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Procreate: Portraits for People who can't Paint!
Rating: 4.7 out of 5(68 ratings)
609 students

Procreate: Portraits for People who can't Paint!

Create natural looking art from photos using the power of Procreate
Created bySimon Foster
Last updated 9/2025
English
English [Auto],

What you'll learn

  • How to create works of art from photos inside Procreate
  • How to use Layer Masks effectively
  • How to use Layer Blend Modes creatively
  • How to harness Adjustments to get the effects you want

Course content

1 section • 14 lectures • 2h 3m total length

  • Create a Pencil Effect, Part 1, Setting things up6:22

    Crop the image to focus on the face. Set up base and grayscale layers, create an artwork layer with a mask, and sketch with a pencil brush.

  • Create a Pencil Effect, Part 2, refining8:27

    Refine the pencil effect in Procreate by duplicating a grayscale image, using gradient maps and layer masks to compress tones, and emphasizing the eyes.

  • Create a Pencil Effect, Part 3, Finishing13:17

    Create a loose pencil portrait in Procreate using layer masks, construction lines, and selective brushwork to balance detail with background and evoke a hand-drawn feel.

  • Procreate 5.3 is here and so here are a few useful things to know...6:02

    Explore procreate 5.3 hover features, including brush previews, drawing previews on portraits, and color cursor options. Enable these in preferences for enhanced precision on compatible iPads.

  • Procreate 5.4 brings a new brush library...1:01

    Explore Procreate 5.4's new brush library, organize brushes into libraries with a pinch gesture, and access classic brushes in the classic library to follow the course smoothly.

  • What a Layer Mask is and how to use it7:30

    Learn how layer masks reveal or conceal the top layer by painting on the mask, where white reveals, black conceals, and grayscale alpha values control visibility.

  • The Pastel and Chalk Effect, Part 111:25
  • The Pastel and Chalk Effect, Part 2 - Add Chalk and Choose your Colors14:31

    Learn to create a pastel and chalk portrait in procreate using two layers, layer masks, and texture with sugar paper, while adjusting color, contrast, and highlights.

  • Create an Easy High Key Effect8:40

    Master the high-key portrait look in Procreate by boosting lights with curves on the gamma channel, applying contrast through blend modes, and softening skin with Gaussian blur.

  • Create a Soft Effect9:13

    Learn to create a soft focus portrait in Procreate by applying layer blend modes, gaussian blur, hue/saturation, curves, color balance, and noise to achieve a grainy, gentle look.

  • Pointillism, Part 1 - Create the Brush6:27

    Create a pointillism brush in Procreate and use it on a layer mask to reveal underlying art, adjusting spacing, scatter, rotation, and pressure dynamics for a stamp-like dot effect.

  • Pointillism, Part 2 - Create the Dots12:13

    Explore pointillism for portraits in Procreate by painting dots with layer masks, color shifts, and hue adjustments, experimenting freely to reveal image details and vibrant, complementary colors.

  • Pop Art!17:34

    Create bold pop art portraits in Procreate by turning photos into stark black-and-white baselines, adding gradient maps, layer masks, color fills, halftone details, and exporting four variations.

  • Thanks for Watching!1:07

    Celebrate finishing the course and explore Procreate's tools with the fast guide (4 hours) or the solid foundations series (17 hours) to master portrait creation.

Requirements

  • A working version of Procreate, ideally on an iPad
  • An Apple pencil would be really useful

Description

So, you'd love to create beautiful portraits but you've never had a drawing lesson in your life.

Can you scribble? Yes? Good! I've got a treat here waiting for you. Using the power of Procreate, I'll show you how to create some great portraits by levering the power of modern digital art techniques.

On this course you will use photographs of regular people to create:

  • A Pencil Drawing

  • A Pastel and Chalk Drawing

  • A Pointillistic Painting

  • A Classic Pop Art Painting

  • A High Key photographic effect that studios charge a small fortune for

  • A beautiful soft photo effect

These are all photos taken with a half-decent camera, but nothing very professional, and that's part of the point. My aim is for you to take photos of people who are special to you, then transform them into works of art they will love, and you can be proud of.

Along the way you will have plenty of practice with some of the lesser understood but hugely powerful tools within Procreate - Layer Masks, Layer Blend Modes and Adjustments. Use them the right way and you can end up with a workflow that is practically self-working. If you can scribble with an Apple pencil on an iPad, you can do this. But at the same time, the end result is determined by the choices you make along the way, so there's plenty of room for you to create beautiful artwork your way.

Sometimes it's not about the countless hours you spend practicing a skill. It's about know-how. Enroll today, and I'll show you how.

See you on the course!

Who this course is for:

  • People who think they can't draw or paint, but want to create beautiful portraits!
  • People who can draw or paint, but want to learn effective digital paint techniques

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