To color under a layer in Procreate, select the layer beneath your line art and tap + so the new layer sits under the lines, then paint there. If your art is a scan or has a white background, set the top layer to Multiply so the white drops out and the color shows through. For fast, clean fills, mark the line art as a Reference layer, drop color with ColorDrop on the layers underneath, and use Alpha Lock or Clipping Mask to keep later painting inside those shapes.

Why the layer order matters

Procreate composites from the bottom of the layer stack to the top. Anything on a higher layer covers what is below it. Color painted on the same layer as your lines overwrites them. Color painted on a layer above the lines hides them unless a blend mode intervenes.

The goal is to keep line art isolated on its own layer at the top and put every color decision on separate layers below it. That makes recoloring, adjusting, and exporting much safer, and it maps cleanly to how you would rebuild the piece in a compositing app.

Method 1: Add a new layer beneath the line art

This is the simplest approach and works well when your lines are already on a transparent layer.

1. Open the Layers panel (the double-square icon).
2. Tap the layer below your line art to select it. If the line art is the bottom layer, add the new layer first and then drag it down.
3. Tap +. Procreate inserts the new layer directly above the selected one, which puts it under the lines.
4. Paint on the new layer. The lines stay visible on top.

If the new layer ends up in the wrong spot, press and hold it, then drag it up or down the stack. Rename layers as you go (tap the layer, then Rename). A stack full of "Layer 14" gets painful quickly.

Before you start, consider locking the line art layer. Swipe left on it and tap Lock. This prevents accidental strokes on the lines while you work underneath.

Method 2: Use Multiply when the lines sit on white

Scanned inks, photographed sketches, and flattened drawings usually include a white paper background. That white blocks anything beneath it. You have two options.

Set the line layer to Multiply

Tap the N on the line art layer to open Blend Modes, then choose Multiply. White becomes effectively transparent, and darker pixels stay. Now you can paint on any layer underneath and the color shows through the white areas while the ink stays on top.

Multiply is non-destructive, so you can switch it off at any time. The trade-off is that the white is not truly removed. If you need true transparency, use the next option.

Remove the white entirely

If you need true transparency:

1. Select the line layer, then open the Selection tool and choose Automatic.
2. Tap the white background and adjust the threshold by sliding left or right until the selection covers the paper without eating into the lines.
3. Tap inside enclosed areas that did not get selected to add them.
4. Delete the selection, or invert it and cut and paste the lines onto a new layer.

For photographed pencil sketches, clean up before selecting. Desaturate the layer with Adjustments > Hue, Saturation, Brightness, then open Curves and pull the highlight point until the paper goes pure white. Cleaner whites make for a cleaner selection and fewer stray gray pixels around the edges.

Method 3: Reference layer plus ColorDrop for flat color

When you want fast base colors, ColorDrop reads the shapes in a reference layer and fills the matching area on whichever layer you are working on.

1. Make sure your line art forms closed shapes. Gaps let the fill leak across the whole drawing.
2. Tap the line art layer's thumbnail and choose Reference.
3. Select a new, empty layer beneath the line art.
4. Drag a color from the color dot in the top right and release it inside a shape. The fill lands on your active layer, shaped by the reference lines.
5. Keep your finger or stylus down briefly after the fill appears to reveal the Threshold slider, then slide left or right to adjust how far the fill reaches.

Use a separate layer for each major color area (skin, hair, clothing, background) rather than filling everything on one layer. That costs you nothing now and saves a lot of time when the client asks for a different jacket color.

If fills leave small gaps next to the lines, adjust the threshold or add a slight overlap, since the line layer above will hide it anyway. That overlap is one of the real benefits of coloring under the lines.

Method 4: Keep detail inside the color with Alpha Lock and Clipping Masks

Once a base color exists on its own layer, you need to add shadows, highlights, and texture without spilling outside the shape. Procreate gives you two ways.

Alpha Lock

Select the layer and tap Alpha Lock in its menu. The transparent pixels are protected, so you can only paint where pixels already exist. This is quick for shifting hues or painting gradients on a flat color layer. The downside is that it is destructive, since you are changing the base layer's pixels directly.

