To add a picture in Procreate Pocket, tap the ellipsis button to expand the top toolbar, open the Actions menu (the wrench icon), and choose Add. Then pick Insert a File, Insert a Photo, or Take a Photo. The image lands on your canvas as a new layer that you can move, scale, and rotate right away. Procreate Pocket accepts PNG, JPEG, and PSD files this way, but PSDs arrive flattened unless you bring them in through Gallery Import.

Step-by-step: add a picture to an open canvas

If you already have a canvas open, this is the fastest route:

1. Tap the ellipsis button in the top toolbar to expand your tools.
2. Tap the wrench icon to open Actions.
3. Tap Add.
4. Choose Insert a Photo to pull from your iPhone's Photos library.
5. Browse your albums, then tap the image.
6. The picture appears on the canvas as its own layer, with transform handles active.

There is also a shortcut. While you're in any Actions tab, the Quick Add Photo button opens the Photos interface immediately. Tap an image and it comes in as a new layer, which saves a few taps when you're dropping in several references in a row.

The four ways to bring an image in

Procreate Pocket gives you several entry points. They behave similarly, but the source differs, and that matters when you're pulling assets from a production pipeline rather than a camera roll.

Insert a File

Go to Actions → Add → Insert a File. This opens the Files app, showing recent images first, with a Browse option along the bottom for every connected location. For motion and VFX work, this is usually the one you want. Frames exported from After Effects, stills from Blender or Cinema 4D renders, and plate grabs from Nuke typically live in iCloud Drive or another folder reachable through Files.

Supported formats are PNG, JPEG, and PSD. A PSD inserted this way is placed as a single flattened image.

Insert a Photo

Go to Actions → Add → Insert a Photo. This opens your Photos app so you can pick anything you've shot or saved to the iPhone. It's the right choice for location reference, lighting reference, or a screenshot you saved from a client deck. The same format rules apply, and a PSD arrives flattened.

Take a Photo

Go to Actions → Add → Take a Photo. Procreate Pocket opens the iPhone camera. Shoot, tap Use Photo, and the image is added to the open document. This is handy for quickly capturing a prop, a hand pose, or a sketch on paper that you want to paint over.

Gallery Import (new canvas, layered PSDs)

The methods above add to an existing canvas. If you want the image to become a canvas, use the Gallery instead. The Gallery's bottom menu has a Files icon and a Photos icon. Tap one, find your image, and tap it to import it as a new canvas. You can also drag and drop an image into Procreate Pocket.

Gallery Import is also the route for layered PSDs. If you need the layers preserved, don't use Insert a File or Insert a Photo, because those flatten the file.

Resize and position the image after importing

A freshly inserted photo rarely matches your canvas dimensions, so expect to adjust it. When the image appears, the transform handles are already active:

• Fit to Canvas (in the bottom transform options) scales the image to the canvas bounds in one tap.
• Uniform mode keeps the original aspect ratio as you drag the corner handles. Use this by default so you don't stretch the picture.
• Freeform lets you pull the handles independently, which distorts the image. Switch back to Uniform if you accidentally warp something.
• Drag inside the image to reposition it, and use two-finger gestures to rotate and scale.

When you're happy with the placement, tap the Transform (arrow) tool again to commit and exit. After that, the image is a normal layer in your Layers panel, so you can lower its opacity for tracing, reorder it, or paint on layers above it.

A practical habit: if the picture is purely reference, put it on its own layer at reduced opacity and keep your linework on layers above. That way you can hide or delete the reference without touching your artwork.

Adding text is a separate command

If you're looking to add words rather than a picture, the same Add menu has Add Text. It creates an editable vector text box you can move, recolor, and restyle. To apply brushes or effects to it, open the Layers panel, tap the text layer's thumbnail, and choose Rasterize. Rasterizing converts the vector text to pixels, so it's no longer editable as type.

Troubleshooting common problems

The PSD came in as one flat layer. That's expected with Insert a File and Insert a Photo. Re-import it through Gallery Import to keep the layers.

The image looks soft after scaling. Scaling a small image up on a large canvas will soften it. Start from the highest-resolution source you have, and avoid enlarging beyond what the pixels support.

