To add a mirror in Procreate, open Actions (the wrench) → Canvas, turn on Drawing Guide, tap Edit Drawing Guide, and choose Symmetry. Anything you draw on one side of the guide line is reproduced on the other side in real time. For an existing element, select the layer, duplicate it, and use the Transform tool's Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical to create a mirrored copy.

Two ways to mirror in Procreate

Procreate has two separate mirroring approaches, and they solve different problems:

• Flip a duplicated layer. Best for finished or imported artwork you want to reflect: logos, props, a character half, a texture tile.
• Symmetry drawing guide. Best for work in progress, where you want every stroke mirrored live as you paint: faces, masks, mandalas, symmetrical hard-surface designs, ornamental patterns.

Choose based on whether the artwork already exists. Flipping is a one-time operation on pixels. Symmetry is a live drawing behavior that affects every stroke until you turn it off.

Method 1: Mirror existing artwork by duplicating and flipping

This is the fastest route when you already have the shape and just need its reflection.

1. Get your artwork onto a layer. Draw it, or import it using Insert a File in the Actions menu.
2. Position the original. Use the Transform tool (the arrow icon) with Uniform selected to scale or move it. Leave room on the side where the mirrored copy will land.
3. Duplicate the layer. Swipe left on the layer in the Layers panel and tap Duplicate.
4. Flip the copy. With the duplicate selected and Transform active, tap Flip Horizontal for a left/right reflection or Flip Vertical for a top/bottom one.
5. Place the copy. Turn on Snapping so guidelines help you align the flipped layer against the original.
6. Tidy up. Deselect by tapping the Transform icon again. Merge the two layers only if you are sure you won't need them separately.

Why keep the layers separate?

If you plan to animate in After Effects, hold off on merging. A mirrored pair of layers (say, left and right wings, or two eyes) can be exported individually and given independent anchor points, parenting, and puppet pins. A merged layer forces you back into Procreate to separate them, or into masking work in your compositor.

Flipping the whole canvas

Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical in Actions → Canvas flips the entire view of your canvas. It's a quick way to spot proportion errors in a character or composition, since a mirrored view reveals what your eye has stopped noticing. Treat it as a review tool rather than a way to build symmetrical art.

Method 2: Draw with the Symmetry guide

The Symmetry guide mirrors your strokes live. Setup takes a few taps:

1. Tap Actions (wrench) → Canvas.
2. Switch on Drawing Guide.
3. Tap Edit Drawing Guide.
4. Tap Symmetry at the bottom of the screen.
5. Adjust the guide, then tap Done.

When Symmetry first opens, it defaults to a vertical guide through the middle of the canvas. You'll see thin lines overlaying your artwork. Draw on one side, and the other side fills in simultaneously.

Move and rotate the guide with the nodes

Two nodes control the guide's geometry:

• Blue node (position): moves the entire guide across the canvas.
• Green node (rotation): rotates the guide lines.

This is useful when your subject is off-center or angled. A character in three-quarter view, for instance, can have its guide moved and rotated so the mirror line follows the pose. To return to the default arrangement, tap either node and choose Reset.

Choose the right symmetry mode

Procreate offers four symmetry layouts:

Vertical and horizontal guides can be moved and rotated so the mirrored result sits at an angle.

Mirrored vs. Rotational symmetry

By default, new guides use mirror symmetry, which reflects and flips strokes across the line. Switch on the Rotational Symmetry toggle and the reproduction is reflected and rotated, effectively flipped both horizontally and vertically at once. The result is a pinwheel-like repetition instead of a mirror image. If a radial pattern looks wrong, toggle this setting before assuming something is broken. Compare both quickly with a few test strokes.

Make the guide easier to work with

Under the Drawing Guides screen you can adjust:

• Color: use the hue bar at the top to pick a guide color that contrasts with your artwork.
• Opacity: fade the guide lines until they are barely visible, or make them fully opaque.
• Thickness: make the lines thinner or more noticeable.
• Drawing Assist: automatically adjusts your strokes to the direction of the guide lines. It is switched on by default in Symmetry mode.

Tap Cancel to leave without applying changes or Done to commit them.

If symmetry isn't working

A couple of things to check when strokes don't mirror:

• Confirm Drawing Guide is toggled on in Actions → Canvas.
• Make sure Drawing Assist is switched on.
• Check that you haven't switched to Rotational Symmetry unintentionally.

