iPad Portrait Painting Using Procreate

By Suzanne Munroe | Guest Blogger & Mobile Art Academy Student |

I was introduced to the Procreate app about a year ago when I took Ivy Newport’s Paint and Pixels online class. I had no idea you could draw using an iPad till then. I fell in love!  I could not believe all the talented digital artwork I found when searching the internet. I can’t tell you how excited I was to learn to draw on my iPad – of course, I had to have an iPad Pro with the Apple pencil. Lucky for me my birthday was that month! Ivy Newport posted on her Facebook page that she had entered a contest with Mobile Art Academy, and suggested to her followers to join in.  I have been following Mobile Art Academy since then, and I am just amazed at what everyone is creating digitally!

Suzanne Munroe, Portrait of My Nephew, Ben Milliken

I “liked” and “joined” as many online Facebook groups that I could find just so, I could learn from others. I don’t have a formal art background. I am self-taught and am always on the look out for any online classes that might interest me.  I decided that I really wanted to get to know how to fully use and understand Procreate. I knew I’ve just hit the tip of the iceberg with how to draw digitally, so when I learned that Mobile Art Academy offered online classes through MobileArt.HOW, I was delighted to find Adam James Butcher’s Portrait Painting on iPad classs using procreate.  I’ve been concentrating on learning portraits, so this was a win-win for me!

I loved the Portrait Painting class and was very pleased when I found the pdf handout that accompanied it. It’s nice to have a hard copy to refer too.  I had the class running on my laptop while drawing along on my iPad! I liked that Adam showed us which brushes to use, and explained the steps he was doing in the procreate application, as well as teaching us about art composition, values, and color. I do need to be brave and use more colors in my portraits – so it was great that he splashed on orange and purple and colors that you wouldn’t normally think were in skin tones (at least I didn’t).  I not only enjoyed the class instruction but learned a lot from just watching the process that Adam went through to complete his painting. 

Suzanne Munroe, Portrait of Adam James Butcher Created During His Class

I live in Barrington, RI with my husband. Our four grown children have all moved out. I work full time, and I spend every spare moment I can creating some sort of artwork, learning, and practicing! (and practicing, and practicing!) Enjoy the journey!

Suzanne Munroe, Self-portrait