Open the exported PNG in Illustrator, select it, and use Window > Image Trace with a preset that matches your art (Line Art or Black and White Logo for ink work, 3 to 16 Colors for flat color). Then click Expand to turn the trace into editable paths, and clean up with Simplify and Ungroup. For the best result, export each Procreate layer separately at high resolution so shapes stay isolated. If the vector is headed for After Effects, save it as an AI or SVG file and convert it to shape layers there.

What Image Trace Can and Can't Do

Procreate is a raster app. Everything you draw, including lettering, is stored as pixels. Illustrator's Image Trace analyzes those pixels and builds Bézier paths around areas of similar color or contrast. It does not redraw your art. It approximates the edges it finds.

This has practical consequences:

• Clean, high-contrast art traces well. Line work, flat-color illustration, and bold lettering convert with little effort.
• Soft textures trace poorly. Gradients, grainy brushes, drop shadows, and watercolor edges turn into piles of tiny shapes or lose detail entirely.
• Source quality matters. A small, soft, or compressed PNG gives you wobbly paths. A large, crisp one gives you smooth curves.

Decide upfront whether you need a faithful vector copy or a simplified graphic version of the drawing. The second is usually easier to animate anyway.

Step 1: Prepare the Artwork in Procreate

Prep decides most of the outcome, so spend a few minutes here.

1. Work large. If you're still sketching, set a high-resolution canvas. If the piece is finished, export at its native size and don't downscale.
2. Separate elements onto layers. Put the outline, fills, highlights, and lettering on their own layers. Shapes that don't overlap on a single layer trace much more cleanly than a flattened image.
3. Simplify where you can. Replace textured brushes with solid ones for the elements you plan to vectorize. Keep textured passes on separate layers so you can decide later whether to trace or keep them as raster.
4. Hide the background color. Turn off the Background Color layer so exports have transparency.

Step 2: Export from Procreate

You have three reasonable options:

• PNG of the whole piece. Share > PNG. Fastest, best for simple line art.
• PNG per layer. Hide all layers but one, export, repeat. Slow, but it gives you the most control over what traces together.
• PSD. Share > PSD preserves layers. Open it in Photoshop and use File > Export > Layers to Files, or place it in Illustrator and convert the layers to objects. This is the more efficient route for illustrations with many layers.

Move the files to your computer with AirDrop, iCloud, or a shared folder. Avoid anything that recompresses the image on the way, such as messaging apps.

Step 3: Set Up the Illustrator Document

Create a new document sized to match your artwork or your final delivery format. For motion work, that usually means an artboard matching your composition (for example, 3840 × 2160 px) in RGB color mode. Then:

1. Use File > Place (or Open) to bring in your PNG.
2. In the Properties panel, make sure the image is selected. Don't resize it with a loose eye. Scale it proportionally.
3. Open Window > Image Trace to see the full set of options.

Step 4: Trace the Artwork

Choose a Preset

With the image selected, pick a preset from the Image Trace panel:

• Line Art or Black and White Logo for ink drawings and lettering.
• Sketch Art for looser pencil-style drawings.
• 3 Colors, 6 Colors, or 16 Colors for flat-color illustration.
• Silhouettes for solid shapes.

Avoid the photo presets for Procreate illustrations. They produce heavy, complicated results with thousands of anchor points.

Adjust the Settings

Open the Advanced section of the panel and tune these:

• Threshold (in Black and White mode): controls what counts as black versus white. Raise it to thicken lines, lower it to thin them.
• Paths: higher values follow the pixels more closely, lower values produce smoother, simpler curves.
• Corners: higher values keep sharp corners, lower values round them.
• Noise: raise it to ignore small specks and stray pixels.
• Ignore White: enable it on line art so you don't get a white rectangle behind your paths.
• Colors (in Color mode): keep the count low. If your drawing uses five flat colors, trace with five or six.

Turn on the preview so you can compare as you adjust. Zoom in to 400% or more and check curves around tight corners and thin strokes.

Expand the Trace

Image Trace results are live. Until you click Expand in the Control bar (or Object > Image Trace > Expand), you can't edit the paths. After expanding, you'll have a group of compound paths you can ungroup and edit with the Direct Selection tool.

