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With technology being one of the leading mediums in digital art, it is not that surprising that a lot of art-making software has been surfacing the internet and the app stores on our devices now. Lots of digital artists are encouraged to pursue digital art with the help of all the software and online tools needed to do art digitally. However, artists need to know which software and online tools are the best since there are a lot now to be seen on the internet. Some are software with limited features, paid apps with unlimited features, and Procreate is a great paid app!
I have worked with several clients for their projects including books, comissioned art, package design and some of them are not familiar with procreate. This article will throw some light on how you can absolutely illustrate an entire book using it.
Procreate is a software that is widely used by a lot of digital illustrators nowadays. It can be used for different purposes in art; such as sketching, adding details, designing, and even illustrating books (They have recently launched the feature of 3D painting). It is a great starter application for artists in their early stages of digital art, but it also works well with experienced digital illustrators! But the question is—can an artist illustrate a whole children's book using this app?
The answer would be yes! But let's start with some issues first.
A minor problem is that it has layer limits. That's right, this is indeed a disadvantage in using the software because it limits the number of layers that you can have in one piece. You get to use more layers if your iPad has a higher RAM. I use the iPad air 3 and I usually go for high resolution canvases but the number of layers are usually sufficient for me. And it is also based on how large or small your canvas is to determine whether your layer count can be increased or not.
For instance, if you have a large canvas and got high DPI, chances are you are prone to have layer limits such as only 72 layers on your work. But if you are something who uses light textures in art and uses simple illustrations, then you can freely increase your layers up to a number of 128. It is a lot of layers, but keep in mind that it is up to how large your canvas and how high your DPI is to be able to determine the layer limit for your work.
You can definitely create a children's book using Procreate.
Most people would be concerned with 2 things: resolution and whether the colors turn out right when the book is printed. Both of these things are perfectly taken care of when you use Procreate.
If you want to pursue doing art through Procreate while having a high volume of layers and textures in your art, having the help of Photoshop can make the process simple. However, Procreate is still a superb software for creating different types of art and illustrating children's books.
Is Working In Batches Possible?
In illustrating a children's book, you need to be consistent in everything you do. You need to have the same character design, textures, line weight, colors, etc. To be able to achieve this certain consistency, it is highly suggested that you should work in batches as possible.
Which is, pretty complicated when using Procreate. In Procreate, you have to work on every document one at a time, obviously slowing down the progress of your art-making. For instance, if your character has the same type of outfit on each page of your book, you need to open all pages and work on batches to be able to match the textures and colors of your character's outfit easily. However, if you want to work in batches, Photoshop is great with that. You can open all pages of your work in the software and work at the same time.
This is still based on your art style and techniques, though. If you are someone not consistent with your work and want change on every page, then not working in batches might not be a hindrance for you.
You can create stacks in Procreate which clubs all your pages for a book!
Saving A File In Procreate
The usual format for works is in .psd form, which others believed can only be saved through using Adobe CC. However, this is not true, since Procreate can export files into a different variety of formats.
In checking your work, it is suggested to use Photoshop for the final touch as publishers of today commonly use InDesign or Photoshop to look at your work. Sometimes, colors applied through using Procreate appear different when opened with Photoshop. And this is why it is really suggested to get a final touch of your work by using the said application to avoid distortion of colors and textures when a Procreate file is opened directly. But since it has become such a popular choice for illustrators and is so commonly used in the industry, many publishers are familiar with it.
You can export your file in several formats including .psd, .pdf, .jpeg, .png., .gif, .tiff., etc.
Conclusion
Let's conclude it all—Procreate is a really great application, not just for new artists starting off on their journey into digital art but also those artists who wanted to try illustrating through digital art for the first time. And it has its several advantages. With the right sizes and everything, you can finish illustrating your own children's book soon using this wonderful software.
I have been using it for book illustration along with other projects including package designing, and the result is simply amazing! The quality is great and the colors come out really well in print. It is excellent for typography too. even though I have been using it for 2 years, I feel like I am still not aware of all the features it has to offer just because there are so many things you can do with it, including making seamless patterns and animations.
If you are an artist thinking of trying this program out, then go for it! If you are an author looking to hire an illustrator that uses Procreate then do not hesitate, the quality of the book art will be amazing!