Filip Brož Even as a small boy in elementary school, I always admired the gifted classmates who drew beautiful pictures on the memorials of that time. I liked how they play with details and they have incredible patience, which I sometimes miss even nowadays. I wanted to be able to draw like them, but I wasn't very good at it, so I gave up completely...
It wasn't until later in college that I got to know several students of art and design. I often asked them a simple question: can drawing be learned or do I have to be born with the talent? Each time I received the answer that it can be learned to a certain extent. It just takes practice and practice.
I read several books on drawing. He bought a sketchbook and started drawing. It was written everywhere that the important thing is to start with simple lines, circles to shading and details. I repeatedly drew simple still lifes and fruit in a bowl. Over time, I discovered that I enjoy sketching the most. I like to capture the fleeting moment of everyday life and the movement of people. I never had the patience for any big works. With the acquisition of the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, which I wrote about in separate article, I threw away the sketchbook completely and draw only on a twelve-inch tablet.
Until now, I've primarily used a sketching app No crew, which I certainly cannot praise. However, I recently got a good sniff of the sophisticated Procreate application, which is nothing new in the App Store, but for a long time I thought it was unnecessarily complex for me and ineffective for my simple sketches. Now I know how wrong I was. Procreate rightfully ranks among the top creative apps.
Minimalist interface
Procreate has won several design awards. When you turn it on for the first time, you will be amazed by the simple and minimalistic interface. The application beautifully shows you what potential is hidden inside the pretentious "professional" iPad. You can easily create your own canvas with a resolution of up to 4K. You can also work with a ready-made template or images. Photos can be imported into Procreate from your gallery, the cloud or iTunes.
The Procreate environment is systematically divided. In the upper right corner you will find individual tools that you will need in the drawing itself. On the other hand, there is space for settings or special effects. In the middle left are two simple sliders to adjust the transparency and size of the tool. The responsiveness of the Apple Pencil is top-notch in Procreate. I use the first generation iPad Pro and I believe that the experience is even better in the updated tablet.
For the drawing itself, you can use six creative sets - sketching, coloring, painting, artistic, airbrush and textures. Individual tools are hidden under each tab, including, for example, an ordinary pencil, marker, oil pastel, gel pen, and various brushes and textures. Simply put – there is absolutely nothing missing here. You can wear any style you want. Right next to the tools is the option to smudge with your finger. You will appreciate this, for example, when shading or mixing colors.
You can customize individual brushes and tools. Once you click on them, you will be taken to deeper settings. I admit that I don't understand many of the functions at all and they will be appreciated more by professionals who need a specific tool that will work according to their requirements. It goes without saying that you can also create your own brush or texture.
The list also includes a traditional eraser or a colorful palette where you can mix and save your own shades. Procreate's strength lies primarily in working in layers. You can simply make a basic sketch with a pencil, on which you will layer new surfaces. The result can be a magnificent work of art. You can also adjust brightness, color saturation, shadows or use some automatic adjustments directly in the application. I also like the auto upload feature. You can show your work to anyone, i.e. how the image was created step by step.
In the resulting sharing and export, you can choose from several formats. In addition to the traditional JPG, PNG and PDF, there is, for example, the PSD format for Photoshop. In theory, you can then edit the image on the computer, while the layers will be preserved. If Photoshop is too expensive for you, the excellent Pixelmator can also handle PSD.
Of course, you can zoom in and edit the smallest details while creating. In the beginning, I also recommend familiarizing yourself with individual brushes and functions. It happened to me a few times that I tried something and then I had to erase it or cancel it with the back button. It goes without saying that the full potential of the apple pencil for shading and stronger pressure is used. In case you don't have a Pencil, Procreate also supports Adonit, Pencil by FiftyThree, Pogo Connect and Wacom styluses. You can also download useful manuals for free on the developer's website. On YouTube you will find dozens of videos that show what can be created in Procreate.
The developers also recently announced that the fourth version of Procreate will be coming this fall. It will support Metal and will be four times faster as a result. The developers also promise a new design and features. Procreate already belongs to the absolute top. If you're looking for a comprehensive creative app for your iPad, you can't go wrong with Procreate. There is practically nothing to complain about the application. Everything works perfectly.
Even Apple shouldn't be ashamed of the user interface. You can purchase Procreate for iPad from the App Store for 179 crowns, which is a completely adequate amount for a similar application. Finally, I would also really like to support all users who think they can't draw. Remember that drawing can be learned. It is just a combination of lines that stack on top of each other. It just takes practice, practice and patience. I consider drawing to be a great way to relax and develop creative thinking. Start doodling at school or in boring meetings. It quickly gets under your skin and you start to enjoy it. The iPad Pro with Apple Pencil is made for this.
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Hello, can anyone compare with the "competition"? For sketching, "Adobe Draw" has worked best for me so far - it has the best brushes for me, an inexpensive application, quick but poor synchronization with the desktop where I have affinity photo on the Mac (I have to drag it as a PNG sent via airdrop). I had a lot of promise from Affinity on the iPad pro I bought, but I just didn't set up (I guess I'm clumsy) a brush as nice as I have the "Basic Taper" brush in Adobe Draw. I still have "Sketches" and "sketchbook", but I'm not excited about them. I am an amateur artist and I have an apple pencil. What is your experience? :) I'm happy to learn.
Hello, I use sketching more as a basis for digital drawing or painting, so I probably look at the matter a little differently, but for the mentioned purposes I personally like Procreate (iPad Pro + Apple Pencil) the most. I consider the user interface and speed to be the biggest plus. Tayasui Sketches Pro is definitely worth a try. It's not nearly as advanced as Procreate, but it has very interesting watercolor colors and it gets better with each version. If someone is patient with really realistic materials (papers, canvases, brushes...) I recommend trying ArtRage. For manipulation of photos, etc., I would definitely choose Affinity Photo.
Sketchbook (Autodesk) ideal for sketching, Adobe Sketch has a great soft pencil simulation; also try Medibang Paint for painting - it has a bad UI but it's free. Or for the effects of the incredible Flame Painter.
For vectors, I recommend iDesign and Bez.
Assembly is great for quickly creating graphics using predefined symbols.
I personally use SketchBook Pro and Procreate practically every day.
Hello, could you please recommend which type of I pad is suitable for drawing and the procreate program? not quite the most expensive, but to handle the demands of drawing without problems :) Thank you very much. Lucia Snajderova - luck. snajderova@gmail.com