To add a color palette in Procreate, tap the color circle in the top right, open the Palettes tab, tap the plus icon to create a new palette, then tap an empty swatch to save your current color into it. You can also build a palette from a photo, from the camera, or from a file, and then set it as your default so it appears under every Color Panel tab. Once a palette exists, tap any swatch to use it, or drag a swatch onto the canvas to fill an area.

Create a Palette From Scratch

This is the most controlled method, and the one to use when you already know your colors, for example from a brand guide or a client's styleframe.

1. Tap the color circle in the top right corner to open the Color Panel.
2. Tap Palettes in the bottom row of tabs.
3. Tap the plus (+) at the top right of the Palettes panel and choose to create a new palette.
4. Name it something you'll recognize in a month, such as the project code or client name.
5. Go back to a color tab (Disc, Classic, Harmony, or Value) and pick a color.
6. Tap an empty swatch in your new palette to save the current color there.
7. Repeat until the palette is complete, then tap outside the panel to close it.

If a palette has no empty squares left, press and hold an existing swatch and tap Set to overwrite it with the current color. That's the quickest way to revise a palette mid-project without rebuilding it.

For exact brand colors, use the Value tab and type in a hex code before saving the swatch. Hex entry is the most reliable way to keep a Procreate palette matched to colors you've already defined in After Effects, Figma, or a brand document.

Build a Palette From a Photo or Reference

Procreate can sample colors from imagery instead of making you pick them by eye. This works well when you're matching a still, a film reference, or a mood board frame.

From an image on your canvas

1. Import the reference into a Procreate canvas (or open it on a separate layer).
2. Create a new, empty palette so you have somewhere to put the colors.
3. Press and hold on the area of the image you want to sample. A small color picker appears.
4. Release, then tap the next empty swatch in your palette.
5. Repeat for each color.

Sample from several areas of the same region rather than a single pixel. Photographs carry noise and compression, and one sample can be misleadingly dull or oversaturated.

From a photo or the camera

Procreate's palette creation menu also lets you generate a palette directly from your Photos library or from the camera. Point the camera at a printed swatch, a fabric, or a screen, and Procreate pulls a set of dominant colors into a new palette. It's fast and a good starting point, but the extracted colors are an approximation, so expect to tweak a few swatches afterward.

From a file

If someone sends you a palette file, you can import it from Files and it appears in your Palette Library. This is handy for sharing a consistent set of colors across a team of illustrators.

Use Harmony to Generate Related Colors

When you have one anchor color and need supporting colors, the Harmony tab does the thinking for you.

1. Create a new palette and save your anchor color into the first swatch.
2. Open the Harmony tab.
3. Choose a scheme such as Complementary from the menu at the top left.
4. Tap the suggested color on the wheel, then tap the next empty swatch to save it.
5. Reselect your anchor and switch to a different scheme to see other pairings.

Treat the results as prompts, not answers. Harmony schemes are mathematically related, not necessarily good for your shot. You'll usually want to nudge saturation and value afterward, especially for anything that will end up on a video timeline where contrast and legibility matter.

Manage, Rename, and Reorder Swatches

A palette is only useful if you can find things in it quickly.

Compact vs. Cards view

At the top of the Palettes panel you can switch between two views:

• Compact is the default. It shows small squares, ten per row, so you can see many palettes at once.
• Cards shows larger squares, three per row, with an approximate name under each color, such as "Blue Green."

In Cards view you can tap a swatch's name and rename it to something meaningful like "Sea Green" or "Lower Third Accent." Naming swatches by function is a good habit if the palette will be handed to someone else.

Reorder swatches

Tap and drag a swatch to a new position and lift your finger to drop it. Moving colors next to each other is a quick way to judge how they balance, so use it to test adjacency before committing.

Set the active and default palette

The palette you're currently using shows a check mark in a blue circle next to its name. Tap any swatch in another palette to make it active. To make a palette the default, tap its name to open the options and choose to set it as default. The default palette is the one shown at the bottom of every Color Panel tab, so keep your current project's colors there.

Set a swatch as the current color

Press and hold a swatch and tap Set current color to make it your active color, or simply tap it. Tapping is faster for painting; the press-and-hold menu is useful when you're editing swatches.

SwatchDrop

Drag a swatch from the palette directly onto an area of your artwork and release. Procreate flood-fills the area with that color. It's a fast way to test colorways on flat shapes without picking up a brush.

Share Palettes

Tap a palette's name to see its options, including sharing. Sharing lets you send the palette to a collaborator.

