To add light in Procreate, create a new layer above your artwork and set its blend mode to match the effect you want. Use Multiply on a dark color to shade the scene, then erase the areas where light should land. Use Add or Screen on a separate layer to paint glowing highlights, then soften both layers with Gaussian Blur or Bloom. For 3D models, Procreate's Lighting Studio lets you place up to four light sources.

Decide Where the Light Comes From First

Every Procreate lighting method fails if you skip this step. Before you touch a blend mode, pick a primary light source, its direction, and its color temperature.

• Direction: Decide which planes face the light and which fall away. Rim light, key light, and bounce all follow from this choice.
• Color temperature: Warm light (sunsets, fire, lamps) pairs naturally with cool shadows. Cool light (moonlight, overcast sky) pairs with warm shadows.
• Background cues: A lit subject needs a lit environment. If the character is hit by orange light from the left, the background should carry a hint of that same orange on that side.

Starting with a darker, lower-key base makes every method below read more clearly. Light is only visible against something darker than itself.

Method 1: Multiply Shadow Layer, Then Erase the Light

This is the most common approach, and it works because you carve light out of darkness instead of painting it on.

1. Finish your base colors and basic shading.
2. Add a new layer at the top of the stack and fill it with a dark, saturated color. Deep brown, navy, or purple all work. Night scenes lean blue; dusk scenes lean warm.
3. Set the layer's blend mode to Multiply. The whole piece darkens.
4. If you only want to affect one subject, use a clipping mask so the shadow layer only applies to the layer below.
5. Pick an eraser, ideally a soft one, and erase the regions where light actually hits: a face catching lamplight, the edge of a shoulder, the ground under a window.
6. Lower the layer opacity if the effect is too heavy. Somewhere in the 80–90% range is a reasonable starting point.

If you erase too much, switch the layer back to Normal, eyedrop your fill color, and paint over the mistake. Then flip it back to Multiply.

Add Color Where the Shadow Was Erased

A bare erase tends to look flat. Make it feel like light by adding color around the cleared area:

1. Lock the multiply layer with Alpha Lock.
2. With a soft airbrush, add a saturated orange around the edge of the erased region.
3. Add a smaller, tighter band of yellow right against the edge, keeping it closer to the shape than the orange.
4. On the opposite side of the subject, add a cool blue or purple to suggest bounce light or ambient fill.
5. Turn Alpha Lock off and apply Gaussian Blur from the Adjustments menu. Scrub the slider back and forth until the transition looks believable. The edge nearest the light can take a little extra blur if it still looks harsh.

This sequence (erase, warm halo, tight highlight, cool opposite, blur) gets you a dramatic result quickly.

Method 2: Glow and Highlight Layers

Multiply handles shadows. For glowing or reflected light, build a second layer that adds brightness.

1. Create a new layer above your artwork. Clip it to the subject if needed.
2. Set the blend mode to Add or Screen.
3. Paint with a warm or colored light on the surfaces facing the source: edges of an arm, the side of a nose, the rim of a cheek.
4. Keep strokes thin along edges for rim light, or broad and soft for ambient glow.

The two modes suit different subjects:

• Screen suits objects that don't reflect light.
• Add suits objects that glow and reflect light.

Try both on the same stroke before committing. Swapping modes takes seconds and often changes the whole mood.

Use Bloom for a Light Bleed

Procreate's Bloom adjustment (Adjustments → Bloom) takes the lightest parts of a layer and spreads a glow around them. It works well on a layer of white or pale highlights:

1. Paint highlights in white or a light tint on their own layer.
2. Open Adjustments → Bloom and apply it to that layer.
3. Tune the amount and size so the glow feels like atmosphere, not a filter.

Apply Bloom to the highlight layer rather than the whole image. That keeps your darks clean and your control over the glow intact.

Method 3: Color Blend Lighting That Preserves Texture

Overpainting with Multiply and Add can flatten textured or scanned traditional work. A different approach keeps your original surface intact by deriving the shadows from the art itself. It mimics a Photoshop adjustment-layer workflow, which Procreate does not offer.

1. Keep a clean copy of your original art on its own layer.
2. Add a layer filled with your shadow color, set to Color blend mode at roughly 50% opacity. Choose a cool shadow tone for warm light and a warm one for cool light.
3. Use Copy All and Paste to flatten the visible result into a new layer, which you can call Shadows. Alternatively, group your layers, duplicate the group, and flatten the duplicate.
4. Open Adjustments → Hue, Saturation, Brightness and pull brightness down until the Shadows layer is clearly darker.
5. Add a layer mask to the Shadows layer and fill it with black, which hides the darkening completely.
6. Paint on the mask with white to reveal shadow only where you want it.

Because the shadows come from your actual pixels, paper grain, pencil texture, and brush detail carry through. This makes it a good choice for scanned or heavily textured work.

Method 4: Lighting Studio for 3D Models

If you are working with an imported 3D model in Procreate's 3D Painting mode, you do not need blend modes at all. Procreate includes a dedicated Lighting Studio.

