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How to Select and Apply Fill Colors in Procreate Drawing App

As a digital artist who has used Procreate for over 5 years, I’ve learned that properly applying colors is crucial for creating stunning illustrations. With Procreate’s wide range of brushes and advanced color features like Color Dropper and Color Picker, selecting and filling areas with the exact shades you want is easier than ever. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through the various methods for choosing colors in Procreate and applying them as fills to different parts of your drawing.

Selecting Colors in Procreate

Procreate gives you several options to select colors:

Color Wheel

The Color Wheel allows you to select your hue on the wheel itself and then adjust the brightness/saturation with the vertical slider. This gives you a wide spectrum to choose from and you can see how shades relate to each other.

Color Palettes

You can create a custom palette by tapping the “+” icon at the bottom to add new swatches. This saves colors you use frequently for quick access later.

Color Dropper

The Color Dropper tool lets you select any color currently in your canvas. Just tap with it to pick up whatever color your cursor is over. This is extremely useful for sampling colors you’ve already painted to maintain consistency.

Color Picker

This gives you a magnified view to select very precise colors and their hex code. You can even eyedropper from here to sample colors outside Procreate.

Last 5 Colors

The bottom bar shows the last 5 colors you used so you can quickly access recent colors without resetting swatches.

Applying Fill Colors

Once you’ve selected your desired color, applying it as a fill inside your drawing is easy:

1. Define Area to Fill

Make sure your desired area is enclosed by a line. The fill will apply to any shape fully enclosed by a stroked line.

2. Select Paint Bucket

Choose the Paint Bucket tool from the top menu. This allows you to apply fills.

3. Tap Color to Use as Fill

At the bottom, tap the color you want to use as your fill. Select your shade from any of the color picking options.

4. Tap Inside Shape to Fill

With your fill color selected, tap inside the shape you want to fill. Procreate will automatically apply the color to the entire enclosed area.

5. Use Magic Wand to Select Area

Alternatively, you can use the Magic Wand to select an area of similar color tones, then tap the Paint Bucket icon to fill just the selected region with your chosen color.

6. Adjust Tolerance as Needed

If your fill bleeds outside the lines, adjust the Paint Bucket’s tolerance in its settings to fine tune how precise the fills are applied.

Tips for Working with Fills

Here are some additional tips for mastering fills in Procreate:

  • Use alpha locks on layers below to protect lines when filling above layers.
  • Minimize gaps in lines or use Close Gap setting so fills won’t bleed through.
  • Save custom swatch palettes to quickly access favorite color sets.
  • Use Color Dropper on filled shapes to sample and maintain colors.
  • Change blend mode after filling for cool effects.
  • Use fills sparingly underneath detailing to allow layers to show through.

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