The image doesn't fill the canvas. Use Fit to Canvas, then adjust with Uniform. If the aspect ratios don't match, you'll either have empty margins or need to crop or extend the artwork.

I can't find the file. Insert a File shows recent images first. Use Browse at the bottom of the Files interface to reach other folders, including iCloud Drive and On My iPhone.

Getting your Procreate Pocket work back out

Once your picture is placed and painted over, you'll probably want it in a compositing or editing app. Swipe the artwork thumbnail to the left in the Gallery to reveal Share, then select a file format and destination. Procreate Pocket uses the iOS share system, so AirDrop, the Files app, and any app that accepts documents are all valid targets. Saving to iCloud Drive makes the file available in Finder or Files on your other devices once it syncs. You can also connect the iPhone to a Mac by cable and copy files through Finder.

If your next step is After Effects, Premiere Pro, or Nuke, pick an export format that preserves what you need, such as transparency or layers, where the share menu offers it. Name files consistently as you export, since a loose pile of "Untitled" exports becomes painful to manage inside a project.

Where Styleframe fits after you've added and painted your picture

Procreate Pocket is a good place to build a still: a character pose, a background study, a styleframe sketch. The step after that, turning stills into motion, is where Styleframe may be useful. It's an AI video and motion tool.

None of this replaces learning the basics of Procreate Pocket. A well-prepared source image, correctly sized, cleanly layered, and exported at good quality, makes every later step easier, whether that step is a manual comp or an AI-assisted one.

Quick reference

FAQ

Does adding a picture create a new layer? Yes. Inserted images appear as a new layer on your canvas, so you can edit or remove them independently of your artwork.

Can I add a layered PSD to an existing canvas? Not with layers intact. Insert a File and Insert a Photo place PSDs as flattened images. Use Gallery Import to preserve the layers.

Can I add a picture directly from the camera? Yes. Use Actions → Add → Take a Photo, snap the shot, and tap Use Photo.

Which image formats work? PNG, JPEG, and PSD.

To add a picture in Procreate Pocket, tap the ellipsis button to expand the top toolbar, open the Actions menu (the wrench icon), and choose Add. Then pick Insert a File, Insert a Photo, or Take a Photo. The image lands on your canvas as a new layer that you can move, scale, and rotate right away. Procreate Pocket accepts PNG, JPEG, and PSD files this way, but PSDs arrive flattened unless you bring them in through Gallery Import.

Step-by-step: add a picture to an open canvas

If you already have a canvas open, this is the fastest route:

1. Tap the ellipsis button in the top toolbar to expand your tools.
2. Tap the wrench icon to open Actions.
3. Tap Add.
4. Choose Insert a Photo to pull from your iPhone's Photos library.
5. Browse your albums, then tap the image.
6. The picture appears on the canvas as its own layer, with transform handles active.

There is also a shortcut. While you're in any Actions tab, the Quick Add Photo button opens the Photos interface immediately. Tap an image and it comes in as a new layer, which saves a few taps when you're dropping in several references in a row.

The four ways to bring an image in

Procreate Pocket gives you several entry points. They behave similarly, but the source differs, and that matters when you're pulling assets from a production pipeline rather than a camera roll.

Insert a File

Go to Actions → Add → Insert a File. This opens the Files app, showing recent images first, with a Browse option along the bottom for every connected location. For motion and VFX work, this is usually the one you want. Frames exported from After Effects, stills from Blender or Cinema 4D renders, and plate grabs from Nuke typically live in iCloud Drive or another folder reachable through Files.

Supported formats are PNG, JPEG, and PSD. A PSD inserted this way is placed as a single flattened image.

Insert a Photo

Go to Actions → Add → Insert a Photo. This opens your Photos app so you can pick anything you've shot or saved to the iPhone. It's the right choice for location reference, lighting reference, or a screenshot you saved from a client deck. The same format rules apply, and a PSD arrives flattened.

Take a Photo

Go to Actions → Add → Take a Photo. Procreate Pocket opens the iPhone camera. Shoot, tap Use Photo, and the image is added to the open document. This is handy for quickly capturing a prop, a hand pose, or a sketch on paper that you want to paint over.

