How to Do Lettering in Procreate: Complete Beginner’s Tutorial
Table of Contents
If you’ve ever opened Procreate and stared at a blank canvas wondering where to even begin with lettering — you’re not alone. Procreate is an incredibly powerful app, but it’s not exactly designed with hand lettering in mind from the start. The good news: once you understand the setup and get the right brushes, it feels surprisingly close to lettering on real paper.
In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through everything you need to get started with lettering in Procreate — from canvas setup and brush selection to pressure sensitivity, color, and exporting your finished piece.
What You’ll Need
Before we dive in:
- An iPad (any model, though iPad Pro with Apple Pencil 2 gives the best pressure response)
- An Apple Pencil (1st or 2nd generation)
- Procreate app ($12.99 one-time, no subscription)
- A calligraphy or lettering brush — more on this in a moment
That’s it. No physical supplies, no mess, no waiting for ink to dry.
Step 1: Set Up Your Canvas
Canvas size matters more than most beginners realize. Too small and you’ll lose detail when you zoom out; too large and Procreate will limit your layer count.
Here’s what I recommend for lettering:
- Size: 3000 x 3000 px (great for most projects)
- Resolution: 300 DPI (if you plan to print) or 150 DPI (digital only — more layers available)
- Color profile: sRGB for digital, P3 Display if you want richer color on Pro screens
To create a new canvas, tap the + in the top right of the Gallery, then tap Create custom canvas. Enter your dimensions, set the DPI, and tap Create.
Pro tip: Save this canvas as a template by tapping the dropdown at the top and choosing Save as template. You’ll thank yourself later.
Step 2: Turn On Streamline
One of the most underrated Procreate features for lettering is Streamline. It smooths out the wobbles in your strokes — especially useful if you’re new to drawing on glass or if your hand isn’t perfectly steady.
To enable it: tap the brush icon, select your brush, then tap it again to open Brush Studio. Look for Stabilization → Streamline. Slide it up to around 30-50% for lettering. Too high and your lines will feel sluggish; too low and you lose the smoothing benefit.
Step 3: Choose the Right Brushes
This is where most beginners get overwhelmed — Procreate ships with hundreds of brushes. For lettering, you only need a few.
Built-in brushes worth trying:
- Inking → Syrup — smooth, consistent lines; good for modern calligraphy
- Calligraphy → Speedball — mimics a pointed pen with natural pressure variation
- Calligraphy → Monoline — uniform line weight, great for block lettering or sans-serif styles
But honestly, the best upgrade you can make as a Procreate letterer is getting a dedicated lettering brush pack. Here are my top picks:
- Sycamore Lettering Brush Pack — my personal favorite for pointed pen calligraphy styles; the pressure sensitivity is exceptionally well calibrated
- Ged Palmer’s Lettering Essentials — includes ink, chalk, and pencil variations; brilliant value
- The Folio Brushes by Nicky Laatz — elegant and versatile; works beautifully for wedding-style lettering
Most brush packs run $10-25 and are worth every penny compared to trying to hack together the built-in brushes.
Step 4: Configure Pressure Sensitivity
In traditional lettering, you get thick downstrokes and thin upstrokes by applying more or less pressure to your pen. In Procreate, you can replicate this — but you need to calibrate pressure sensitivity first.
Go to Settings (wrench icon) → Prefs → Pressure & Smoothing. You’ll see a pressure curve graph.
- If your strokes feel too thin even with heavy pressure, drag the curve up
- If the brush feels too thick even with light pressure, drag it down
- I recommend a gentle S-curve for the most natural lettering feel
Spend 5 minutes here before you start a project. It makes a real difference.
Step 5: Use Layers Wisely
Layers are one of the biggest advantages of digital lettering over paper. Use them.
A basic lettering layer setup I use for every piece:
- Layer 1 (bottom): Background color or texture
- Layer 2: Guideline or grid (set to low opacity, like 20%)
- Layer 3: Rough sketch/layout
- Layer 4: Final lettering strokes
- Layer 5 (top): Color fills or highlights
Keep your final strokes on a separate layer from your sketch. That way you can lower the sketch opacity to trace over it cleanly, then delete it when you’re done.