Step 5: Clean Up the Vector

A raw trace is rarely production-ready. Common cleanup tasks:

• Remove stray shapes. Delete specks, edge artifacts, and leftover white backgrounds.
• Simplify paths. Select the artwork and use Object > Path > Simplify to reduce anchor points while keeping the shape. Fewer points mean smoother curves and lighter files.
• Fix wobbly curves. Use the Direct Selection tool to delete extra anchors, or the Curvature tool to redraw problem sections.
• Unify colors. Image Trace often generates near-duplicate colors. Use Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork to merge them into a clean palette, and save the palette as swatches.
• Group and name. Organize elements into named layers or groups (outline, fill, highlight, lettering). This will matter when you animate.

Handling Lettering

Hand lettering usually traces well in Black and White mode. Trace it as its own layer, keep Corners moderate, and check overlaps where letters connect. Fixing one bad join by hand is faster than fighting the trace settings.

Handling Multi-Color Art

You have two approaches. Trace the whole piece with a Colors preset and clean up afterward, or trace each Procreate layer separately in black and white and then fill the resulting shapes with your own colors. The second approach takes longer but gives much cleaner shapes, since each trace has only one job.

Step 6: Save and Export

• AI keeps everything editable and is the best choice for After Effects, with layers preserved.
• SVG (File > Export > Export As, or Save a Copy) suits web use, cutting machines, and other vector apps. Check the options for fonts and decimal precision.
• PDF works for print handoff.

Keep a layered AI master so you can re-export later without retracing.

Bringing the Vector into After Effects

Motion designers usually want the vector for animation. A reliable path:

1. Import the AI file into After Effects as a Composition – Retain Layer Sizes if you want each Illustrator layer as its own layer.
2. Select the imported layer and choose Layer > Create > Create Shapes from Vector Layer.
3. You now have native shape layers with editable paths, fills, and strokes. You can apply Trim Paths, Repeaters, Wiggle Paths, or puppet-style rigs, and they stay resolution independent.

Before animating, check for heavy shape counts. A trace with thousands of tiny paths can slow your composition. If previews lag, go back to Illustrator and simplify more aggressively, or merge shapes that will always move together.

A Free Alternative for Simple Line Art

If you only need a quick single-color vector and don't have Illustrator, Adobe Capture is a free mobile app that can trace a PNG from your iPad. Its Shapes module has a threshold dial and a Smooth toggle, and it exports SVG. It works best on black-and-white line work and gives you less control over paths than Illustrator does, so it suits quick jobs more than detailed illustrations.

When Tracing Isn't the Right Tool

Sometimes the goal isn't a perfect vector. It's a consistent look across motion. If your Procreate piece has textured brushes, painterly shading, or a hand-inked feel you'd lose in a trace, converting it to vector may flatten exactly what makes it good. In that case, consider keeping the artwork as raster and building the motion around it.

This is where an AI motion tool such as Styleframe can sit alongside Illustrator rather than replace it. That can help when you want your Procreate illustration style carried through a shot without tracing every frame.

Treat it as a complement: use Illustrator when you need true vector paths to animate, and Styleframe when you need to extend a raster illustration style into motion.

Quick Troubleshooting

• Traced shapes look blobby: the source is too small or too soft. Re-export at a higher resolution or lower the Paths and Noise settings.
• A white box appears behind the art: enable Ignore White, or delete the background shape after expanding.
• Too many anchor points: use Simplify, or lower Paths and raise Noise before expanding.
• Colors are muddy or duplicated: reduce the color count, then use Recolor Artwork to merge similar swatches.
• After Effects chokes on the file: reduce path counts, merge shapes, and precompose static elements.

Final Checklist

1. Prepare the Procreate art with separate, clean layers.
2. Export at full resolution as PNG or PSD.
3. Trace with the right preset, then tune Threshold, Paths, Corners, and Noise.
4. Expand, simplify, and clean up the result.
5. Organize layers and save a layered AI master.
6. In After Effects, convert to shape layers and animate.

Image Trace won't replace hand-drawn vector work for every piece. For line art, lettering, and flat-color illustration, though, this process gets you to a clean, scalable file quickly.