Gallery Import (new canvas, layered PSDs)

The methods above add to an existing canvas. If you want the image to become a canvas, use the Gallery instead. The Gallery's bottom menu has a Files icon and a Photos icon. Tap one, find your image, and tap it to import it as a new canvas. You can also drag and drop an image into Procreate Pocket.

Gallery Import is also the route for layered PSDs. If you need the layers preserved, don't use Insert a File or Insert a Photo, because those flatten the file.

Resize and position the image after importing

A freshly inserted photo rarely matches your canvas dimensions, so expect to adjust it. When the image appears, the transform handles are already active:

• Fit to Canvas (in the bottom transform options) scales the image to the canvas bounds in one tap.
• Uniform mode keeps the original aspect ratio as you drag the corner handles. Use this by default so you don't stretch the picture.
• Freeform lets you pull the handles independently, which distorts the image. Switch back to Uniform if you accidentally warp something.
• Drag inside the image to reposition it, and use two-finger gestures to rotate and scale.

When you're happy with the placement, tap the Transform (arrow) tool again to commit and exit. After that, the image is a normal layer in your Layers panel, so you can lower its opacity for tracing, reorder it, or paint on layers above it.

A practical habit: if the picture is purely reference, put it on its own layer at reduced opacity and keep your linework on layers above. That way you can hide or delete the reference without touching your artwork.

Adding text is a separate command

If you're looking to add words rather than a picture, the same Add menu has Add Text. It creates an editable vector text box you can move, recolor, and restyle. To apply brushes or effects to it, open the Layers panel, tap the text layer's thumbnail, and choose Rasterize. Rasterizing converts the vector text to pixels, so it's no longer editable as type.

Troubleshooting common problems

The PSD came in as one flat layer. That's expected with Insert a File and Insert a Photo. Re-import it through Gallery Import to keep the layers.

The image looks soft after scaling. Scaling a small image up on a large canvas will soften it. Start from the highest-resolution source you have, and avoid enlarging beyond what the pixels support.

The image doesn't fill the canvas. Use Fit to Canvas, then adjust with Uniform. If the aspect ratios don't match, you'll either have empty margins or need to crop or extend the artwork.

I can't find the file. Insert a File shows recent images first. Use Browse at the bottom of the Files interface to reach other folders, including iCloud Drive and On My iPhone.

Getting your Procreate Pocket work back out

Once your picture is placed and painted over, you'll probably want it in a compositing or editing app. Swipe the artwork thumbnail to the left in the Gallery to reveal Share, then select a file format and destination. Procreate Pocket uses the iOS share system, so AirDrop, the Files app, and any app that accepts documents are all valid targets. Saving to iCloud Drive makes the file available in Finder or Files on your other devices once it syncs. You can also connect the iPhone to a Mac by cable and copy files through Finder.

If your next step is After Effects, Premiere Pro, or Nuke, pick an export format that preserves what you need, such as transparency or layers, where the share menu offers it. Name files consistently as you export, since a loose pile of "Untitled" exports becomes painful to manage inside a project.

Where Styleframe fits after you've added and painted your picture

Procreate Pocket is a good place to build a still: a character pose, a background study, a styleframe sketch. The step after that, turning stills into motion, is where Styleframe may be useful. It's an AI video and motion tool.

None of this replaces learning the basics of Procreate Pocket. A well-prepared source image, correctly sized, cleanly layered, and exported at good quality, makes every later step easier, whether that step is a manual comp or an AI-assisted one.

Quick reference

FAQ

Does adding a picture create a new layer? Yes. Inserted images appear as a new layer on your canvas, so you can edit or remove them independently of your artwork.

Can I add a layered PSD to an existing canvas? Not with layers intact. Insert a File and Insert a Photo place PSDs as flattened images. Use Gallery Import to preserve the layers.

Can I add a picture directly from the camera? Yes. Use Actions → Add → Take a Photo, snap the shot, and tap Use Photo.

Which image formats work? PNG, JPEG, and PSD.