To add lighting in Procreate, work on separate layers above your artwork. Fill a new layer with a dark color, set it to Multiply, and erase where the light should land. Then paint warm or cool light on additional clipped layers set to Add, Screen, or Color Dodge, and soften the edges with Gaussian Blur. For a glow, use Adjustments → Bloom on your brightest areas. If you are painting a 3D model, use Lighting Studio, which gives you up to four adjustable lights and 11 preset environments.

Start With a Light Direction

Every lighting method in Procreate works better once you've decided where the light comes from. Pick the source (sun, lantern, window, screen glow), its color, and the side of the subject it hits. Then:

• Make sure your base art has a reasonably dark or neutral background. A bright background fights any dramatic lighting you add.
• Put a hint of the light color into the background on the side the light comes from. This sells the direction before you touch the subject.
• Keep your base art on its own layer, or group it. All lighting layers should sit above it so you can toggle or adjust them without destructive edits.

If you plan to animate the piece later, name your layers now (Shadow, Key Light, Rim, Glow). It pays off when the file goes into After Effects.

Method 1: The Multiply-and-Erase Technique

This is the fastest way to get dramatic, directional lighting from a finished flat illustration.

1. Create a new layer above your artwork. Clip it to the subject (Layer menu → Clipping Mask) if you only want to darken the subject, or leave it unclipped to darken the whole scene.
2. Fill it with a dark, saturated color. Deep brown works for warm scenes, blue or purple for night. The color doesn't need to be exact because Multiply blends it with whatever is underneath.
3. Set the layer's blend mode to Multiply.
4. Lower the opacity if the effect is too heavy. One tutorial keeps it around 85%, but it depends on your art.
5. Pick the Eraser and remove the Multiply layer only where light should hit: a cheek, the edge of a shoulder, the lit side of an object.
6. If you erase too much, set the layer back to Normal, eyedrop the fill color, and paint back over the mistake. Then return it to Multiply.

Don't worry if the erased shapes look harsh at this stage. You'll soften them in a later step.

Add the Colored Light

Once the shadow shape is set, Alpha Lock the Multiply layer and paint into the erased boundary with a soft airbrush:

• Use a saturated orange along the edge of the erased area. This acts as the transition from shadow to light.
• Add a smaller amount of bright yellow closer to the lit area, keeping it tight to the shape rather than spreading it widely.
• Paint a cool blue or purple on the opposite side of the subject as a bounce or fill color.

Then turn Alpha Lock off and open Adjustments → Gaussian Blur. Apply it to the layer and scrub back and forth to find the right amount. You usually want the edge softer than a hard cutout but still readable, and sometimes more blur on the lit area than on the shadow side.

Method 2: Separate Shadow and Highlight Layers

If you want more control than a single Multiply layer allows, split the lighting into two clipped layers.

Shadow layer

• Create a new layer, clip it to your subject, and set it to Multiply.
• Choose a desaturated purple or a cool tone rather than gray or black, which tends to look dead.
• Paint where light doesn't reach: under the chin, between fingers, inside ears, under hair, folds of clothing.
• Reduce the layer opacity at the end if the shadows feel too hard.

Light layer

• Create another clipped layer above it and set it to Add (or Screen for a gentler result).
• Choose a light warm tone like pale yellow and paint highlights on the surfaces facing the source.
• Vary brush opacity for natural falloff instead of filling shapes flat.

Add generally suits glowing or light-emitting surfaces, while Screen is a safer choice for subtle lift. Color Dodge is more aggressive and can blow out colors quickly, so use it sparingly and lower the opacity. Experiment on duplicate layers so you can compare options.

Method 3: Lighting Without Losing Texture

Overpainting with Multiply and Add can flatten the texture in scanned traditional work or heavily textured brushwork. A different approach adjusts the existing pixels instead of painting new color on top.

1. Keep your original art on its own layer, and optionally duplicate it for any adjustments.
2. Create a new layer filled with your shadow tint and set it to Color at around 50% opacity. Warm light usually pairs with cool shadows, and cool light with warm shadows.
3. Make a flattened copy of your artwork as a new layer, using Copy All and Paste or by grouping, duplicating, and flattening. Name it Shadows.
4. With Shadows selected, open Adjustments → Hue, Saturation, Brightness and pull Brightness down to roughly 40%. Lower values mean deeper shadows.
5. Add a layer mask to Shadows and invert it so it's filled with black, which hides the darkened copy.
6. Paint on the mask with white to reveal shadow exactly where you want it.

Because the shadows are derived from your own pixels, the original grain and brush texture carry through. It's slower to set up but holds up better for textured or traditional work.

Method 4: Glow and Bloom

For light sources like lamps, magic effects, neon, and fire, Bloom does a lot of the work.

