Procreate has no artboard feature. You can't add multiple artboards to one document the way you can in Illustrator or Affinity Designer. The practical substitutes are a single oversized canvas divided into panels, Page Assist, separate canvases grouped in a Stack, or layer groups exported one at a time. Which one works best depends on how many layers each frame needs and how you plan to export.

Why Procreate Doesn't Have Artboards

Procreate is a raster painting app built around one canvas per document. Users have asked for multi-artboard documents, mainly so they can show a client several ideas in one file, scroll between them, and export each as its own image or PDF page.

The main obstacle is the layer limit. Procreate caps layers according to canvas size and DPI, so a larger or higher-resolution canvas gives you fewer layers. Community members point out that if artboards shared one document, they would also share one layer budget. Splitting 30 available layers across several artboards leaves each with very few.

That constraint shapes every workaround below. You are always trading layer count, resolution, and convenience against each other.

Method 1: Build a Multi-Panel Canvas

The closest thing to artboards inside one document is a large canvas divided into labeled regions.

1. In the gallery, tap the plus icon and choose the custom canvas option.
2. Set the dimensions to fit all your panels. Four 1920×1080 frames in a 2×2 grid need a 3840×2160 canvas at minimum. Add margin if you want gutters.
3. Open Actions > Canvas and turn on Drawing Guide. Edit it to a 2D grid sized to your panel width so each frame has a visible boundary.
4. Put each panel's work in its own layer group so you can hide or show them independently.

To export a single panel, duplicate the artwork or canvas, then use Actions > Canvas > Crop & Resize to trim it to that region. Share it as PNG or your preferred format. Duplicating first keeps your master board intact.

Trade-offs: This is the most flexible approach for presenting a board, since everything is visible at once. But your canvas gets large quickly, which lowers your layer limit. It also adds a manual crop step for every panel.

Method 2: Use Page Assist

Page Assist treats layers or groups as pages, so you can flip between them without hiding and showing layers by hand. It is the closest built-in match to artboard-style navigation.

You will find it under Actions > Canvas. Once enabled, each layer or group acts as a page, and you can step through them. This works well for storyboards, comic pages, and sequential frames.

One caution from a community member: Page Assist can render layer opacity and blend modes differently from a normal canvas. Your artwork may look different with it on versus off. That user recommends using it only for the sketching phase, then moving finished pages to standalone canvases without Page Assist. If your frames depend on blend modes (glows, multiply shadows, overlays), check the output against a normal canvas before delivering.

Method 3: Separate Canvases Grouped in a Stack

If you don't need frames in the same file, the most reliable approach is one canvas per "artboard." Create each at the same size, then drag them onto each other in the gallery to form a Stack.

• Each canvas keeps its full layer budget.
• Stacks work like folders, so you can name one after the project or client.
• Settings stay consistent if you duplicate a finished canvas as the starting point for the next.

The downside is navigation. Jumping between canvases means going back to the gallery and opening the next one. There is no single view that shows every frame at once. For client presentation, you may need to export the frames and assemble them elsewhere.

Method 4: Treat Layers or Groups as Artboards

Another common approach is to build each idea on its own layer or group in a single canvas, then export each one separately. The exports are what stand in for artboards.

Export one layer at a time

1. Open the Layers panel and uncheck the visibility box on every layer except the one you want.
2. Tap Actions (wrench icon) > Share.
3. Choose a format and destination.

Drag and drop layers

Open Procreate and Photos or Files side by side in Split View, then drag layers from the Layers panel into the destination. Layers export as PNG, which preserves transparency, even if your drag-and-drop format preference is set to JPEG. You can drag several layers at once, and even hidden layers can be exported. For a client who wants to swipe through ideas, this is much faster than toggling visibility seventeen times.

You can change the preferred drag-and-drop format in iPad Settings > Procreate under Drag and Drop Export, though transparent layers will still come out as PNG.

Setting Up a Side-by-Side Reference Layout

If what you really want is an artboard to hold a reference next to your painting, you can set that up in one document:

1. Create a wide canvas (for example, 5000×3500 px at 300 DPI).
2. Insert your reference photo through Actions > Add > Insert a Photo.
3. With Uniform transform and Snapping on, scale the photo to fill half the canvas.
4. Duplicate the photo layer, turn on Alpha Lock for the copy, and drag it across until the alignment line shows it matches the first.
5. Fill the duplicate with a background color using a large soft brush, then paint on it.

Because both halves are exactly the same size, comparing proportions and negative space is easier. This is a handy mini-artboard setup for studies and animation reference.

