Looking to create digital art with a traditional vibe? The best way to completely transform an illustration is simply to layer paper textures on top!
A lot of Procreate brush creators sell high-quality pre-textured files made especially for that purpose. I personally have some in my Big Brush Bundle, along with watercolor, pastel, pencil, gouache, and ink brushes.
That being said, you can also get good results by using any paper picture available to you and using it to create your own simple pre-textured file. Let's learn how!
Quick browse:
Step 0: Get a paper picture onto your iPad
You can use your own or grab mine for free here!
The goal here is to get the paper image onto your iPad. Here are a few common ways to do this:
You can download the file straight from a website directly onto your iPad
You can email the file to yourself if you initially got it on a different device
You can AirDrop the file to your iPad from another Apple device
Step 1: Locate the file in your iPad's downloads
Depending on the method you used to download the image, the file will either end up...
In your camera roll, with all the other pictures on your iPad
In the Files app (blue folder icon) that comes with your iPad, which looks like this:
Important: If your image is in a zip folder, simply tap on the folder to unzip it!
Do this while still in your Files app, not within Procreate!
Make sure you are not accessing the files using the "recent" filter in the Files app as you won't be able to unzip the file from there. Use either iCloud Drive, On My iPad, Downloads, or the search bar.
Step 2: Add the paper texture to your Procreate canvas
From the wrench icon menu, in the Add sub-menu, select either Insert a file (if the image was saved in your Files app) or Insert a photo (if the image was saved in your Camera roll)
Locate the image and tap on it
Step 3: Resize the image so it covers the canvas entirely
Step 4: Set the blending mode of your texture layer to "multiply"
In the layer panel, tap on the small letter next to the layer's visibility check mark
Select Multiply from the list
Step 5: Draw!
Make sure you keep the paper texture layer at the top of your layer list 😊
Not sure what to draw under your new paper texture? Check out this watercolor leaves tutorial!
Step up your art with watercolor brushes!