• Paint bright shapes where the light source or lit edges are. They need to be lighter than the surrounding area, since Bloom picks up the brightest parts of a layer.
• Open Adjustments → Bloom while the layer with your bright shapes is selected.
• Adjust the settings, such as size and burn, to control how far the glow spreads and how intense it is. Keep it modest, because heavy bloom looks like a filter.
• For rim light, paint a thin white or tinted line on the edges facing the source on a separate layer, then apply Bloom to that layer alone.

You can tint the glow by painting with yellow, orange, or cyan rather than pure white. Light colors give the most natural result.

Method 5: Lighting a 3D Model in Lighting Studio

If you're using Procreate's 3D Painting, lighting works differently. Go to Actions → 3D → Edit lighting & environment.

• Your model appears on a gridded ground plane with two white lights above it.
• Tap Add Light to add more, up to four total. Duplicate also works but has the same cap.
• Tap and hold a light (shown as a cube) and drag to reposition it. The effect on the model updates as you move.
• Tap a light 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.

Lighting Studio changes only appear in the 3D view of the Reference companion, so don't expect them to alter your 2D canvas view.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using pure black for shadows. Tinted shadows read as more natural and integrate with the palette.
• Lighting from several directions at once. Pick a key light, then add a subtle fill or rim.
• Hard edges everywhere. Mix sharp and soft transitions. Contact shadows are tight, while falloff from a large light is gradual.
• Skipping the background. If the environment doesn't reflect the light, the subject looks pasted in.
• Overusing blend modes at full opacity. Reduce opacity first, then increase if needed.

Taking Procreate Lighting Into a Motion Pipeline

For motion designers and VFX artists, Procreate is often a way to build a lit key frame, concept, or texture before animating. A few habits make that handoff easier:

• Export as a layered PSD and check how blend modes carry over in After Effects or Photoshop. Multiply and Screen usually translate predictably, but test the more unusual modes.
• Keep shadow, light, and glow on separate layers so you can animate opacity, position, or blur in your compositing app.
• Paint at the final delivery resolution or higher, since lighting gradients and bloom can show banding when scaled.

Procreate gives you a still. If you need that lit frame to move, Styleframe is an AI video and motion tool you could explore for the job.

You keep your compositing workflow, and the light and shadow decisions you made in Procreate remain yours.

Quick Reference

Pick one method, light a single piece, and compare it against another. Each method suits different art, and the best choice usually depends on how much texture you need to keep and how much control you want over the final edges.

To add lighting in Procreate, work on separate layers above your artwork. Fill a new layer with a dark color, set it to Multiply, and erase where the light should land. Then paint warm or cool light on additional clipped layers set to Add, Screen, or Color Dodge, and soften the edges with Gaussian Blur. For a glow, use Adjustments → Bloom on your brightest areas. If you are painting a 3D model, use Lighting Studio, which gives you up to four adjustable lights and 11 preset environments.

Start With a Light Direction

Every lighting method in Procreate works better once you've decided where the light comes from. Pick the source (sun, lantern, window, screen glow), its color, and the side of the subject it hits. Then:

• Make sure your base art has a reasonably dark or neutral background. A bright background fights any dramatic lighting you add.
• Put a hint of the light color into the background on the side the light comes from. This sells the direction before you touch the subject.
• Keep your base art on its own layer, or group it. All lighting layers should sit above it so you can toggle or adjust them without destructive edits.

If you plan to animate the piece later, name your layers now (Shadow, Key Light, Rim, Glow). It pays off when the file goes into After Effects.

Method 1: The Multiply-and-Erase Technique

This is the fastest way to get dramatic, directional lighting from a finished flat illustration.

1. Create a new layer above your artwork. Clip it to the subject (Layer menu → Clipping Mask) if you only want to darken the subject, or leave it unclipped to darken the whole scene.
2. Fill it with a dark, saturated color. Deep brown works for warm scenes, blue or purple for night. The color doesn't need to be exact because Multiply blends it with whatever is underneath.
3. Set the layer's blend mode to Multiply.
4. Lower the opacity if the effect is too heavy. One tutorial keeps it around 85%, but it depends on your art.
5. Pick the Eraser and remove the Multiply layer only where light should hit: a cheek, the edge of a shoulder, the lit side of an object.
6. If you erase too much, set the layer back to Normal, eyedrop the fill color, and paint back over the mistake. Then return it to Multiply.

Don't worry if the erased shapes look harsh at this stage. You'll soften them in a later step.

Add the Colored Light

Once the shadow shape is set, Alpha Lock the Multiply layer and paint into the erased boundary with a soft airbrush:

• Use a saturated orange along the edge of the erased area. This acts as the transition from shadow to light.
• Add a smaller amount of bright yellow closer to the lit area, keeping it tight to the shape rather than spreading it widely.
• Paint a cool blue or purple on the opposite side of the subject as a bounce or fill color.