Which Method Should You Choose?

If you are unsure, start with separate canvases at identical dimensions. It is the least fragile option because no frame limits another's layers.

Setting Up Canvases for a Motion Pipeline

For motion designers and VFX artists, Procreate boards are usually source material. They might become style frames, animatic panels, texture elements, or backgrounds that get animated elsewhere. A few habits keep the handoff clean:

• Match your delivery resolution from the start. If the comp is 3840×2160, make each frame canvas that size so you aren't resampling later.
• Check the color profile. Procreate canvases default to an RGB profile. Confirm what your compositing project expects, since color shifts between apps are a common source of mismatch.
• Name files for sorting. Use a numbered convention like shot010_frame001.png so frames import in order as a sequence.
• Export PNG for transparency. Layers with alpha come out as PNG when dragged out, which is what you want for compositing in After Effects, Nuke, or Blender.
• Keep a master board. Duplicate before cropping or flattening so you can go back to the layered version.

Where Styleframe Fits

Once your frames are exported, you can bring them into a motion tool such as Styleframe to turn static Procreate work into motion.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Making the canvas bigger than you need. Every extra pixel reduces your layer count. Size the canvas for the final output.
• Relying on Page Assist for final art. Verify blend modes and opacity on a standard canvas before delivery.
• Exporting JPEG when you need transparency. Use PNG for any layer with alpha.
• Deleting the master. Crop duplicates, not originals.
• Mixing canvas sizes in a project. Inconsistent dimensions create scaling headaches in After Effects or Premiere Pro.

FAQ

Can I add an artboard to an existing Procreate canvas? No. You can enlarge the canvas with Crop & Resize and treat the new area as a second panel, but it is still one canvas with one layer limit.

Does Procreate export multiple artboards as a PDF? Not as artboards. You can export a canvas as PDF through Share, but to get one page per frame, you would assemble exported images in another app.

What's the best workaround for client presentations? Export each frame or layer as PNG and send them in order. Dragging layers into Photos lets a client swipe through ideas without any show/hide toggling.

Will Procreate ever add artboards? It has been a frequent community request, though some community members think the layer-limit issue makes it hard to implement. Plan around the workarounds above rather than waiting for the feature.

Procreate has no artboard feature. You can't add multiple artboards to one document the way you can in Illustrator or Affinity Designer. The practical substitutes are a single oversized canvas divided into panels, Page Assist, separate canvases grouped in a Stack, or layer groups exported one at a time. Which one works best depends on how many layers each frame needs and how you plan to export.

Why Procreate Doesn't Have Artboards

Procreate is a raster painting app built around one canvas per document. Users have asked for multi-artboard documents, mainly so they can show a client several ideas in one file, scroll between them, and export each as its own image or PDF page.

The main obstacle is the layer limit. Procreate caps layers according to canvas size and DPI, so a larger or higher-resolution canvas gives you fewer layers. Community members point out that if artboards shared one document, they would also share one layer budget. Splitting 30 available layers across several artboards leaves each with very few.

That constraint shapes every workaround below. You are always trading layer count, resolution, and convenience against each other.

Method 1: Build a Multi-Panel Canvas

The closest thing to artboards inside one document is a large canvas divided into labeled regions.

1. In the gallery, tap the plus icon and choose the custom canvas option.
2. Set the dimensions to fit all your panels. Four 1920×1080 frames in a 2×2 grid need a 3840×2160 canvas at minimum. Add margin if you want gutters.
3. Open Actions > Canvas and turn on Drawing Guide. Edit it to a 2D grid sized to your panel width so each frame has a visible boundary.
4. Put each panel's work in its own layer group so you can hide or show them independently.

To export a single panel, duplicate the artwork or canvas, then use Actions > Canvas > Crop & Resize to trim it to that region. Share it as PNG or your preferred format. Duplicating first keeps your master board intact.

Trade-offs: This is the most flexible approach for presenting a board, since everything is visible at once. But your canvas gets large quickly, which lowers your layer limit. It also adds a manual crop step for every panel.

Method 2: Use Page Assist

Page Assist treats layers or groups as pages, so you can flip between them without hiding and showing layers by hand. It is the closest built-in match to artboard-style navigation.

You will find it under Actions > Canvas. Once enabled, each layer or group acts as a page, and you can step through them. This works well for storyboards, comic pages, and sequential frames.

