Line Art in Procreate

This is actually one of Procreate’s strengths. The key is to treat each ink drawing as a transparent “sticker” that you assemble into one master composition before coloring.

Here’s the workflow I recommend.

Step 1: Scan or Photograph Your Drawings

If possible:

  • Scan at 600 dpi in grayscale.
  • Save as PNG or TIFF.

If photographing:

  • Use even lighting.
  • Shoot perfectly overhead.
  • Turn on iPhone’s document correction if necessary, but avoid harsh shadows.

The cleaner your originals, the less work later.

Step 2: Clean Up Each Drawing

Open each drawing individually in Procreate.

Use Adjustments → Curves:

  • Raise the white point until the paper becomes pure white.
  • Deepen the blacks until your ink is solid.

Then remove the paper.

Option A (fast)

Set the layer blending mode to Multiply.

White disappears when stacked on other artwork.

Good for quick work.

Option B (best)

Remove the white background completely.

  • Select white with Automatic Selection.
  • Increase threshold until only paper is selected.
  • Cut/Delete.
  • Repeat if necessary.

Now you have transparent line art.

Step 3: Copy Each Drawing

For each cleaned drawing:

  • Three-finger swipe down
  • Copy
  • Open your master canvas
  • Paste

Each drawing becomes its own layer.

Think of them like animation cels.

Step 4: Build the Composition

Now move everything around.

Use:

  • Transform
  • Uniform scaling
  • Rotate
  • Flip Horizontal

Because every element is on its own layer, you can compose an entirely new illustration.

Group related objects into folders.

Step 5: Organize Your Layers

A good structure might be:Foreground Bird Branch Characters Person Hat Coat Background Mountains Trees Effects Smoke Texture Colors Ink

Keeping the ink separate makes coloring much easier.

Step 6: Merge the Ink

When you’re happy:

Duplicate the document first.

Then duplicate all ink layers and merge only the duplicates into one Ink layer.

Now you have:

  • Original editable layers
  • One combined ink layer

Best of both worlds.

Step 7: Color Under the Ink

Create a new layer below the Ink layer.

Color there.

Because the ink sits above everything, it always stays crisp.

Many comic artists use exactly this workflow.

Step 8: Use Reference Layers (Huge Time Saver)

Tap the Ink layer.

Choose:

Reference

Now create new color layers underneath.

Use ColorDrop.

Procreate uses the ink outlines as boundaries even though you’re coloring on another layer.

This is one of the biggest productivity boosts for line art.

Step 9: Use Clipping Masks

Once you’ve laid in flat colors:Ink Highlights (Clipping Mask) Shadows (Clipping Mask) Flat Color

You can paint shadows and highlights without coloring outside the shape.

Step 10: Add Texture

Instead of perfectly flat fills:

  • Watercolor brushes
  • Gouache brushes
  • Dry ink brushes
  • Noise textures

These make traditional ink drawings feel much richer.

If You’re Making a Comic or Illustration

A professional layer stack often looks like this:Effects Highlights Lighting Shadows Flat Colors Reference Layer Final Ink Sketch (hidden) Paper Texture

This keeps everything editable until the very end.

One extra tip

Consider scanning all your individual pieces at 600 dpi and keeping an untouched archive. Then create a second “production” copy for cleaning and compositing. You’ll always have the original line art to reuse in future illustrations or recombine into entirely new compositions without losing quality.

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