Then turn Alpha Lock off and open Adjustments → Gaussian Blur. Apply it to the layer and scrub back and forth to find the right amount. You usually want the edge softer than a hard cutout but still readable, and sometimes more blur on the lit area than on the shadow side.

Method 2: Separate Shadow and Highlight Layers

If you want more control than a single Multiply layer allows, split the lighting into two clipped layers.

Shadow layer

• Create a new layer, clip it to your subject, and set it to Multiply.
• Choose a desaturated purple or a cool tone rather than gray or black, which tends to look dead.
• Paint where light doesn't reach: under the chin, between fingers, inside ears, under hair, folds of clothing.
• Reduce the layer opacity at the end if the shadows feel too hard.

Light layer

• Create another clipped layer above it and set it to Add (or Screen for a gentler result).
• Choose a light warm tone like pale yellow and paint highlights on the surfaces facing the source.
• Vary brush opacity for natural falloff instead of filling shapes flat.

Add generally suits glowing or light-emitting surfaces, while Screen is a safer choice for subtle lift. Color Dodge is more aggressive and can blow out colors quickly, so use it sparingly and lower the opacity. Experiment on duplicate layers so you can compare options.

Method 3: Lighting Without Losing Texture

Overpainting with Multiply and Add can flatten the texture in scanned traditional work or heavily textured brushwork. A different approach adjusts the existing pixels instead of painting new color on top.

1. Keep your original art on its own layer, and optionally duplicate it for any adjustments.
2. Create a new layer filled with your shadow tint and set it to Color at around 50% opacity. Warm light usually pairs with cool shadows, and cool light with warm shadows.
3. Make a flattened copy of your artwork as a new layer, using Copy All and Paste or by grouping, duplicating, and flattening. Name it Shadows.
4. With Shadows selected, open Adjustments → Hue, Saturation, Brightness and pull Brightness down to roughly 40%. Lower values mean deeper shadows.
5. Add a layer mask to Shadows and invert it so it's filled with black, which hides the darkened copy.
6. Paint on the mask with white to reveal shadow exactly where you want it.

Because the shadows are derived from your own pixels, the original grain and brush texture carry through. It's slower to set up but holds up better for textured or traditional work.

Method 4: Glow and Bloom

For light sources like lamps, magic effects, neon, and fire, Bloom does a lot of the work.

• Paint bright shapes where the light source or lit edges are. They need to be lighter than the surrounding area, since Bloom picks up the brightest parts of a layer.
• Open Adjustments → Bloom while the layer with your bright shapes is selected.
• Adjust the settings, such as size and burn, to control how far the glow spreads and how intense it is. Keep it modest, because heavy bloom looks like a filter.
• For rim light, paint a thin white or tinted line on the edges facing the source on a separate layer, then apply Bloom to that layer alone.

You can tint the glow by painting with yellow, orange, or cyan rather than pure white. Light colors give the most natural result.

Method 5: Lighting a 3D Model in Lighting Studio

If you're using Procreate's 3D Painting, lighting works differently. Go to Actions → 3D → Edit lighting & environment.

• Your model appears on a gridded ground plane with two white lights above it.
• Tap Add Light to add more, up to four total. Duplicate also works but has the same cap.
• Tap and hold a light (shown as a cube) and drag to reposition it. The effect on the model updates as you move.
• Tap a light 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.

Lighting Studio changes only appear in the 3D view of the Reference companion, so don't expect them to alter your 2D canvas view.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Using pure black for shadows. Tinted shadows read as more natural and integrate with the palette.
• Lighting from several directions at once. Pick a key light, then add a subtle fill or rim.
• Hard edges everywhere. Mix sharp and soft transitions. Contact shadows are tight, while falloff from a large light is gradual.
• Skipping the background. If the environment doesn't reflect the light, the subject looks pasted in.
• Overusing blend modes at full opacity. Reduce opacity first, then increase if needed.

Taking Procreate Lighting Into a Motion Pipeline

For motion designers and VFX artists, Procreate is often a way to build a lit key frame, concept, or texture before animating. A few habits make that handoff easier:

• Export as a layered PSD and check how blend modes carry over in After Effects or Photoshop. Multiply and Screen usually translate predictably, but test the more unusual modes.
• Keep shadow, light, and glow on separate layers so you can animate opacity, position, or blur in your compositing app.
• Paint at the final delivery resolution or higher, since lighting gradients and bloom can show banding when scaled.

Procreate gives you a still. If you need that lit frame to move, Styleframe is an AI video and motion tool you could explore for the job.

You keep your compositing workflow, and the light and shadow decisions you made in Procreate remain yours.

Quick Reference

Pick one method, light a single piece, and compare it against another. Each method suits different art, and the best choice usually depends on how much texture you need to keep and how much control you want over the final edges.