5 Ways to use texture in Procreate

A texture tutorial to help you take your patterns and illustrations to the next level!

If you know me or my patterns, you'll know that texture is integral to a lot of my designs!

Over the last few years I have explored lots of different ways of adding texture to my patterns and I'm excited to share 5 of my favourite ways with you in this mini Procreate texture tutorial!

1. Ink your designs with a textured brush

Firstly, the brush that you use to actually draw your patterns or motifs really matters! Instead of choosing a smooth monoline, choose a textured brush that doesn't have a smooth edge.

Textured brushes can also have a flecked quality meaning that when you draw with them it doesn't completely fill the space. Often there are little flecks that are left without fill. This can create a great effect!

It will give your design a more tactile feel and will help it stand out from vector art which is often very smooth.

Below are a few top tips for inking illustrations or patterns with a textured brush:

Tip 1: When designing with a textured brush make sure you manually colour in sections rather than use the Procreate Fill Tool. Using the fill tool will fill the colour in a smooth block whereas if you colour using your textured brush the texture will be maintained throughout the filled section, leaving little flecks that aren't coloured in.

Tip 2: In order to keep the cohesiveness of a pattern or whole pattern collection ensure you are inking with the same brush throughout!

Tip 3: One way to make a note of the brush you have used so you can continue using the same one, is to write the brush name on the bottom layer of your canvas and hide the layer. That way if you forget you’ve always got a note of it on the pattern itself!

If you’d like to get started with a texture brush, the first brush from my Free Texture Brush Set is a great one to ink with!

2. Add texture to foreground motifs using a clipping mask.

A fun way to add texture is to find a texture brush you like and add a whole layer of texture over a motif you have already designed.

If you add this texture on a layer above your motif using a clipping mask it will keep the texture layer separate from the pattern and make it flexible for changes.

Tip 1: Experiment with the colour of the texture. For something subtle, I often select a slightly lighter or darker shade than the main motif so the texture just shows through.

Tip 2: Experiment with the opacity of the texture. Sometimes you can add a texture that is way too overpowering! By bringing down the opacity of the texture layer you can create something much more subtle.

Tip 3: Using a consistent texture across all your patterns is a great way to build up your signature style and make your work unique and recognisable. When you find a texture you like, why not try using across a whole collection to give it a cohesive feel?

Again there are some great texture brushes built into Procreate but it is actually quite easy to make your own texture brush if you’d like a challenge!

3. Layer different textures on top of each other.

This is something I didn’t try for a long time, but it is a great trick to have up your sleave to create something with a lot of depth.

Once you have found a texture you like and have applied it to a motif on your pattern, try adding a different texture over the top, on its own layer. Again, adjust the colour and opacity to achieve the effect you want.

Many brushes are also sensitive to the direction of the canvas. I often twist my canvas round to get a diagonal grain on a texture brush to change things up!

You can also get a much richer colour by layering textures on top of each other that are all slightly different in tone.

4. Adjust the blend mode of the texture to create different effects.

Blend modes are often seen as an ‘advanced’ technique in Procreate and for that reason I steered clear of them for a long time in my design journey!

However, the truth is, you can just play around with them to find new styles that work, there's nothing particularly complicated or advanced about blend modes!

Blend modes essentially affect the way a layer interacts with the layer below. The result of using a blend mode will depend a lot on the colours you have used.

Each blend mode does something different, and while some will have quite drastic effects, others are very subtle.

You can access the blend modes by opening the layers panel. On each layer you will see an 'N' on the right. If you tap this, the available blend modes will come up underneath and you can scroll through to see how each one affects your layer.

My best advice is just to experiment! When you have applied a texture on a separate layer using a clipping mask, simply scroll through each blend mode and take a look at the different effect it creates. You might stumble across one you really like!

5. Add a seamless texture overlay

This is probably my favourite way to add texture to a completed pattern and is definitely the quickest way to add depth and interest!

Seamless texture overlays are already in repeat, so you can add a background or foreground texture to your completed pattern and not worry about breaks in the texture when your pattern is repeated.

I have created a whole pack of Seamless Texture Overlays which I use in my own patterns all the time and there are many different ways you can use them.

• You could add one of the overlays (in the picture below I’m using a linen effect) on top of the whole finished pattern to give it an immediate depth.

• You could combine multiple overlays as I have done in the pattern below to create a specific style like rich, woven effect. This is created by adding multiple overlays to the background and foreground motifs separately.

The overlays pack comes with a detailed guide and explanation on how to achieve many different styles and effects! If you'd like to check it out click on the image below for more information on how these overlays could help you create professional looking patterns!

I hope this post has given you some ideas on how to add texture to your patterns and illustrations in Procreate!

If you have any questions or have some of your own top tips for using texture in Procreate, just drop a comment in the comments section below, I'd love to hear!