Know the limits of live symmetry

Live symmetry is excellent for form, but perfect mirroring rarely looks natural. A perfectly mirrored face reads as artificial. Some habits help:

• Draw the base mirrored, then break it. Block in shapes with Symmetry on, then turn the guide off and add asymmetric details such as scars, hair parting, uneven lighting, and wear.
• Keep the mirrored base on its own layer. That way you can offset, warp, or retouch one side without damaging the other.
• Use the canvas flip for review. Flip the whole canvas periodically to check balance after you've broken the symmetry.

Using mirrored Procreate art in a motion pipeline

Procreate often supplies the starting point for motion work: character sheets, storyboards, textures, and style frames. A few practical considerations when mirrored artwork moves into After Effects, Blender, Cinema 4D, or Nuke:

• Export with intent. Export a layered PSD when you need separate pieces for rigging or parallax. Export PNG when you need flattened art with transparency.
• Use mirrored halves for 3D and texturing. If you're building a texture in Blender or Cinema 4D for a symmetrical model, a mirrored layout can reduce the work. Just remember that mirrored seams can create visibly repeated detail, so add asymmetric variation on a separate layer.
• Match resolution to the final frame. Set your Procreate canvas size with the final output in mind. Mirrored work gets scaled and animated, and upsizing later softens detail.

Quick reference

• Mirror an existing element: duplicate the layer → Transform → Flip Horizontal or Vertical → Snapping to align.
• Mirror live while drawing: Actions → Canvas → Drawing Guide on → Edit Drawing Guide → Symmetry → Done.
• Change the mirror line: drag the blue node to move it and the green node to rotate it.
• Pick a layout: Vertical, Horizontal, Quadrant, or Radial.
• Change the effect: toggle Rotational Symmetry for flipped-and-rotated repetition.
• Reset the guide: tap a node, then tap Reset.

Both methods take only a few taps. The real skill is deciding when to rely on perfect symmetry and when to break it, and keeping your layers organized so that decision stays reversible all the way into your motion pipeline.

To add a mirror in Procreate, open Actions (the wrench) → Canvas, turn on Drawing Guide, tap Edit Drawing Guide, and choose Symmetry. Anything you draw on one side of the guide line is reproduced on the other side in real time. For an existing element, select the layer, duplicate it, and use the Transform tool's Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical to create a mirrored copy.

Two ways to mirror in Procreate

Procreate has two separate mirroring approaches, and they solve different problems:

• Flip a duplicated layer. Best for finished or imported artwork you want to reflect: logos, props, a character half, a texture tile.
• Symmetry drawing guide. Best for work in progress, where you want every stroke mirrored live as you paint: faces, masks, mandalas, symmetrical hard-surface designs, ornamental patterns.

Choose based on whether the artwork already exists. Flipping is a one-time operation on pixels. Symmetry is a live drawing behavior that affects every stroke until you turn it off.

Method 1: Mirror existing artwork by duplicating and flipping

This is the fastest route when you already have the shape and just need its reflection.

1. Get your artwork onto a layer. Draw it, or import it using Insert a File in the Actions menu.
2. Position the original. Use the Transform tool (the arrow icon) with Uniform selected to scale or move it. Leave room on the side where the mirrored copy will land.
3. Duplicate the layer. Swipe left on the layer in the Layers panel and tap Duplicate.
4. Flip the copy. With the duplicate selected and Transform active, tap Flip Horizontal for a left/right reflection or Flip Vertical for a top/bottom one.
5. Place the copy. Turn on Snapping so guidelines help you align the flipped layer against the original.
6. Tidy up. Deselect by tapping the Transform icon again. Merge the two layers only if you are sure you won't need them separately.

Why keep the layers separate?

If you plan to animate in After Effects, hold off on merging. A mirrored pair of layers (say, left and right wings, or two eyes) can be exported individually and given independent anchor points, parenting, and puppet pins. A merged layer forces you back into Procreate to separate them, or into masking work in your compositor.

Flipping the whole canvas

Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical in Actions → Canvas flips the entire view of your canvas. It's a quick way to spot proportion errors in a character or composition, since a mirrored view reveals what your eye has stopped noticing. Treat it as a review tool rather than a way to build symmetrical art.

