To color under lines in Procreate, keep your line art on its own layer and paint on a separate layer placed beneath it. If the line art has a white background, such as an imported JPEG, set the line layer's blend mode to Multiply so the white disappears and the black lines stay on top. For fast flat fills, set the line layer as a Reference layer and drag colors into closed shapes with ColorDrop on the layer below.

Why color goes over your lines in the first place

Procreate paints on whichever layer is active, and layers stack from the bottom up. If your lines and your color live on the same layer, every stroke overwrites the pixels underneath it. Even with separate layers, putting the color layer above the line art will cover the lines.

Two fixes cover almost every case:

• Layer order: the color layer sits below the line layer.
• Blend mode or transparency: the line layer is either transparent around the strokes or set to Multiply, so the color layer shows through.

Everything below is a variation on those two ideas. Pick the method based on how clean your line art is and how much rendering you want to do.

Method 1: Paint on a layer below the line art

This is the most reliable method and the one to learn first.

1. Put your line art on its own layer. If you sketched and inked on one layer, duplicate the layer or redraw the ink on a new one.
2. Tap the + in the Layers panel to create a new layer.
3. Drag the new layer below the line art layer.
4. Select the new layer and paint.

Your lines now sit over the color, and you can paint right up to or past the edge of a stroke without damaging it. Painting slightly under the lines is useful because it avoids thin white gaps between the color and the line, which show up as halos when you scale or composite the art later.

If your line art has a white background

Imported JPEGs and scans usually have a solid white fill behind the lines, so a color layer below won't be visible. To fix it:

1. Tap the N on the line art layer.
2. Choose Multiply.

Multiply makes white transparent and keeps the darker pixels, so the layer below shows through. Black lines stay black, and gray anti-aliased edges blend cleanly with the color beneath.

Alternatively, you can try to delete the white with Automatic selection, but this tends to leave a jagged fringe of light pixels around the lines. Multiply is the cleaner option unless you need true transparency for export.

Method 2: ColorDrop with a Reference layer

ColorDrop is the fastest way to flat-color closed shapes, but it needs help to avoid filling the wrong layer.

1. Tap the line art layer and choose Reference.
2. Create a new layer below the line art and make it active.
3. Drag a color from the color circle (top right) into a closed shape. The fill goes onto the active layer but follows the boundaries of the Reference layer.
4. Before lifting your finger, pause and slide left or right to adjust the threshold. A higher threshold spreads the fill further into soft or anti-aliased edges.

Setting Reference is what stops the fill from being limited to the empty layer you're on, which would flood the whole canvas. It's also the answer to the common complaint that ColorDrop floods everything: the active layer is blank, so without Reference there's nothing for the fill to stop at.

Fixing leaks and halos

• Color floods the whole canvas: there's a gap in the line. Zoom in, find the opening, and close it on the line layer with a small stroke. Alternatively, fill the shape with a line-art-only reference layer that you've temporarily patched.
• A light fringe remains next to the lines: raise the ColorDrop threshold, or paint a thin stroke of the same color under the line edges.
• Fill looks jagged: make sure you dragged with a sufficient threshold, and avoid filling from a heavily compressed JPEG if you can get a cleaner source.

Method 3: Selections and Alpha Lock for controlled shading

When you want to render shading, gradients, or textures without crossing a boundary, combine fills with locking or selecting.

Alpha Lock

1. Flat-fill a shape on its own layer using Method 2.
2. Swipe right on that layer with two fingers to turn on Alpha Lock (the thumbnail shows a checkerboard).
3. Paint freely. Strokes only appear where the layer already has pixels.

This is how you can put multiple shades into one region without erasing around the edges. Each flat color stays contained.

Clipping masks

If you'd rather keep shading separate from the base color:

1. Create a new layer above the flat color layer.
2. Tap it and choose Clipping Mask.
3. Paint shadows and highlights on it.

The shading is limited to the pixels of the layer below but stays editable on its own. You can lower opacity, change blend modes, or delete the layer without touching your base fills. This is better than Alpha Lock when the art may go through revisions.

Automatic selection

For quick masking:

1. Tap the S (selection) icon and choose Automatic.
2. Tap inside the region you want to color. Drag to adjust threshold.
3. Switch to your color layer and fill or paint. Your strokes only land inside the selection.

This is useful for one-off areas, though it can leave soft edges that differ from the line art's anti-aliasing. Check at 100% zoom.