Step 6: Add a Guideline Grid
Consistent baseline and cap height are what separate “looks handmade” from “looks sloppy.” Procreate has a built-in drawing guide that makes this easy.
Go to Canvas → Drawing Guide → Edit Drawing Guide. Choose 2D Grid or Isometric. For lettering, I use a basic 2D grid and set the grid size to match my cap height — usually around 150-200 px for a 3000 px canvas.
Turn on Assist Drawing if you want your strokes to snap to the guide. Helpful for practice, but turn it off when you’re doing freehand lettering.
Step 7: Letter Your Piece
Here’s where it all comes together. A few technique tips:
Work slowly at first. Procreate doesn’t reward speed — it rewards intentional strokes. If you’re learning calligraphy-style lettering, think of each stroke separately. Down = slow and heavy. Up = quick and light.
Use the Undo gesture liberally. Two-finger tap undoes your last stroke. This is your best friend. Don’t be precious — undo and redo until the stroke feels right.
Zoom in for detail work. Pinch out to zoom into tight areas. Letter at a size that feels comfortable, then zoom out to check the overall composition.
Use guides and symmetry. For centered compositions, use Procreate’s symmetry guide (Canvas → Drawing Guide → Symmetry). It mirrors your strokes in real time.
If you’re new to Procreate lettering and want to build on your technique, check out our guide to 5 Ways to Enhance Your Digital Lettering in Procreate — it covers texture, layering effects, and more advanced stylistic choices.
Step 8: Add Color
Color in Procreate is intuitive once you understand the flow:
- Tap the color circle in the top right to open the color picker
- To fill a shape or letter, drag the color circle directly onto the canvas area you want to fill
- Hold the drag briefly for Color Drop Threshold — slide left or right to expand or shrink the fill area
- Use the Harmony tab to find complementary or analogous colors automatically
For lettering, I almost always use a gradient or dual-tone treatment rather than flat color. Create a new layer above your lettering, fill it with your gradient, then set it to a Clipping Mask (tap the layer, choose Clipping Mask). The gradient will only show through your lettering strokes.
Step 9: Export Your Work
When your piece is finished, exporting is simple:
- Tap the wrench icon → Share
- For social media: JPEG or PNG (PNG keeps transparency)
- For print: PDF at 300 DPI
- For further editing in Illustrator or Photoshop: PSD preserves your layers
If you want to turn your lettering into a vector (for scaling infinitely or creating a font), export as a PSD and bring it into Illustrator. For a walkthrough on that process, our guide on How to Digitize Hand Lettering Using Illustrator’s Image Trace has you covered.
Common Beginner Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)
Using too many layers. It feels productive, but it gets confusing fast. Keep it simple: sketch, final strokes, color. Merge down once you’re happy with a section.
Skipping pressure calibration. Your brush behavior is only as good as your pressure curve. Spend 5 minutes on this and your strokes will feel dramatically better.
Working too small. Start at 3000 px. You can always export at a smaller size, but you can’t add resolution you didn’t capture.
Copying instead of studying. It’s tempting to trace over inspiration images. Instead, study them: What’s the x-height? How are the serifs formed? What’s the angle of the oval? Then build those observations into your own letterforms.
Ready to Take It Further?
Procreate is one of the most satisfying tools for lettering once you get comfortable with it. The combination of Apple Pencil pressure, unlimited undo, and layer-based workflow genuinely speeds up your practice and lets you experiment without fear.
Start with a simple word — your name, a favorite quote, anything — and work through each step in this guide. By your third or fourth piece, the tools will stop feeling like obstacles and start feeling like second nature.
If you want to expand your Procreate brush library with professional-grade options, Artixty carries a stunning 1000+ Digital Hand Painted Brush Strokes pack — perfect for adding authentic, organic texture to your lettering compositions. Their brushes replicate real media like ink, watercolor, and gouache, making your digital lettering feel more tactile and expressive.
Happy lettering.
Related Reading: New to digital art altogether? Teach Yourself Digital Art from Improved Drawing is an excellent starting point — covering tools, software choices, and how to build a practice from zero.
Leave a Reply