Start learning Procreate layers by putting the sketch, the solid shape, the shadows and the highlights on separate layers. You’ll be able to hide a rough line, soften a shadow or recolor the shape without repainting everything around it. This guide is for Procreate on iPad.
Think of the Layers panel as a stack of transparent sheets. Marks on higher layers sit over marks on lower ones. A new transparent layer can look like it did nothing until you add something to it. The exercise below shows what the order means in practice.
The four-layer stack at a glance
| Order, top to bottom | Layer name | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Highlights | Small light marks, clipped to the pear |
| 2 | Shadows | The darker side of the pear, clipped to the pear |
| 3 | Pear | The solid silhouette and its base color |
| 4 | Sketch | The rough placement and proportions |
1. Name the sketch and turn down its opacity
Open Layers from the overlapping-square icon near the top right. Select the layer you want to work on, tap it again to bring up its options and choose Rename. Call it Sketch. Draw a rough pear with a wide bottom and narrow top. The silhouette can be uneven at this stage.
Tap the small letter next to the layer name, usually N for a layer in Normal mode, and reduce the layer opacity until you can still read the rough line but it won’t compete with the final shape. Lowering layer opacity changes the appearance of every mark on that layer together.
2. Make a solid base on a new layer
In the Layers panel, tap the plus button and name the new layer Pear. Keep it above Sketch. Draw and fill a closed pear shape in one color. Then hide Sketch with its visibility checkbox. If an outline disappears with it, that mark was on Sketch. Put the missing part on the Pear layer before you go on.
For the exercise, keep the base solid. A clipping mask follows the opacity of the layer beneath the clipping stack. Holes or partly transparent areas in the base affect what shows through in the clipped layers.
3. Clip the shadows to the pear
Create a new layer immediately above Pear. Rename it Shadows, open its layer options and choose Clipping Mask. Paint a broad patch on the side away from your imagined light. Let the stroke cross the edge on purpose. The extra paint should stay invisible beyond the pear silhouette.
If the stroke spills into the background, check that you are painting on Shadows, that Clipping Mask is enabled and that the base of the clipped stack is Pear. Reduce the Shadows layer opacity until you can still see the base color through the darker patch.
4. Add a highlight and test the stack
Make another layer above Shadows and name it Highlights. Clip that layer too. Add a small light mark on the side facing your imaginary window. Toggle Highlights and Shadows separately to see how each contributes. If you change the base color later, compare how the same shadow looks over the new hue.
A clipping mask is useful here because your shading remains editable on a separate layer. Alpha Lock is helpful when you want to paint directly within the existing opaque pixels of one layer. Try both on a duplicate when you want to see the difference.
Check your work before merging or exporting
Hide Sketch and confirm that the illustration still looks complete. Hide Pear and check what happens to the clipped colors. Bring everything back, then save a layered copy before merging anything. Keeping that copy gives you somewhere to return if you later decide to change the colors or move an element.
The same workflow works for a mug, a leaf or a simple character. For next steps, explore Procreate for Absolute Beginners and try our pencil shading exercises to practice light and form offscreen. Menu references: Procreate’s layer options handbook and Procreate’s layer opacity guide.
Frequently asked question
Why did my clipping mask disappear after I moved a layer?
Check what sits immediately below the clipped layers. A change in the stack can change which shape controls their visibility. Put the original base back under the clipped group and toggle the visibility of the edited layers to see what changed.