One caution from a community member: Page Assist can render layer opacity and blend modes differently from a normal canvas. Your artwork may look different with it on versus off. That user recommends using it only for the sketching phase, then moving finished pages to standalone canvases without Page Assist. If your frames depend on blend modes (glows, multiply shadows, overlays), check the output against a normal canvas before delivering.

Method 3: Separate Canvases Grouped in a Stack

If you don't need frames in the same file, the most reliable approach is one canvas per "artboard." Create each at the same size, then drag them onto each other in the gallery to form a Stack.

• Each canvas keeps its full layer budget.
• Stacks work like folders, so you can name one after the project or client.
• Settings stay consistent if you duplicate a finished canvas as the starting point for the next.

The downside is navigation. Jumping between canvases means going back to the gallery and opening the next one. There is no single view that shows every frame at once. For client presentation, you may need to export the frames and assemble them elsewhere.

Method 4: Treat Layers or Groups as Artboards

Another common approach is to build each idea on its own layer or group in a single canvas, then export each one separately. The exports are what stand in for artboards.

Export one layer at a time

1. Open the Layers panel and uncheck the visibility box on every layer except the one you want.
2. Tap Actions (wrench icon) > Share.
3. Choose a format and destination.

Drag and drop layers

Open Procreate and Photos or Files side by side in Split View, then drag layers from the Layers panel into the destination. Layers export as PNG, which preserves transparency, even if your drag-and-drop format preference is set to JPEG. You can drag several layers at once, and even hidden layers can be exported. For a client who wants to swipe through ideas, this is much faster than toggling visibility seventeen times.

You can change the preferred drag-and-drop format in iPad Settings > Procreate under Drag and Drop Export, though transparent layers will still come out as PNG.

Setting Up a Side-by-Side Reference Layout

If what you really want is an artboard to hold a reference next to your painting, you can set that up in one document:

1. Create a wide canvas (for example, 5000×3500 px at 300 DPI).
2. Insert your reference photo through Actions > Add > Insert a Photo.
3. With Uniform transform and Snapping on, scale the photo to fill half the canvas.
4. Duplicate the photo layer, turn on Alpha Lock for the copy, and drag it across until the alignment line shows it matches the first.
5. Fill the duplicate with a background color using a large soft brush, then paint on it.

Because both halves are exactly the same size, comparing proportions and negative space is easier. This is a handy mini-artboard setup for studies and animation reference.

Which Method Should You Choose?

If you are unsure, start with separate canvases at identical dimensions. It is the least fragile option because no frame limits another's layers.

Setting Up Canvases for a Motion Pipeline

For motion designers and VFX artists, Procreate boards are usually source material. They might become style frames, animatic panels, texture elements, or backgrounds that get animated elsewhere. A few habits keep the handoff clean:

• Match your delivery resolution from the start. If the comp is 3840×2160, make each frame canvas that size so you aren't resampling later.
• Check the color profile. Procreate canvases default to an RGB profile. Confirm what your compositing project expects, since color shifts between apps are a common source of mismatch.
• Name files for sorting. Use a numbered convention like shot010_frame001.png so frames import in order as a sequence.
• Export PNG for transparency. Layers with alpha come out as PNG when dragged out, which is what you want for compositing in After Effects, Nuke, or Blender.
• Keep a master board. Duplicate before cropping or flattening so you can go back to the layered version.

Where Styleframe Fits

Once your frames are exported, you can bring them into a motion tool such as Styleframe to turn static Procreate work into motion.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Making the canvas bigger than you need. Every extra pixel reduces your layer count. Size the canvas for the final output.
• Relying on Page Assist for final art. Verify blend modes and opacity on a standard canvas before delivery.
• Exporting JPEG when you need transparency. Use PNG for any layer with alpha.
• Deleting the master. Crop duplicates, not originals.
• Mixing canvas sizes in a project. Inconsistent dimensions create scaling headaches in After Effects or Premiere Pro.

FAQ

Can I add an artboard to an existing Procreate canvas? No. You can enlarge the canvas with Crop & Resize and treat the new area as a second panel, but it is still one canvas with one layer limit.

Does Procreate export multiple artboards as a PDF? Not as artboards. You can export a canvas as PDF through Share, but to get one page per frame, you would assemble exported images in another app.

What's the best workaround for client presentations? Export each frame or layer as PNG and send them in order. Dragging layers into Photos lets a client swipe through ideas without any show/hide toggling.

Will Procreate ever add artboards? It has been a frequent community request, though some community members think the layer-limit issue makes it hard to implement. Plan around the workarounds above rather than waiting for the feature.