A recommended layer structure

For work you may need to revise or hand off, a simple stack goes a long way:

1. Line art (top, Multiply if it has a white background)
2. Shading / highlights (clipping masks above each fill)
3. Flat colors (one layer per major element, such as skin, clothing, background)
4. Background (solid color or transparent)

Naming layers and grouping related elements will save time later. Flat colors on separate layers per element make recoloring easy: turn on Alpha Lock, pick a new color, and fill the layer.

Choosing between the methods

You can mix these in one piece. A common workflow is ColorDrop for base fills, clipping masks for shading, and a below-line paint layer to patch any gaps.

Common problems

Color covers the lines. The color layer is above the line layer, or the line layer lacks Multiply. Reorder the layers or change the blend mode.

Lines look gray or washed out after Multiply. Multiply darkens whatever is below it, so lines can pick up the color beneath. That's often desirable, but if you want pure black lines, duplicate the line layer or keep a transparent-background version for the top.

ColorDrop fills the wrong area. Check which layer is set as Reference and which is active. They should be different layers.

White edges around fills. Raise the ColorDrop threshold, or paint a thin overlap under the lines.

Export looks different from the canvas. Multiply layers may look different after export or in other apps. For transparency, export PNG with the background hidden; for layered handoff, export PSD and check blend modes on the other end.

Taking colored Procreate art into a motion pipeline

If you're coloring in Procreate for animation, compositing, or a motion project, the layer discipline above pays off downstream. Keeping line art, flats, and shading on separate layers means you can export them as a layered PSD or as individual PNGs with transparency and rebuild them in After Effects. There you can animate or adjust each element independently, or pass them to Nuke for compositing. Hide the background layer before exporting if you need alpha.

Quick checklist

• Line art on its own layer, color layer below.
• Multiply on the line layer if the art has a white background.
• Reference on the line layer before using ColorDrop, and fill onto a different layer.
• Close gaps in the lines before filling.
• Use Alpha Lock or clipping masks for shading.
• Keep elements on separate layers if the art is headed to After Effects or another tool.

Once the layer order and blend modes are right, coloring under lines becomes a mostly mechanical process, and you can spend your time on color and rendering.

To color under lines in Procreate, keep your line art on its own layer and paint on a separate layer placed beneath it. If the line art has a white background, such as an imported JPEG, set the line layer's blend mode to Multiply so the white disappears and the black lines stay on top. For fast flat fills, set the line layer as a Reference layer and drag colors into closed shapes with ColorDrop on the layer below.

Why color goes over your lines in the first place

Procreate paints on whichever layer is active, and layers stack from the bottom up. If your lines and your color live on the same layer, every stroke overwrites the pixels underneath it. Even with separate layers, putting the color layer above the line art will cover the lines.

Two fixes cover almost every case:

• Layer order: the color layer sits below the line layer.
• Blend mode or transparency: the line layer is either transparent around the strokes or set to Multiply, so the color layer shows through.

Everything below is a variation on those two ideas. Pick the method based on how clean your line art is and how much rendering you want to do.

Method 1: Paint on a layer below the line art

This is the most reliable method and the one to learn first.

1. Put your line art on its own layer. If you sketched and inked on one layer, duplicate the layer or redraw the ink on a new one.
2. Tap the + in the Layers panel to create a new layer.
3. Drag the new layer below the line art layer.
4. Select the new layer and paint.

Your lines now sit over the color, and you can paint right up to or past the edge of a stroke without damaging it. Painting slightly under the lines is useful because it avoids thin white gaps between the color and the line, which show up as halos when you scale or composite the art later.

If your line art has a white background

Imported JPEGs and scans usually have a solid white fill behind the lines, so a color layer below won't be visible. To fix it:

1. Tap the N on the line art layer.
2. Choose Multiply.

Multiply makes white transparent and keeps the darker pixels, so the layer below shows through. Black lines stay black, and gray anti-aliased edges blend cleanly with the color beneath.

Alternatively, you can try to delete the white with Automatic selection, but this tends to leave a jagged fringe of light pixels around the lines. Multiply is the cleaner option unless you need true transparency for export.

Method 2: ColorDrop with a Reference layer

ColorDrop is the fastest way to flat-color closed shapes, but it needs help to avoid filling the wrong layer.