Clipping Mask

Create a new layer above the base color, tap its thumbnail, and choose Clipping Mask. The layer now only shows where the layer beneath it has pixels. You can stack several clipped layers for shadow, light, and texture.

Clipping masks are the better habit for production work. The base shape stays untouched, and you can hide, adjust, or delete any rendering layer independently.

Isolating a single object

If your drawing contains many objects and you want to color just one, long-press its layer's visibility checkbox to hide everything else. Use Selection > Automatic on the closed outline, invert if needed, and fill a new layer beneath the line art. Then apply Alpha Lock or clipping masks to that layer. Group everything belonging to the object and name the group so it is easy to find.

A common mistake is to tap a layer's Select option and expect it to outline an object. That only selects the layer's active pixels, so if the layer contains thin line art, you get thin lines rather than a filled region.

Common problems and quick fixes

• Color covers the lines: the paint layer is above the line art. Drag it beneath, or set the top color layer to Multiply.
• White boxes around colors: the line layer contains a white background. Use Multiply or delete the white.
• Fill leaks everywhere: the line art has gaps. Close them on the line layer, or use Selection with Freehand to isolate the area manually.
• Halo or thin gap between fill and line: adjust the ColorDrop threshold, or paint slightly past the line edge on the layer beneath.
• Can't find the layer you want: group related layers and name them.

Exporting for a motion pipeline

If the artwork is heading into motion work, the layer structure you built is the main asset. Keeping lines on top, color layers below, and backgrounds separate makes it easier to tweak color later in a compositing app without redrawing.

A repeatable layer setup

If you want a template you can reuse on every illustration, this stack works well from top to bottom:

1. Line art (locked, Multiply if it is a scan)
2. Clipped shadow and highlight layers for each object
3. Base color layers (one per object or material, filled with ColorDrop)
4. Background layers
5. Paper or canvas color (hidden on export)

Name and group as you build it. With that structure, coloring under a layer in Procreate stops being a trick and becomes a clean, editable base you can hand to any downstream tool.

To color under a layer in Procreate, select the layer beneath your line art and tap + so the new layer sits under the lines, then paint there. If your art is a scan or has a white background, set the top layer to Multiply so the white drops out and the color shows through. For fast, clean fills, mark the line art as a Reference layer, drop color with ColorDrop on the layers underneath, and use Alpha Lock or Clipping Mask to keep later painting inside those shapes.

Why the layer order matters

Procreate composites from the bottom of the layer stack to the top. Anything on a higher layer covers what is below it. Color painted on the same layer as your lines overwrites them. Color painted on a layer above the lines hides them unless a blend mode intervenes.

The goal is to keep line art isolated on its own layer at the top and put every color decision on separate layers below it. That makes recoloring, adjusting, and exporting much safer, and it maps cleanly to how you would rebuild the piece in a compositing app.

Method 1: Add a new layer beneath the line art

This is the simplest approach and works well when your lines are already on a transparent layer.

1. Open the Layers panel (the double-square icon).
2. Tap the layer below your line art to select it. If the line art is the bottom layer, add the new layer first and then drag it down.
3. Tap +. Procreate inserts the new layer directly above the selected one, which puts it under the lines.
4. Paint on the new layer. The lines stay visible on top.

If the new layer ends up in the wrong spot, press and hold it, then drag it up or down the stack. Rename layers as you go (tap the layer, then Rename). A stack full of "Layer 14" gets painful quickly.

Before you start, consider locking the line art layer. Swipe left on it and tap Lock. This prevents accidental strokes on the lines while you work underneath.

Method 2: Use Multiply when the lines sit on white

Scanned inks, photographed sketches, and flattened drawings usually include a white paper background. That white blocks anything beneath it. You have two options.

Set the line layer to Multiply

Tap the N on the line art layer to open Blend Modes, then choose Multiply. White becomes effectively transparent, and darker pixels stay. Now you can paint on any layer underneath and the color shows through the white areas while the ink stays on top.

Multiply is non-destructive, so you can switch it off at any time. The trade-off is that the white is not truly removed. If you need true transparency, use the next option.