Method 2: Draw with the Symmetry guide

The Symmetry guide mirrors your strokes live. Setup takes a few taps:

1. Tap Actions (wrench) → Canvas.
2. Switch on Drawing Guide.
3. Tap Edit Drawing Guide.
4. Tap Symmetry at the bottom of the screen.
5. Adjust the guide, then tap Done.

When Symmetry first opens, it defaults to a vertical guide through the middle of the canvas. You'll see thin lines overlaying your artwork. Draw on one side, and the other side fills in simultaneously.

Move and rotate the guide with the nodes

Two nodes control the guide's geometry:

• Blue node (position): moves the entire guide across the canvas.
• Green node (rotation): rotates the guide lines.

This is useful when your subject is off-center or angled. A character in three-quarter view, for instance, can have its guide moved and rotated so the mirror line follows the pose. To return to the default arrangement, tap either node and choose Reset.

Choose the right symmetry mode

Procreate offers four symmetry layouts:

Vertical and horizontal guides can be moved and rotated so the mirrored result sits at an angle.

Mirrored vs. Rotational symmetry

By default, new guides use mirror symmetry, which reflects and flips strokes across the line. Switch on the Rotational Symmetry toggle and the reproduction is reflected and rotated, effectively flipped both horizontally and vertically at once. The result is a pinwheel-like repetition instead of a mirror image. If a radial pattern looks wrong, toggle this setting before assuming something is broken. Compare both quickly with a few test strokes.

Make the guide easier to work with

Under the Drawing Guides screen you can adjust:

• Color: use the hue bar at the top to pick a guide color that contrasts with your artwork.
• Opacity: fade the guide lines until they are barely visible, or make them fully opaque.
• Thickness: make the lines thinner or more noticeable.
• Drawing Assist: automatically adjusts your strokes to the direction of the guide lines. It is switched on by default in Symmetry mode.

Tap Cancel to leave without applying changes or Done to commit them.

If symmetry isn't working

A couple of things to check when strokes don't mirror:

• Confirm Drawing Guide is toggled on in Actions → Canvas.
• Make sure Drawing Assist is switched on.
• Check that you haven't switched to Rotational Symmetry unintentionally.

Know the limits of live symmetry

Live symmetry is excellent for form, but perfect mirroring rarely looks natural. A perfectly mirrored face reads as artificial. Some habits help:

• Draw the base mirrored, then break it. Block in shapes with Symmetry on, then turn the guide off and add asymmetric details such as scars, hair parting, uneven lighting, and wear.
• Keep the mirrored base on its own layer. That way you can offset, warp, or retouch one side without damaging the other.
• Use the canvas flip for review. Flip the whole canvas periodically to check balance after you've broken the symmetry.

Using mirrored Procreate art in a motion pipeline

Procreate often supplies the starting point for motion work: character sheets, storyboards, textures, and style frames. A few practical considerations when mirrored artwork moves into After Effects, Blender, Cinema 4D, or Nuke:

• Export with intent. Export a layered PSD when you need separate pieces for rigging or parallax. Export PNG when you need flattened art with transparency.
• Use mirrored halves for 3D and texturing. If you're building a texture in Blender or Cinema 4D for a symmetrical model, a mirrored layout can reduce the work. Just remember that mirrored seams can create visibly repeated detail, so add asymmetric variation on a separate layer.
• Match resolution to the final frame. Set your Procreate canvas size with the final output in mind. Mirrored work gets scaled and animated, and upsizing later softens detail.

Quick reference

• Mirror an existing element: duplicate the layer → Transform → Flip Horizontal or Vertical → Snapping to align.
• Mirror live while drawing: Actions → Canvas → Drawing Guide on → Edit Drawing Guide → Symmetry → Done.
• Change the mirror line: drag the blue node to move it and the green node to rotate it.
• Pick a layout: Vertical, Horizontal, Quadrant, or Radial.
• Change the effect: toggle Rotational Symmetry for flipped-and-rotated repetition.
• Reset the guide: tap a node, then tap Reset.

Both methods take only a few taps. The real skill is deciding when to rely on perfect symmetry and when to break it, and keeping your layers organized so that decision stays reversible all the way into your motion pipeline.