1. Tap the line art layer and choose Reference.
2. Create a new layer below the line art and make it active.
3. Drag a color from the color circle (top right) into a closed shape. The fill goes onto the active layer but follows the boundaries of the Reference layer.
4. Before lifting your finger, pause and slide left or right to adjust the threshold. A higher threshold spreads the fill further into soft or anti-aliased edges.

Setting Reference is what stops the fill from being limited to the empty layer you're on, which would flood the whole canvas. It's also the answer to the common complaint that ColorDrop floods everything: the active layer is blank, so without Reference there's nothing for the fill to stop at.

Fixing leaks and halos

• Color floods the whole canvas: there's a gap in the line. Zoom in, find the opening, and close it on the line layer with a small stroke. Alternatively, fill the shape with a line-art-only reference layer that you've temporarily patched.
• A light fringe remains next to the lines: raise the ColorDrop threshold, or paint a thin stroke of the same color under the line edges.
• Fill looks jagged: make sure you dragged with a sufficient threshold, and avoid filling from a heavily compressed JPEG if you can get a cleaner source.

Method 3: Selections and Alpha Lock for controlled shading

When you want to render shading, gradients, or textures without crossing a boundary, combine fills with locking or selecting.

Alpha Lock

1. Flat-fill a shape on its own layer using Method 2.
2. Swipe right on that layer with two fingers to turn on Alpha Lock (the thumbnail shows a checkerboard).
3. Paint freely. Strokes only appear where the layer already has pixels.

This is how you can put multiple shades into one region without erasing around the edges. Each flat color stays contained.

Clipping masks

If you'd rather keep shading separate from the base color:

1. Create a new layer above the flat color layer.
2. Tap it and choose Clipping Mask.
3. Paint shadows and highlights on it.

The shading is limited to the pixels of the layer below but stays editable on its own. You can lower opacity, change blend modes, or delete the layer without touching your base fills. This is better than Alpha Lock when the art may go through revisions.

Automatic selection

For quick masking:

1. Tap the S (selection) icon and choose Automatic.
2. Tap inside the region you want to color. Drag to adjust threshold.
3. Switch to your color layer and fill or paint. Your strokes only land inside the selection.

This is useful for one-off areas, though it can leave soft edges that differ from the line art's anti-aliasing. Check at 100% zoom.

A recommended layer structure

For work you may need to revise or hand off, a simple stack goes a long way:

1. Line art (top, Multiply if it has a white background)
2. Shading / highlights (clipping masks above each fill)
3. Flat colors (one layer per major element, such as skin, clothing, background)
4. Background (solid color or transparent)

Naming layers and grouping related elements will save time later. Flat colors on separate layers per element make recoloring easy: turn on Alpha Lock, pick a new color, and fill the layer.

Choosing between the methods

You can mix these in one piece. A common workflow is ColorDrop for base fills, clipping masks for shading, and a below-line paint layer to patch any gaps.

Common problems

Color covers the lines. The color layer is above the line layer, or the line layer lacks Multiply. Reorder the layers or change the blend mode.

Lines look gray or washed out after Multiply. Multiply darkens whatever is below it, so lines can pick up the color beneath. That's often desirable, but if you want pure black lines, duplicate the line layer or keep a transparent-background version for the top.

ColorDrop fills the wrong area. Check which layer is set as Reference and which is active. They should be different layers.

White edges around fills. Raise the ColorDrop threshold, or paint a thin overlap under the lines.

Export looks different from the canvas. Multiply layers may look different after export or in other apps. For transparency, export PNG with the background hidden; for layered handoff, export PSD and check blend modes on the other end.

Taking colored Procreate art into a motion pipeline

If you're coloring in Procreate for animation, compositing, or a motion project, the layer discipline above pays off downstream. Keeping line art, flats, and shading on separate layers means you can export them as a layered PSD or as individual PNGs with transparency and rebuild them in After Effects. There you can animate or adjust each element independently, or pass them to Nuke for compositing. Hide the background layer before exporting if you need alpha.

Quick checklist

• Line art on its own layer, color layer below.
• Multiply on the line layer if the art has a white background.
• Reference on the line layer before using ColorDrop, and fill onto a different layer.
• Close gaps in the lines before filling.
• Use Alpha Lock or clipping masks for shading.
• Keep elements on separate layers if the art is headed to After Effects or another tool.

Once the layer order and blend modes are right, coloring under lines becomes a mostly mechanical process, and you can spend your time on color and rendering.