Remove the white entirely

If you need true transparency:

1. Select the line layer, then open the Selection tool and choose Automatic.
2. Tap the white background and adjust the threshold by sliding left or right until the selection covers the paper without eating into the lines.
3. Tap inside enclosed areas that did not get selected to add them.
4. Delete the selection, or invert it and cut and paste the lines onto a new layer.

For photographed pencil sketches, clean up before selecting. Desaturate the layer with Adjustments > Hue, Saturation, Brightness, then open Curves and pull the highlight point until the paper goes pure white. Cleaner whites make for a cleaner selection and fewer stray gray pixels around the edges.

Method 3: Reference layer plus ColorDrop for flat color

When you want fast base colors, ColorDrop reads the shapes in a reference layer and fills the matching area on whichever layer you are working on.

1. Make sure your line art forms closed shapes. Gaps let the fill leak across the whole drawing.
2. Tap the line art layer's thumbnail and choose Reference.
3. Select a new, empty layer beneath the line art.
4. Drag a color from the color dot in the top right and release it inside a shape. The fill lands on your active layer, shaped by the reference lines.
5. Keep your finger or stylus down briefly after the fill appears to reveal the Threshold slider, then slide left or right to adjust how far the fill reaches.

Use a separate layer for each major color area (skin, hair, clothing, background) rather than filling everything on one layer. That costs you nothing now and saves a lot of time when the client asks for a different jacket color.

If fills leave small gaps next to the lines, adjust the threshold or add a slight overlap, since the line layer above will hide it anyway. That overlap is one of the real benefits of coloring under the lines.

Method 4: Keep detail inside the color with Alpha Lock and Clipping Masks

Once a base color exists on its own layer, you need to add shadows, highlights, and texture without spilling outside the shape. Procreate gives you two ways.

Alpha Lock

Select the layer and tap Alpha Lock in its menu. The transparent pixels are protected, so you can only paint where pixels already exist. This is quick for shifting hues or painting gradients on a flat color layer. The downside is that it is destructive, since you are changing the base layer's pixels directly.

Clipping Mask

Create a new layer above the base color, tap its thumbnail, and choose Clipping Mask. The layer now only shows where the layer beneath it has pixels. You can stack several clipped layers for shadow, light, and texture.

Clipping masks are the better habit for production work. The base shape stays untouched, and you can hide, adjust, or delete any rendering layer independently.

Isolating a single object

If your drawing contains many objects and you want to color just one, long-press its layer's visibility checkbox to hide everything else. Use Selection > Automatic on the closed outline, invert if needed, and fill a new layer beneath the line art. Then apply Alpha Lock or clipping masks to that layer. Group everything belonging to the object and name the group so it is easy to find.

A common mistake is to tap a layer's Select option and expect it to outline an object. That only selects the layer's active pixels, so if the layer contains thin line art, you get thin lines rather than a filled region.

Common problems and quick fixes

• Color covers the lines: the paint layer is above the line art. Drag it beneath, or set the top color layer to Multiply.
• White boxes around colors: the line layer contains a white background. Use Multiply or delete the white.
• Fill leaks everywhere: the line art has gaps. Close them on the line layer, or use Selection with Freehand to isolate the area manually.
• Halo or thin gap between fill and line: adjust the ColorDrop threshold, or paint slightly past the line edge on the layer beneath.
• Can't find the layer you want: group related layers and name them.

Exporting for a motion pipeline

If the artwork is heading into motion work, the layer structure you built is the main asset. Keeping lines on top, color layers below, and backgrounds separate makes it easier to tweak color later in a compositing app without redrawing.

A repeatable layer setup

If you want a template you can reuse on every illustration, this stack works well from top to bottom:

1. Line art (locked, Multiply if it is a scan)
2. Clipped shadow and highlight layers for each object
3. Base color layers (one per object or material, filled with ColorDrop)
4. Background layers
5. Paper or canvas color (hidden on export)

Name and group as you build it. With that structure, coloring under a layer in Procreate stops being a trick and becomes a clean, editable base you can hand to any downstream tool.