Procreate is an iPad-exclusive mobile application for creating digital illustrations, which you can purchase on the Apple Store. With the Procreate app, artists can digitally sketch and paint using the Apple Pencil and their fingers to create strokes, effects, and textures. Artists can export their digital illustrations from Procreate in any file format they need for their digital and print projects. Procreate’s tools are known for being user-friendly, making it easy to create, save, and organize your digital designs in your own Procreate library. Because the app is designed for mobile, it’s easy to use on-the-go — all it requires is an iPad and Apple Pencil.

Procreate is a raster-based program, meaning it relies on pixels to make up a digital image or design. Pixels are tiny squares of color that are combined in a grid to create a whole digital image. The more pixels used to create the image, the higher the image quality will be (and the larger the file size). As you enlarge a raster-based file, it becomes easier to see each individual pixel. Because of this, a raster-based image gradually loses quality as you increase its size. Common raster file types include .jpg, .png, .gif, and .tiff. A vector-based program uses lines and curves, rather than pixels, to make up a digital image or design. These programs rely on mathematical formulas that define the relationship between lines and curves of an image. This means vector-based files can scale up to any size without losing quality, as each line and curve will scale up accordingly and proportionately. Common vector file types include .ai, .eps, and .svg.

Procreate is a raster-based mobile app for digital illustration, while Adobe InDesign is a vector-based desktop application for design. Procreate is also an exclusive mobile app, meaning you can only use it on an iPad device. Adobe InDesign is a desktop application that you can download onto a desktop computer or laptop but is not compatible with a mobile device. Procreate is a raster-based program, meaning its designs use pixels. It cannot support vector-based files, so if you upload a vector file into Procreate, the program will convert it into pixels. InDesign is a vector-based program, meaning InDesign files use lines and curves instead of pixels and are scalable to any size without losing quality. For this reason, many prefer InDesign to create artwork for print. Because Procreate’s tools are geared toward digital painting and drawing, it is more often used to design illustrations and artwork for digital platforms.