Get Your Procreate Palette Into a Motion Pipeline

If you're drawing boards or character art on an iPad and finishing in After Effects, Cinema 4D, Blender, or Nuke, color consistency across apps is the real challenge. A few practical approaches:

• Record hex values. Open each swatch in the Value tab and note its hex code. Create a small text note or a palette layer in your project file. In After Effects, you can paste hex values into the color picker, a Fill effect, or a shape layer's fill.
• Export a palette board. Make a canvas with large squares of each color, export it as a PNG, and bring it into your comp as a guide layer. Use the eyedropper on it, or leave it in the corner of the timeline as a reference.
• Match color management. The color profile of your canvas affects how colors look. If your After Effects project is in a different working space, colors can shift between apps. Check profiles at the start of a project rather than at delivery.
• Check on a calibrated display. The iPad screen is not a grading monitor. For final decisions, verify colors in your compositing application.

Where Styleframe Fits in a Palette-Driven Workflow

Once you've locked a palette in Procreate, the next question is how to keep that color language consistent as stills turn into moving shots. Styleframe is an AI video and motion tool built for artists who want to direct the result rather than hit a one-click button.

In practice, that means your Procreate work can become the reference. A painted frame using your palette can serve as a reference image, so footage picks up the look you designed.

As always, check generated results against your palette. Reference-driven doesn't mean pixel-exact, so plan a color correction pass in your compositor, as you would with any footage.

Troubleshooting Common Palette Problems

I can't find my palette. In Cards view, scroll up or down, because the panel doesn't show every palette at once. Switching to Compact gives you a denser overview.

The plus button saved nothing. Creating a palette only makes an empty container. You still need to tap an empty swatch to store your current color.

Swatch names show as hex codes. On iPadOS versions below 14, swatch names appear as hex values instead of approximate color names.

My colors look different in After Effects. This is nearly always a color profile or display difference. Compare hex values first, then check the working space on both sides.

My palette keeps getting overwritten. Tapping a filled swatch selects it, while press-and-hold then Set replaces it. If you overwrite one by accident, undo immediately.

Quick Workflow Recap

1. Open the Color Panel and go to Palettes.
2. Tap the plus to create a palette and name it.
3. Add colors by tapping empty swatches, sampling from a photo, using Harmony, or importing a file.
4. Rename, reorder, and set the palette as your default.
5. Record hex values or export a palette board for After Effects and other tools.
6. Share the palette with collaborators when needed.

Spend ten minutes building a clean, named palette at the start of a project, and you'll save far more time later when frames travel from the iPad to your compositing timeline.

To add a color palette in Procreate, tap the color circle in the top right, open the Palettes tab, tap the plus icon to create a new palette, then tap an empty swatch to save your current color into it. You can also build a palette from a photo, from the camera, or from a file, and then set it as your default so it appears under every Color Panel tab. Once a palette exists, tap any swatch to use it, or drag a swatch onto the canvas to fill an area.

Create a Palette From Scratch

This is the most controlled method, and the one to use when you already know your colors, for example from a brand guide or a client's styleframe.

1. Tap the color circle in the top right corner to open the Color Panel.
2. Tap Palettes in the bottom row of tabs.
3. Tap the plus (+) at the top right of the Palettes panel and choose to create a new palette.
4. Name it something you'll recognize in a month, such as the project code or client name.
5. Go back to a color tab (Disc, Classic, Harmony, or Value) and pick a color.
6. Tap an empty swatch in your new palette to save the current color there.
7. Repeat until the palette is complete, then tap outside the panel to close it.

If a palette has no empty squares left, press and hold an existing swatch and tap Set to overwrite it with the current color. That's the quickest way to revise a palette mid-project without rebuilding it.

For exact brand colors, use the Value tab and type in a hex code before saving the swatch. Hex entry is the most reliable way to keep a Procreate palette matched to colors you've already defined in After Effects, Figma, or a brand document.

Build a Palette From a Photo or Reference

Procreate can sample colors from imagery instead of making you pick them by eye. This works well when you're matching a still, a film reference, or a mood board frame.

From an image on your canvas

1. Import the reference into a Procreate canvas (or open it on a separate layer).
2. Create a new, empty palette so you have somewhere to put the colors.
3. Press and hold on the area of the image you want to sample. A small color picker appears.
4. Release, then tap the next empty swatch in your palette.
5. Repeat for each color.

Sample from several areas of the same region rather than a single pixel. Photographs carry noise and compression, and one sample can be misleadingly dull or oversaturated.

From a photo or the camera

Procreate's palette creation menu also lets you generate a palette directly from your Photos library or from the camera. Point the camera at a printed swatch, a fabric, or a screen, and Procreate pulls a set of dominant colors into a new palette. It's fast and a good starting point, but the extracted colors are an approximation, so expect to tweak a few swatches afterward.

From a file

If someone sends you a palette file, you can import it from Files and it appears in your Palette Library. This is handy for sharing a consistent set of colors across a team of illustrators.

