How do I purchase and open procreate?

Open the App Store on your iPad, search for "Procreate," and tap the price button ($12.99) to purchase it. This is a one-time payment — you will not be charged again. After installation, tap the Procreate icon to open it. The gallery screen shows your existing artworks (empty when you are new). Tap the plus (+) button in the upper-right corner to create a new canvas. Choose a preset size — "Screen Size" creates a canvas that fills your iPad screen perfectly, which is a good starting point.

How do I get familiar with the interface?

The canvas takes up most of the screen. On the left side is a brush size slider (top) and opacity slider (bottom). On the right side are undo and redo buttons and a color swatch. The toolbar at the top contains the main menus: the wrench icon for canvas settings and export, the wand icon for adjustments, the selection tool, the transform tool, the brush library, the smudge tool, the eraser, the layers panel, and the color picker. Take a few minutes to tap each icon and read what it does before you start drawing.

How do I try your first brushstroke?

Tap the brush icon in the top-right toolbar to open the brush library. Tap "Sketching" to see the sketching brushes, then tap "6B Pencil" to select it. The brush library closes and you are back at the canvas. Draw a line by dragging your Apple Pencil or finger across the screen. Try pressing harder and lighter to see how the line thickness changes. Try drawing a circle, a straight line, and some curved shapes. This is your warm-up — do not worry about making anything look good.

How do I work with layers?

Tap the stacked squares icon in the top-right toolbar to open the Layers panel. You will see one layer labeled "Layer 1." Tap the plus (+) button above it to add a second layer. Make sure the new layer is selected (shown in blue) and draw something on it. Now tap the first layer — notice that what you drew on Layer 2 is still visible, but you are now drawing on Layer 1. This is the core concept of layers: each one is independent, and you can turn them on and off or move them without affecting the others.

How do I export your artwork?

When your drawing is done, tap the wrench icon in the top-left corner and select Share. You can export your work as a JPEG or PNG image for sharing on social media or in messages, as a PSD file to open in Photoshop, or as a native Procreate file that preserves all your layers. To export the time-lapse video that Procreate recorded of your process, go to Video in the same Share menu and tap "Export Time-lapse Video." Save it to your Photos app and share it wherever you like.

TekSure — Free Tech Help for Beginners & Seniors

Procreate is the most popular drawing and painting app for iPad. It is used by professional illustrators, tattoo artists, graphic designers, and hobbyists who want a digital canvas that behaves like real art materials. Procreate costs a one-time fee of $12.99 from the App Store — there is no ongoing subscription — making it one of the best-value creative tools available.

The app works best with an Apple Pencil, which responds to the pressure and angle of your stroke in the same way a real pencil or brush would. Press harder and lines get thicker or darker. Tilt the Pencil and shading changes. This responsiveness makes Procreate feel closer to traditional art than any other digital tool. That said, you can also use your finger to draw, though you will have less precision.

Procreate uses a layer system — similar to stacking transparent sheets of paper on top of each other. You can draw on one layer, paint on another, and adjust each independently without affecting the others. This is how professional digital artists build complex illustrations one element at a time. As a beginner, you can start with a single layer and add more as you grow comfortable.

The brush library includes hundreds of options: pencils, inks, watercolors, oils, spraypaint, and textures. You can also download third-party brushes from artists who share them online, many for free.

Procreate saves your work automatically and records a time-lapse video of your entire drawing process. You can export that video to share on social media — many artists post their process videos to Instagram and TikTok.

Procreate requires iPadOS 16.2 or later. More information and official tutorials are at procreate.com.