To color fill a shape in Procreate, pick your color, drag it from the Colors icon at the top right into a closed shape, and lift your Apple Pencil or finger to drop the fill. While you're still holding, slide left or right to change the ColorDrop Threshold, which controls how far the color floods toward the edges. If the shape isn't closed, or the fill spills onto the wrong layer, the fix is usually closing the gap, lowering the threshold, or setting a reference layer.

Method 1: ColorDrop (the fastest way to fill a shape)

ColorDrop is Procreate's built-in paint bucket, and it handles most fills.

1. Draw a closed shape on its own layer.
2. Choose your color in the Colors panel.
3. Drag the Colors circle (top right) into the shape. Keep holding after the color floods in.
4. Slide left or right to adjust the Threshold, shown as a percentage along the top of the canvas.
5. Lift to commit.

You can also drag a swatch directly from a palette, which is useful when the fill color differs from the color you're currently drawing with. Procreate remembers your last threshold setting, so a value you dialed in for one fill carries over to the next.

Understanding the threshold

The threshold decides how much the fill "bleeds" toward the edges of the line. Low values stop short of the line. High values push the color further under or past it. Textured or semi-transparent strokes are where you'll need to tune it.

A practical workflow: hold, nudge the slider upward in small increments until the gaps along the edge disappear, then release. Going too far on a shape with a leaky line is how you end up flooding the whole canvas.

Method 2: Continue Filling for multiple regions

After a ColorDrop, tap Continue Filling to keep filling other areas with single taps. You can also tap and hold, then drag, to adjust the threshold on the fly. This is the efficient route for flat-coloring a full character or a set of shapes in the same color.

To exit, tap the checkmark at the top or switch to another tool such as the Paint brush.

If your iPad and Apple Pencil support hover, you can hover over the current color at the top right and double-tap the side of the Pencil to jump straight into Continue Filling with that color.

Method 3: Color Fill with Selections

If you'd rather define the shape first and fill it second, use Selections with Color Fill enabled.

1. Tap Selections in the top toolbar.
2. Choose a selection mode from the bottom tabs: Automatic, Freehand, Rectangle, or Ellipse.
3. Tap Color Fill so it's highlighted blue.
4. Pick your color.
5. Make the selection. The color fills the moment you complete it.

This approach is cleaner for geometric shapes because you're not depending on a closed line to contain the fill. Rectangle and Ellipse selections are the quickest way to create a perfect basic shape in a flat color. Combined with Feather, you can also soften the edges to frame your artwork.

Two caveats:

• Color Fill works on a single layer, not a group.
• The Color Fill setting persists after you leave Selections. If your next selection fills unexpectedly, turn it off.

Method 4: Recolor via QuickMenu

Recolor is an older fill tool that Procreate brought back. It's hidden by default and accessed through QuickMenu.

To enable QuickMenu, go to Actions → Prefs → Gesture Controls → QuickMenu and choose how to invoke it. Then assign Recolor to one of the radial options.

To use it: enter Recolor from QuickMenu, pick a color, tap the area to fill, and use the Flood slider to control how aggressive the fill is. It behaves much like ColorDrop with a tap-based interaction, so choose whichever feels more natural.

Method 5: Fill Layer

When you want a whole layer filled with one color rather than a shape within it:

1. Select a color.
2. Open Layers and tap twice on the target layer to bring up Layer Options.
3. Choose Fill Layer.

On its own, this floods the entire layer. It becomes a shape-filling technique when you pair it with Alpha Lock (below) or a selection that limits where the color lands.

Filling shapes with gradients and patterns

Solid fills cover most cases, but you can go further without leaving Procreate.

Alpha Lock

Alpha Lock restricts painting to pixels that already exist on a layer. Turn it on for a layer holding your shape, and anything you paint, fill, or gradient only affects the shape itself. It's the standard way to recolor or add a gradient to a shape without touching the transparent area around it.

Lighten blend mode

Fill a shape with black, then add a gradient layer directly above it and set that layer's blend mode to Lighten. The gradient shows through wherever the layer below is dark, so the black shape reveals the gradient while lighter areas remain unaffected. It's a flexible technique when you want to swap gradients without redrawing the shape.

