Five Steps to a Digital Character Illustration on Procreate

If you are new to using Procreate as a digital illustration tool for creating characters, this step-by-step guide will walk you through an easy process. I use this process for each of my characters, and I design hundreds of them!

Each of these steps can be broken down further, and expect future blog posts along those lines! But as an introductory guide to digitally creating character illustrations, this process covers all your bases. And each step uses ONLY default Procreate tools and features, so no fancy brushes or extra software is required!

Step 1: Brainstorm

We’ll talk about idea development in another post. For this example, I will use a simple idea based on one of my favourite kid’s comics, Swim Team by Johnnie Christmas. My character will be a preteen competitive swimmer.

Using a chunky drawing brush (Oberon under “Drawing” in Procreate), I’ll play around with a few different body types and face types until something hits. The final face I drew, of a slightly snooty character, felt like a fun take.

**Process Gif**

This little gif shows (a sped up) preview of my quick-sketching, brainstorm process

Step 2: Sketch

Next, I’ll start a new canvas with the dimensions I want to work in. This is up to you, and I usually wind up modifying my final canvas as I go, but there is nothing wrong with starting with an 8.5 x 11” canvas with RGB colour space.

We’ll sketch the final character design on this file but also finish it, so work as big as you need for your purposes.

On my new canvas, I’ll use the Reference tool (under the actions menu) to have my brainstorm on the screen while I work

I like the 6B Pencil, under the “Sketching” brush menu, for my sketch layer

It’s ok if the final sketch isn’t totally cleaned up, eventually this layer will be hidden

Step 3: Line Art

Not all character illustrators outline their work, but many do! I love a nice, black outline on my work. I’ll create a new layer above the sketch layer in Procreate and turn down the opacity on the sketch layer. Now, I can trace overtop the sketch with clean linework.

My favourite tool for line work is the “Studio Pen” under the Inking category. It has a smooth finish and pressure-based size changes.

Remember to take advantage of layers! Because her goggles overlap other aspects of the design, and have a lens (transparent) and strap (opaque), I line them on a separate layer so I can easily erase out the covered portions on the layer below.

Step 4: Flat Colours

Once the line work is done, you can hide (or delete) the sketch layer. Next step, turn the line work layer to “Reference” so you can drag and drop flat colours on layers below.

You can find the “Reference” option by clicking the layer! I also make the background a soft grey so I can be more thoughtful with my colour choices (white makes everything so bright).

I like to break up my flat layers into a few big areas: skin, clothes, hair, etc. This will make shading easier.

Breaking flats into multiple layers also lets me colour the lens on the googles and then turn down the opacity, so you can see through them to the colours below.

I also add a hint of shadow below the character, just to make her look grounded

Make sure to turn off the “Reference” function on the line work when you are done with flats!

Step 5: Finishing Touches

To bring the character to life, I’ll add a bit of cel-shading and some blush. I use Clipping layers set to Multiply at around 40% opacity for shading.

What does that mean?

Clipping Layers mean that you can’t colour outside the bounds set by the layer it is clipped to. If I clip to the skin, I can’t colour out of the bounds of the flats layer for the skin tone. This means I need a shading layer for EACH flat layer.

Multiply is a layer effect that removes white from whatever colour you put on top, making any colour applied to it look like a wash of shading.

Opacity makes the layer more transparent, so the multiply layer isn’t so stark and dark!

Find the Clipping Mask option by touching a layer. Make sure the layer you want to clip to is right below it.

Change a layer to Multiply by clicking the N beside the layer (which stands for normal). This also pulls up the Opacity slider!

I like to use a deep purple, pink or red for shadows. I think it warms up the image. Of course, in a scene with background, the lighting and environment should determine the shadow and light colour.

I’m still using the Studio Pen to do my shadows.

Finally, I’ll add a bit of blush to warm up the character. I like to use another Clipping layer but this time, I’ll set it to Soft Light. That makes whatever colour you apply to the layer look like a soft glow. I’ll choose a nice, deep red and the a Soft Brush tool under the Aibrush menu and dust it over ears, cheeks, shoulders, elbows, fingers and knees.

Notice it is BELOW the shading layer, so shadows apply to the blush, too. If the blush is too much, turn down the Opacity on the layer. But I’m happy with this!

Final touch is a highlight on the hair and eyes. I use a Clipping Layer for the hair but for the eye highlight, I’ll make a layer over EVERYTHING (including Lines) and put a pure white dot on the eyes. Voila! Done!