- Halftone
- This is the classic comic book/newspaper effect
- You can upload a reference
- Liquify
- Do you know how Facetune works? It’s the same idea. You move and mold the pixels using this tool
- You can import brushes and fonts
- Clone
- You can clone existing pixels to another area
- You can add text
- 3D paint
- Upload any 3D object and start texture painting it
and much much more!
7. Since Procreate is so popular you can find tutorials everywhere
A huge benefit of going with an app that’s so well-loved is that there are tons of free tutorials for you to learn from.
It also comes in handy when you have a problem, or if you don’t know how to handle something, you can find the solution easily by googling it.
There are tons of Procreate classes for beginners.
8. Procreate runs on older iPad models
You don’t need to buy the latest iPad to run Procreate. You do need a newer model to have access to the 3D mode but in all honesty, you don’t use it at all if you’re not into 3D modeling and texturing.
It’s more about your iPad being able to handle up-to-date iPadOs. For now, you should have at least 15.4.1 or newer.
Procreate runs on the following models as of 2023:
- iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th generation)
- iPad Pro 11-inch (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation)
- iPad Pro 10.5-inch
- iPad Pro 9.7-inch
- iPad (5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th generation)
- iPad mini (5th and 6th generation)
- iPad mini 4
- iPad Air (3rd, 4th and 5th generation)
- iPad Air 2
9. Procreate is great to do calligraphy
Procreate makes use of pressure sensitivity which is why doing calligraphy on Procreate is so great. You can get beautiful realistic strokes as if you were to make them in real life but this time you have unlimited undo’s.
Think of beautiful name cards, wedding invitations, pamphlets, and more. You can even draw some guidelines to help you!
10. You can use Procreate to edit your social media pictures
A fun trend I’ve been seeing on social media is writing on photos. People write a small thought on them using Procreate and its handy pressure sensitivity function. All you need to do is import your image, create a new layer, and start writing!
You can also edit the image itself by altering its colors (using hue, saturation, and brightness) and even shape (using liquify).
This way you can customize your images yourself and keep your feed consistent!
11. If you don’t have an iPad you can opt for Procreate Pocket
Ever heard of Procreate Pocket? It’s the same thing as regular Procreate but for your phone. It does however have a major difference: there is no pressure sensitivity.
You can use your phone like the incredible Lockertsen did in the image below:
Or you can buy one of those handy pens for phones. The biggest pro of Procreate Pocket is that you don’t have to buy an iPad if you don’t already have one.
I hope I convinced you to get Procreate because, in my humble opinion, it changed my life. I earned money with it, used it for my job, and I use it simply because I love to draw.
What sets Procreate apart from other apps is that it’s very cheap and it’ll remain subscription free.
Treat yourself and go get it!
♡ Laura