• Go to Actions → 3D → Edit lighting & environment.
• Your model sits on a grid with two white lights above it by default.
• Tap Add Light or duplicate an existing light, up to four sources total.
• Tap a light cube to adjust Hue, Saturation, and Intensity, or to delete it. Hue needs some saturation to show.
• Open Environment to choose from 11 indoor and outdoor presets, adjust exposure, or remove the background.

One caveat: changes made in Lighting Studio show up in the 3D view of the Reference companion, so check there rather than on the 2D canvas.

Common Mistakes

• Lighting a bright image. Multiply cannot create contrast that is not there. Lower the overall value of the base first.
• Using pure white and pure black. Tinted lights and colored shadows read as richer and more natural.
• Hard edges everywhere. Keep some edges sharp where light hits a firm surface, and blur the rest.
• Ignoring the background. A glowing subject on an unlit backdrop looks pasted in.
• Flattening too early. Keep lighting on separate layers so you can adjust opacity, hue, and blend mode later.

Taking Procreate Lighting Into a Motion Pipeline

If you are a motion designer or animator, Procreate is often where a styleframe or character begins, not where it ends. The layered lighting approach above carries over well because every light is its own layer.

• Export layered files. Keep shadow, highlight, and glow layers separate so they arrive in After Effects as individual elements. You can animate opacity, shift hue, or add a blur to simulate flickering firelight or a moving light source.
• Mirror blend modes. Check which of your Procreate blend modes have equivalents in your compositing software, so your layer logic can translate.
• Treat the Procreate frame as a keyframe. A lit illustration is a strong reference for how a scene should look at a given moment.

That last point is where Styleframe fits. It is an AI video and motion tool built around artistic control: you drive generation with reference images, video clips, and keyframes instead of a single text prompt. A lit Procreate frame can serve as a reference or keyframe, so the lighting you painted guides the motion between frames.

You keep your compositing workflow: bring the output into your comp, add your own light wraps, glows, and color grades, and finish as usual.

Quick Reference

Final Thoughts

Adding light in Procreate comes down to three habits: choose your light source before you paint, put every lighting pass on its own layer, and use color temperature contrast to sell the effect. Start with the Multiply-and-erase method for fast mood, layer Add or Screen highlights on top, and reach for the texture-preserving Color method when surface detail matters. Once your lighting is built from separate layers, it is easy to carry into After Effects, or into a keyframe-driven tool like Styleframe, for the motion stage.

To add light in Procreate, create a new layer above your artwork and set its blend mode to match the effect you want. Use Multiply on a dark color to shade the scene, then erase the areas where light should land. Use Add or Screen on a separate layer to paint glowing highlights, then soften both layers with Gaussian Blur or Bloom. For 3D models, Procreate's Lighting Studio lets you place up to four light sources.

Decide Where the Light Comes From First

Every Procreate lighting method fails if you skip this step. Before you touch a blend mode, pick a primary light source, its direction, and its color temperature.

• Direction: Decide which planes face the light and which fall away. Rim light, key light, and bounce all follow from this choice.
• Color temperature: Warm light (sunsets, fire, lamps) pairs naturally with cool shadows. Cool light (moonlight, overcast sky) pairs with warm shadows.
• Background cues: A lit subject needs a lit environment. If the character is hit by orange light from the left, the background should carry a hint of that same orange on that side.

Starting with a darker, lower-key base makes every method below read more clearly. Light is only visible against something darker than itself.

Method 1: Multiply Shadow Layer, Then Erase the Light

This is the most common approach, and it works because you carve light out of darkness instead of painting it on.

1. Finish your base colors and basic shading.
2. Add a new layer at the top of the stack and fill it with a dark, saturated color. Deep brown, navy, or purple all work. Night scenes lean blue; dusk scenes lean warm.
3. Set the layer's blend mode to Multiply. The whole piece darkens.
4. If you only want to affect one subject, use a clipping mask so the shadow layer only applies to the layer below.
5. Pick an eraser, ideally a soft one, and erase the regions where light actually hits: a face catching lamplight, the edge of a shoulder, the ground under a window.
6. Lower the layer opacity if the effect is too heavy. Somewhere in the 80–90% range is a reasonable starting point.

If you erase too much, switch the layer back to Normal, eyedrop your fill color, and paint over the mistake. Then flip it back to Multiply.

Add Color Where the Shadow Was Erased

A bare erase tends to look flat. Make it feel like light by adding color around the cleared area:

1. Lock the multiply layer with Alpha Lock.
2. With a soft airbrush, add a saturated orange around the edge of the erased region.
3. Add a smaller, tighter band of yellow right against the edge, keeping it closer to the shape than the orange.
4. On the opposite side of the subject, add a cool blue or purple to suggest bounce light or ambient fill.
5. Turn Alpha Lock off and apply Gaussian Blur from the Adjustments menu. Scrub the slider back and forth until the transition looks believable. The edge nearest the light can take a little extra blur if it still looks harsh.

