How to Shade in Procreate

Shading your artwork in Procreate can take it to the next level by adding shadows, highlights, and everything in between. In this tutorial, we’ll take you through the process of layering colors, adding highlights, shadows, and tips that can help you to shade in Procreate.

Every great shade starts with the right shading brushes. We will be using a Procreate brush set by Selila Graphics to add some texture and shading in this tutorial. Let’s get started!

Please note: we are using the latest version of Procreate 5X. If you do not see a feature mentioned below, make sure your Procreate is up-to-date.

Step 1 - Drawing the shape

First, we will draw a shape that will be our base layer. Once we have drawn the shape we can start working and building our shading to create dimension to the artwork. For an easier time shading, plan your color palette and start with your main shade.

Draw a shape outline:

To get started, draw an oval and hold down to activate the QuickShape tool. I used the “Monoline” brush provided by Procreate, but feel free to use whichever brush to make your base shape outline.

My shape isn’t exactly how I want it to be so I used the Transformation tool (mouse pointer icon) and “Freeform” to make adjustments.

Fill the shape:

Once you have made your shape outline go ahead and fill it in to be a solid shape. You can do this easily by pressing and dragging the color from your color indicator on the top right corner.

Step 2 - Layering shades

We are now going to start adding our different shades of color starting with the darkest shade. Before we start I’m going to change my brush to “Perfect Shading” from the Procreate texture brushes. I am only using that brush for the tutorial but there are many brushes you can use from the set like “Cloud Brush”, “Rough Shader”, and “Round Splatter Stamp & Shader”.

Add a new layer:

Go to your “Layers” panel (Stacked square icon) we are going to add a new layer and make a Clipping Mask for our first shade of color. Having the layer as a clipping mask helps to keep all shading on top of our base shape and allowing for corrections without touching other layers.

Build shading colors:

Keep adding new clipping mask layers for each shade of color you add to your artwork. I’ve added my first shading layer and I’m going to add a low light color next.

Low light color shading is on. While I’m working on my shading I want to keep in mind a light source. This is the direction where light is coming from and falling onto my object.

Next is my final and lightest shade of purple. This is where the object is lightest in color, I am adding my shading on in some areas, and following the form of my shape.

Adding Highlights:

For our last clipping mask layer, we are going to add highlights. My highlights are white as this is where the light source hits. I’ll also add highlights close to the edge of my object to give the illusion of semi-transparency like a gem, water drop, etc.

Next, we are going to apply a Blur Effect to the highlight layer. This will soften the shading strokes. I am adding a Gaussian blur of around 8.1% strength. This is just enough to soften it out enough and not too strong of a blur where I can’t see my Highlighting.

Step 3 - Creating Shadows

With our object fully shaded and done we are going to add the final touch of a shadow. I have gone ahead and merged my layers for my object. You can keep your layers if you plan to make adjustments later.

In your layers panel create a new layer, press, and drag this layer to the bottom of your layers. We want our shadow to be below our object and not above.

Using the same brush we are going to make our shadow using the darkest color like a black or extremely dark color (Mine is dark purple). We are going to add our shadow in line with our light source. We are also keeping our shadow the same shape as our object and not making the shadow too big.

We don’t want our shadow to be bold so we will go into the layers panel to change settings. With our shadow layer selected we are going to lower the Opacity of our shadow to about 29%.

Repeating the previous step, we’ll create another shadow layer on top of our first one. The only difference is we will add lighter shades used on our object to add a color cast giving it more depth. We will also drop the opacity of this layer to 30%.

Helpful Tips for Shading

Procreate offers many tools you can use while shading and make the process easier. We aren’t going to go in-depth for each tip but I’ll link to tutorials that are available with step-by-step instructions.

Reference Photo:

Have a reference photo that you can use? Don’t import it as a photo, simply add a reference photo as a separate panel that you can zoom in and out of and move around.

Drawing Guides:

Using drawing guides can be used for more than just spacing or symmetry. You can use Perspective guides to help keep track of a light source direction.

Blurring:

Adding Blur effects will help with softening shading. It’s also great for creating the illusion of a glow or motion in your artwork. See how you canblur in Procreate.

Blend Modes:

Blend modes are a great way to quickly add depth to your shading like multiply blend mode to create darker shades.

And we are done! That’s how you can shade in Procreate by building up your colors and I hope you found the tips helpful. Next up, check out our tutorials on creating a stitching effect in Procreate, making a paper cutout effect, and drawing people in Procreate.