Clipping mask for patterns

Place a pattern or texture layer above your base shape and enable Clipping Mask on it. The pattern is visible only inside the shape beneath it. You can import a pattern, paint one, or use any layer as the fill source, and you can move or swap it without affecting the shape underneath.

Troubleshooting common fill problems

The fill covers the whole canvas

There are three likely causes:

• The shape isn't closed. Even a tiny gap lets color escape. Zoom in, find the gap, and close it with a brush, or undo and redraw. A two-finger tap undoes the fill.
• You're filling an empty layer. If the shape is on a different layer from the one you're dropping color onto, the fill has nothing to stop it. Either fill on the same layer as the linework, or set the line layer as a Reference layer so ColorDrop recognizes its edges while filling on a separate layer underneath.
• The threshold is too high. Lower it by holding after the drop and sliding left.

White gaps or halos along the edge

This happens with textured or semi-transparent brushes, because the line has holes that the fill can't register as solid. Raise the threshold slowly while holding. With heavily textured strokes, some mismatch between the flat fill and the grainy line is unavoidable. For a clean result, either redraw the outline with a solid brush like a monoline, or build the fill on a separate layer under the lines.

Color Fill doesn't work in Selections

Check that you're on a single layer rather than a group, and that Color Fill is toggled on.

Alpha Lock changes only the outline

If your shape is just an outline, Alpha Lock only protects those outline pixels. Fill the interior first, then lock the layer.

Keeping fills clean for animation

If your Procreate shapes are headed into a motion pipeline, a few habits save time later:

• Fill on separate layers. Keep linework, flat color, and shading apart so you can recolor or animate elements individually.
• Name your layers before export. It saves a lot of guessing once the file is in After Effects.
• Use solid brushes for outlines when you need crisp edges. Textured edges can fringe when composited over new backgrounds.
• Work at a high canvas resolution so you have room to scale in compositing without softness.
• Export layered files or PNGs with transparency for individual elements.

From there, flat-colored shapes are easy to rig, puppet, or cut up in After Effects, Blender, or Cinema 4D.

Quick reference

Most fill problems come down to one of three things: an open shape, the wrong layer, or the wrong threshold. Check those first, and ColorDrop will do what you expect.

To color fill a shape in Procreate, pick your color, drag it from the Colors icon at the top right into a closed shape, and lift your Apple Pencil or finger to drop the fill. While you're still holding, slide left or right to change the ColorDrop Threshold, which controls how far the color floods toward the edges. If the shape isn't closed, or the fill spills onto the wrong layer, the fix is usually closing the gap, lowering the threshold, or setting a reference layer.

Method 1: ColorDrop (the fastest way to fill a shape)

ColorDrop is Procreate's built-in paint bucket, and it handles most fills.

1. Draw a closed shape on its own layer.
2. Choose your color in the Colors panel.
3. Drag the Colors circle (top right) into the shape. Keep holding after the color floods in.
4. Slide left or right to adjust the Threshold, shown as a percentage along the top of the canvas.
5. Lift to commit.

You can also drag a swatch directly from a palette, which is useful when the fill color differs from the color you're currently drawing with. Procreate remembers your last threshold setting, so a value you dialed in for one fill carries over to the next.

Understanding the threshold

The threshold decides how much the fill "bleeds" toward the edges of the line. Low values stop short of the line. High values push the color further under or past it. Textured or semi-transparent strokes are where you'll need to tune it.

A practical workflow: hold, nudge the slider upward in small increments until the gaps along the edge disappear, then release. Going too far on a shape with a leaky line is how you end up flooding the whole canvas.

Method 2: Continue Filling for multiple regions

After a ColorDrop, tap Continue Filling to keep filling other areas with single taps. You can also tap and hold, then drag, to adjust the threshold on the fly. This is the efficient route for flat-coloring a full character or a set of shapes in the same color.

To exit, tap the checkmark at the top or switch to another tool such as the Paint brush.

If your iPad and Apple Pencil support hover, you can hover over the current color at the top right and double-tap the side of the Pencil to jump straight into Continue Filling with that color.

Method 3: Color Fill with Selections

If you'd rather define the shape first and fill it second, use Selections with Color Fill enabled.

1. Tap Selections in the top toolbar.
2. Choose a selection mode from the bottom tabs: Automatic, Freehand, Rectangle, or Ellipse.
3. Tap Color Fill so it's highlighted blue.
4. Pick your color.
5. Make the selection. The color fills the moment you complete it.

