Should you switch to DRAWING IN PROCREATE and using an iPad Drawing Discussion

Welcome back to my channel. Today I'm going to be talking all about Procreate and whether or not I think it is worth switching to it from whatever your current setup may be, whether that be drawing on paper or using a tablet with your computer. I know for me I was using a Wacom Cintiq 13 HD with my computer and my laptop. I've actually had my iPad for eight months now but I'm only just now making this video as it has taken me so long to adjust to drawing in Procreate and that is why I'm so happy that Skillshare is sponsoring today's video because I have actually been watching so many incredibly helpful Procreate tutorials on the platform which have really helped me get over the learning curve in using the program. I mainly watched Vashti Harrison's Illustrating in Procreate class as well as Gabrielle Brickley's Drawing on the iPad Pro tutorial but they were just two of the many classes that I found on Procreate and how you could draw on Procreate. Skillshare, if you didn't already know, is an online learning community with more than 25,000 classes in anything from design to business, all of which you have unlimited access to with a premium membership. I think it is an incredibly helpful platform for learning new things or expanding on what you already know and it is only $10 a month for access to all the classes so in my opinion, as a student, I think that is super affordable and they were kind enough to offer two free months to the first 500 of you to click the link in the description so make sure you click on that link and check it out. I highly recommend it and thank you so much to Skillshare for supporting my channel. So the main reason I wanted to buy an iPad in the first place and the main reason I wanted to switch to Procreate was the idea of the portability of it. I can't tell you how many times I knew I was going on like a journey somewhere or I was going away for a few days like maybe to see my grandma or going on vacation and I would just think to myself, is it worth it to pack my laptop and my tablet and then all the cables that go along with it and it would just be so many cables, so many chargers, so much like hassle and then the idea of just having like a really slim iPad that would just fit in my bag with the pencil that just magnetically snaps on and that is coming from someone who has lost many a tablet pen. I'm literally the most accident-prone like messy person in the world so I lose things all the time so the idea of a pencil that just snaps on the side of the iPad, that's kind of what sold it to me so I saved up for a very very long time and that is how I got myself an iPad and I have to say ever since I've been using it, it is absolutely amazing the fact that I can literally be outside in the garden and I can draw on it or I can be sat down on the sofa and I can draw on it. It's so portable and so lightweight and it's probably one of my favourite purchases ever and when I first looked at Procreate I was thinking hmm this does look a bit bare, like the interface looks really bare and I'm used to using programs like Krita and you know what it's like when you load up something like Krita or Paint or Cite or Photoshop and there's like a million controls and you get completely overwhelmed and then the opposite of that which is opening up Procreate, I wouldn't say you feel underwhelmed, you just feel, for me I felt like huh? I was like so confused, I was like I can't see any options but I think the interface is very cleverly designed because everything you need, all the different options you need, are all like tucked away into like really helpful like toolbars at the very top and then along the left hand side you can control the size of your brush as well as the opacity of your brush and the way it's all laid out once you've gotten used to it is so helpful and I feel like it allows you to focus more on your drawing and less on like the complicated controls and I have absolutely loved using Procreate for sketching, for drawing and I will quickly mention I was struggling at first as well because even though all the brushes in it are really great I didn't have any brushes that kind of mimic my favourite brushes when I'm drawing on my computer so I got myself some brushes, I think the brushes that I use are the Ergo Josh Procreate Sketching brushes and the Essential Max Pack brushes and those you can both get on Gumroad I think and I can't remember how much I got them for, I think they're only like five dollars each but there are lots of different like brush packs you can get on Gumroad, you of course by no means have to pay for any brushes, you can get loads of free brushes too or you could just use the ones that come with Procreate, I think with any kind of digital art program it is finding what brush works best for you and for me there is one specific brush in the Ergo Josh brush pack that I basically use for everything, I use it to paint, I use it to like shade and sketch, I use it for a lot of things and as soon as I found something that worked for me it made my Procreate experience a lot better. Also another thing I really like about the iPad and another thing I was worried about is when I'm drawing on the computer I like to have like references up at the side of my screen sometimes I will set up dual monitors with my Cintiq as well so I'll have the screen be my reference pictures and then be drawing on the Cintiq and I was worried about the iPad not being able to do that but the iPad that I have you can actually use a split screen feature so you can literally have photos open at the same time which is what I do most of the time, it's what I did for the drawing that I'm doing today. More and more these days I'm using reference especially because I'm trying so hard to get better at hands and I found it so incredibly useful so yeah very useful way of having references up at the same time as you're using Procreate. Also another good thing about using Procreate on your iPad is that colour picking is literally as simple as holding down your finger you're not having to remember any like keyboard shortcuts or anything like that, everything is done through like gestures and swipes and things like that. Also the fact you can just rotate the canvas as much as you like and if you like making time lapses of your videos or if you're an art youtuber like me and you're like I need to film what I'm doing it's great because Procreate films it all for you, it records every single drawing that you do, it records every brush stroke you make and this has been a lifesaver. I wish Paint Tool SAI or Krita or Photoshop or any of those digital art programs, I wish they had the option to just film it from inside the program, maybe there is a program that does that I don't know but Procreate as far as I'm aware is the only one I know of that does that and it has been so incredibly helpful especially because and I always have people ask me Jenna why is the canvas like flipping so much why does it keep flipping in your videos? I like to flip the drawing because it helps me see if there's any mistakes. If you stare at something for too long you get used to looking at that one view of it whereas if you flip it round it's so much easier to look at it with like fresh eyes if you will and see what the problems and the mistakes are and when I do this in Procreate it doesn't come up in my speed paint whatsoever like it doesn't keep flipping like it does when I record something on the computer and sometimes I'm watching my speed paints back and I'm aware that it's so annoying that it keeps flipping because it's sped up so much so there's not really much I can do about it but with Procreate that's not even something I have to worry about. Adding on to the portability point from earlier I brought my iPad with me on holiday I was drawing on the plane it kept me occupied on the nine hour flight to Florida which is such a long flight it can be so boring but being able to just completely draw on it I have once attempted to open up my laptop on a plane before and plug in my Intuos tablet but it was just so like bulky and difficult I couldn't do it so drawing on an iPad it was just a million times better and then all of my latest Instagram posts have actually been drawn while I was out on vacation in Florida I was literally sitting by the pool drawing which sounds quite dangerous now that I say it and I know what I'm like so I'm kind of glad I didn't like drop my iPad in the pool or something but anyway the point is is that you can literally bring it anywhere and it's absolutely amazing. So I've spoken a lot about all of Procreate and the iPad's good points for drawing but I haven't really spoken so much about any of the bad things one problem I have with Procreate is no matter what I do no matter what I draw I just still don't think it is to the same quality as drawings that I just do on the computer I don't know if it's because I don't have the right technique yet or I'm not properly used to it yet or if it's something to do with the brushes but I can't quite make my pieces look as good as I know they would look if they're on the computer that might just be me that thinks that you might look at the pieces I'm doing and think no that's just as good but I don't know that's one thing that does annoy me a tiny bit about anything I draw on Procreate but that is one like little tiny thing everything else has been completely great so to answer the question of this video should you switch to Procreate for drawing I would say that I definitely would recommend it but I haven't fully like switched to only drawing on Procreate I am still drawing on my computer I still use my Cintiq I like the option of having both because obviously I can't just lug my Cintiq to a coffee shop whereas I can bring Procreate on my iPad around the coffee shop hopefully this video made sense and I wasn't rambling too much and I really really hope this was helpful to you guys I will hopefully have a how I draw in Procreate tutorial coming soon if you guys would like to see that and I will see you guys in my next video bye guys you