This sequence (erase, warm halo, tight highlight, cool opposite, blur) gets you a dramatic result quickly.

Method 2: Glow and Highlight Layers

Multiply handles shadows. For glowing or reflected light, build a second layer that adds brightness.

1. Create a new layer above your artwork. Clip it to the subject if needed.
2. Set the blend mode to Add or Screen.
3. Paint with a warm or colored light on the surfaces facing the source: edges of an arm, the side of a nose, the rim of a cheek.
4. Keep strokes thin along edges for rim light, or broad and soft for ambient glow.

The two modes suit different subjects:

• Screen suits objects that don't reflect light.
• Add suits objects that glow and reflect light.

Try both on the same stroke before committing. Swapping modes takes seconds and often changes the whole mood.

Use Bloom for a Light Bleed

Procreate's Bloom adjustment (Adjustments → Bloom) takes the lightest parts of a layer and spreads a glow around them. It works well on a layer of white or pale highlights:

1. Paint highlights in white or a light tint on their own layer.
2. Open Adjustments → Bloom and apply it to that layer.
3. Tune the amount and size so the glow feels like atmosphere, not a filter.

Apply Bloom to the highlight layer rather than the whole image. That keeps your darks clean and your control over the glow intact.

Method 3: Color Blend Lighting That Preserves Texture

Overpainting with Multiply and Add can flatten textured or scanned traditional work. A different approach keeps your original surface intact by deriving the shadows from the art itself. It mimics a Photoshop adjustment-layer workflow, which Procreate does not offer.

1. Keep a clean copy of your original art on its own layer.
2. Add a layer filled with your shadow color, set to Color blend mode at roughly 50% opacity. Choose a cool shadow tone for warm light and a warm one for cool light.
3. Use Copy All and Paste to flatten the visible result into a new layer, which you can call Shadows. Alternatively, group your layers, duplicate the group, and flatten the duplicate.
4. Open Adjustments → Hue, Saturation, Brightness and pull brightness down until the Shadows layer is clearly darker.
5. Add a layer mask to the Shadows layer and fill it with black, which hides the darkening completely.
6. Paint on the mask with white to reveal shadow only where you want it.

Because the shadows come from your actual pixels, paper grain, pencil texture, and brush detail carry through. This makes it a good choice for scanned or heavily textured work.

Method 4: Lighting Studio for 3D Models

If you are working with an imported 3D model in Procreate's 3D Painting mode, you do not need blend modes at all. Procreate includes a dedicated Lighting Studio.

• Go to Actions → 3D → Edit lighting & environment.
• Your model sits on a grid with two white lights above it by default.
• Tap Add Light or duplicate an existing light, up to four sources total.
• Tap a light cube to adjust Hue, Saturation, and Intensity, or to delete it. Hue needs some saturation to show.
• Open Environment to choose from 11 indoor and outdoor presets, adjust exposure, or remove the background.

One caveat: changes made in Lighting Studio show up in the 3D view of the Reference companion, so check there rather than on the 2D canvas.

Common Mistakes

• Lighting a bright image. Multiply cannot create contrast that is not there. Lower the overall value of the base first.
• Using pure white and pure black. Tinted lights and colored shadows read as richer and more natural.
• Hard edges everywhere. Keep some edges sharp where light hits a firm surface, and blur the rest.
• Ignoring the background. A glowing subject on an unlit backdrop looks pasted in.
• Flattening too early. Keep lighting on separate layers so you can adjust opacity, hue, and blend mode later.

Taking Procreate Lighting Into a Motion Pipeline

If you are a motion designer or animator, Procreate is often where a styleframe or character begins, not where it ends. The layered lighting approach above carries over well because every light is its own layer.

• Export layered files. Keep shadow, highlight, and glow layers separate so they arrive in After Effects as individual elements. You can animate opacity, shift hue, or add a blur to simulate flickering firelight or a moving light source.
• Mirror blend modes. Check which of your Procreate blend modes have equivalents in your compositing software, so your layer logic can translate.
• Treat the Procreate frame as a keyframe. A lit illustration is a strong reference for how a scene should look at a given moment.

That last point is where Styleframe fits. It is an AI video and motion tool built around artistic control: you drive generation with reference images, video clips, and keyframes instead of a single text prompt. A lit Procreate frame can serve as a reference or keyframe, so the lighting you painted guides the motion between frames.

You keep your compositing workflow: bring the output into your comp, add your own light wraps, glows, and color grades, and finish as usual.

Quick Reference

Final Thoughts

Adding light in Procreate comes down to three habits: choose your light source before you paint, put every lighting pass on its own layer, and use color temperature contrast to sell the effect. Start with the Multiply-and-erase method for fast mood, layer Add or Screen highlights on top, and reach for the texture-preserving Color method when surface detail matters. Once your lighting is built from separate layers, it is easy to carry into After Effects, or into a keyframe-driven tool like Styleframe, for the motion stage.