This approach is cleaner for geometric shapes because you're not depending on a closed line to contain the fill. Rectangle and Ellipse selections are the quickest way to create a perfect basic shape in a flat color. Combined with Feather, you can also soften the edges to frame your artwork.

Two caveats:

• Color Fill works on a single layer, not a group.
• The Color Fill setting persists after you leave Selections. If your next selection fills unexpectedly, turn it off.

Method 4: Recolor via QuickMenu

Recolor is an older fill tool that Procreate brought back. It's hidden by default and accessed through QuickMenu.

To enable QuickMenu, go to Actions → Prefs → Gesture Controls → QuickMenu and choose how to invoke it. Then assign Recolor to one of the radial options.

To use it: enter Recolor from QuickMenu, pick a color, tap the area to fill, and use the Flood slider to control how aggressive the fill is. It behaves much like ColorDrop with a tap-based interaction, so choose whichever feels more natural.

Method 5: Fill Layer

When you want a whole layer filled with one color rather than a shape within it:

1. Select a color.
2. Open Layers and tap twice on the target layer to bring up Layer Options.
3. Choose Fill Layer.

On its own, this floods the entire layer. It becomes a shape-filling technique when you pair it with Alpha Lock (below) or a selection that limits where the color lands.

Filling shapes with gradients and patterns

Solid fills cover most cases, but you can go further without leaving Procreate.

Alpha Lock

Alpha Lock restricts painting to pixels that already exist on a layer. Turn it on for a layer holding your shape, and anything you paint, fill, or gradient only affects the shape itself. It's the standard way to recolor or add a gradient to a shape without touching the transparent area around it.

Lighten blend mode

Fill a shape with black, then add a gradient layer directly above it and set that layer's blend mode to Lighten. The gradient shows through wherever the layer below is dark, so the black shape reveals the gradient while lighter areas remain unaffected. It's a flexible technique when you want to swap gradients without redrawing the shape.

Clipping mask for patterns

Place a pattern or texture layer above your base shape and enable Clipping Mask on it. The pattern is visible only inside the shape beneath it. You can import a pattern, paint one, or use any layer as the fill source, and you can move or swap it without affecting the shape underneath.

Troubleshooting common fill problems

The fill covers the whole canvas

There are three likely causes:

• The shape isn't closed. Even a tiny gap lets color escape. Zoom in, find the gap, and close it with a brush, or undo and redraw. A two-finger tap undoes the fill.
• You're filling an empty layer. If the shape is on a different layer from the one you're dropping color onto, the fill has nothing to stop it. Either fill on the same layer as the linework, or set the line layer as a Reference layer so ColorDrop recognizes its edges while filling on a separate layer underneath.
• The threshold is too high. Lower it by holding after the drop and sliding left.

White gaps or halos along the edge

This happens with textured or semi-transparent brushes, because the line has holes that the fill can't register as solid. Raise the threshold slowly while holding. With heavily textured strokes, some mismatch between the flat fill and the grainy line is unavoidable. For a clean result, either redraw the outline with a solid brush like a monoline, or build the fill on a separate layer under the lines.

Color Fill doesn't work in Selections

Check that you're on a single layer rather than a group, and that Color Fill is toggled on.

Alpha Lock changes only the outline

If your shape is just an outline, Alpha Lock only protects those outline pixels. Fill the interior first, then lock the layer.

Keeping fills clean for animation

If your Procreate shapes are headed into a motion pipeline, a few habits save time later:

• Fill on separate layers. Keep linework, flat color, and shading apart so you can recolor or animate elements individually.
• Name your layers before export. It saves a lot of guessing once the file is in After Effects.
• Use solid brushes for outlines when you need crisp edges. Textured edges can fringe when composited over new backgrounds.
• Work at a high canvas resolution so you have room to scale in compositing without softness.
• Export layered files or PNGs with transparency for individual elements.

From there, flat-colored shapes are easy to rig, puppet, or cut up in After Effects, Blender, or Cinema 4D.

Quick reference

Most fill problems come down to one of three things: an open shape, the wrong layer, or the wrong threshold. Check those first, and ColorDrop will do what you expect.