Use Harmony to Generate Related Colors

When you have one anchor color and need supporting colors, the Harmony tab does the thinking for you.

1. Create a new palette and save your anchor color into the first swatch.
2. Open the Harmony tab.
3. Choose a scheme such as Complementary from the menu at the top left.
4. Tap the suggested color on the wheel, then tap the next empty swatch to save it.
5. Reselect your anchor and switch to a different scheme to see other pairings.

Treat the results as prompts, not answers. Harmony schemes are mathematically related, not necessarily good for your shot. You'll usually want to nudge saturation and value afterward, especially for anything that will end up on a video timeline where contrast and legibility matter.

Manage, Rename, and Reorder Swatches

A palette is only useful if you can find things in it quickly.

Compact vs. Cards view

At the top of the Palettes panel you can switch between two views:

• Compact is the default. It shows small squares, ten per row, so you can see many palettes at once.
• Cards shows larger squares, three per row, with an approximate name under each color, such as "Blue Green."

In Cards view you can tap a swatch's name and rename it to something meaningful like "Sea Green" or "Lower Third Accent." Naming swatches by function is a good habit if the palette will be handed to someone else.

Reorder swatches

Tap and drag a swatch to a new position and lift your finger to drop it. Moving colors next to each other is a quick way to judge how they balance, so use it to test adjacency before committing.

Set the active and default palette

The palette you're currently using shows a check mark in a blue circle next to its name. Tap any swatch in another palette to make it active. To make a palette the default, tap its name to open the options and choose to set it as default. The default palette is the one shown at the bottom of every Color Panel tab, so keep your current project's colors there.

Set a swatch as the current color

Press and hold a swatch and tap Set current color to make it your active color, or simply tap it. Tapping is faster for painting; the press-and-hold menu is useful when you're editing swatches.

SwatchDrop

Drag a swatch from the palette directly onto an area of your artwork and release. Procreate flood-fills the area with that color. It's a fast way to test colorways on flat shapes without picking up a brush.

Share Palettes

Tap a palette's name to see its options, including sharing. Sharing lets you send the palette to a collaborator.

Get Your Procreate Palette Into a Motion Pipeline

If you're drawing boards or character art on an iPad and finishing in After Effects, Cinema 4D, Blender, or Nuke, color consistency across apps is the real challenge. A few practical approaches:

• Record hex values. Open each swatch in the Value tab and note its hex code. Create a small text note or a palette layer in your project file. In After Effects, you can paste hex values into the color picker, a Fill effect, or a shape layer's fill.
• Export a palette board. Make a canvas with large squares of each color, export it as a PNG, and bring it into your comp as a guide layer. Use the eyedropper on it, or leave it in the corner of the timeline as a reference.
• Match color management. The color profile of your canvas affects how colors look. If your After Effects project is in a different working space, colors can shift between apps. Check profiles at the start of a project rather than at delivery.
• Check on a calibrated display. The iPad screen is not a grading monitor. For final decisions, verify colors in your compositing application.

Where Styleframe Fits in a Palette-Driven Workflow

Once you've locked a palette in Procreate, the next question is how to keep that color language consistent as stills turn into moving shots. Styleframe is an AI video and motion tool built for artists who want to direct the result rather than hit a one-click button.

In practice, that means your Procreate work can become the reference. A painted frame using your palette can serve as a reference image, so footage picks up the look you designed.

As always, check generated results against your palette. Reference-driven doesn't mean pixel-exact, so plan a color correction pass in your compositor, as you would with any footage.

Troubleshooting Common Palette Problems

I can't find my palette. In Cards view, scroll up or down, because the panel doesn't show every palette at once. Switching to Compact gives you a denser overview.

The plus button saved nothing. Creating a palette only makes an empty container. You still need to tap an empty swatch to store your current color.

Swatch names show as hex codes. On iPadOS versions below 14, swatch names appear as hex values instead of approximate color names.

My colors look different in After Effects. This is nearly always a color profile or display difference. Compare hex values first, then check the working space on both sides.

My palette keeps getting overwritten. Tapping a filled swatch selects it, while press-and-hold then Set replaces it. If you overwrite one by accident, undo immediately.

Quick Workflow Recap

1. Open the Color Panel and go to Palettes.
2. Tap the plus to create a palette and name it.
3. Add colors by tapping empty swatches, sampling from a photo, using Harmony, or importing a file.
4. Rename, reorder, and set the palette as your default.
5. Record hex values or export a palette board for After Effects and other tools.
6. Share the palette with collaborators when needed.

Spend ten minutes building a clean, named palette at the start of a project, and you'll save far more time later when frames travel from the iPad to your compositing timeline.