December Procreate Guide: Christmas Tree Girl

Looking for organic textures with Procreate brushes

Hi Substack Friend,

It’s time for this month’s Procreate guide!

Step 1: Brushes

Taking part in Draw This In Your Style challenges on Instagram comes with a great advantage: a lot of the usual “problems” like the character’s pose, the color palette, the mood are all already solved by the original art. That makes these challenges a perfect playground for experimenting with things like new brushes. And that’s exactly what happened here.

This artwork all done using two native Procreate brushes: Swansea and Hippolyte

Lately, I’ve been shifting my style a bit. I rethink what I want my work to look and feel like. I’m leaning toward more saturated colors and more charcoal/crayon textures, and so far I’m really enjoying the exploration.

And you know what? I’m working much faster. I’m not sure how much of that is growing confidence in my painting skills and how much is the brushes themselves, but this entire illustration took a little over two hours (start to finish).

Not bad, I’d say!

Step 2: Sketches

My sketching process is always the same. I start with a very rough, messy sketch using a round, soft brush. I mark the general shapes and the overall energy of the drawing.