Open the exported PNG in Illustrator, select it, and use Window > Image Trace with a preset that matches your art (Line Art or Black and White Logo for ink work, 3 to 16 Colors for flat color). Then click Expand to turn the trace into editable paths, and clean up with Simplify and Ungroup. For the best result, export each Procreate layer separately at high resolution so shapes stay isolated. If the vector is headed for After Effects, save it as an AI or SVG file and convert it to shape layers there.

What Image Trace Can and Can't Do

Procreate is a raster app. Everything you draw, including lettering, is stored as pixels. Illustrator's Image Trace analyzes those pixels and builds Bézier paths around areas of similar color or contrast. It does not redraw your art. It approximates the edges it finds.

This has practical consequences:

• Clean, high-contrast art traces well. Line work, flat-color illustration, and bold lettering convert with little effort.
• Soft textures trace poorly. Gradients, grainy brushes, drop shadows, and watercolor edges turn into piles of tiny shapes or lose detail entirely.
• Source quality matters. A small, soft, or compressed PNG gives you wobbly paths. A large, crisp one gives you smooth curves.

Decide upfront whether you need a faithful vector copy or a simplified graphic version of the drawing. The second is usually easier to animate anyway.

Step 1: Prepare the Artwork in Procreate

Prep decides most of the outcome, so spend a few minutes here.

1. Work large. If you're still sketching, set a high-resolution canvas. If the piece is finished, export at its native size and don't downscale.
2. Separate elements onto layers. Put the outline, fills, highlights, and lettering on their own layers. Shapes that don't overlap on a single layer trace much more cleanly than a flattened image.
3. Simplify where you can. Replace textured brushes with solid ones for the elements you plan to vectorize. Keep textured passes on separate layers so you can decide later whether to trace or keep them as raster.
4. Hide the background color. Turn off the Background Color layer so exports have transparency.

Step 2: Export from Procreate

You have three reasonable options:

• PNG of the whole piece. Share > PNG. Fastest, best for simple line art.
• PNG per layer. Hide all layers but one, export, repeat. Slow, but it gives you the most control over what traces together.
• PSD. Share > PSD preserves layers. Open it in Photoshop and use File > Export > Layers to Files, or place it in Illustrator and convert the layers to objects. This is the more efficient route for illustrations with many layers.

Move the files to your computer with AirDrop, iCloud, or a shared folder. Avoid anything that recompresses the image on the way, such as messaging apps.

Step 3: Set Up the Illustrator Document

Create a new document sized to match your artwork or your final delivery format. For motion work, that usually means an artboard matching your composition (for example, 3840 × 2160 px) in RGB color mode. Then:

1. Use File > Place (or Open) to bring in your PNG.
2. In the Properties panel, make sure the image is selected. Don't resize it with a loose eye. Scale it proportionally.
3. Open Window > Image Trace to see the full set of options.

Step 4: Trace the Artwork

Choose a Preset

With the image selected, pick a preset from the Image Trace panel:

• Line Art or Black and White Logo for ink drawings and lettering.
• Sketch Art for looser pencil-style drawings.
• 3 Colors, 6 Colors, or 16 Colors for flat-color illustration.
• Silhouettes for solid shapes.

Avoid the photo presets for Procreate illustrations. They produce heavy, complicated results with thousands of anchor points.

Adjust the Settings

Open the Advanced section of the panel and tune these:

• Threshold (in Black and White mode): controls what counts as black versus white. Raise it to thicken lines, lower it to thin them.
• Paths: higher values follow the pixels more closely, lower values produce smoother, simpler curves.
• Corners: higher values keep sharp corners, lower values round them.
• Noise: raise it to ignore small specks and stray pixels.
• Ignore White: enable it on line art so you don't get a white rectangle behind your paths.
• Colors (in Color mode): keep the count low. If your drawing uses five flat colors, trace with five or six.

Turn on the preview so you can compare as you adjust. Zoom in to 400% or more and check curves around tight corners and thin strokes.

Expand the Trace

Image Trace results are live. Until you click Expand in the Control bar (or Object > Image Trace > Expand), you can't edit the paths. After expanding, you'll have a group of compound paths you can ungroup and edit with the Direct Selection tool.

Step 5: Clean Up the Vector

A raw trace is rarely production-ready. Common cleanup tasks:

• Remove stray shapes. Delete specks, edge artifacts, and leftover white backgrounds.
• Simplify paths. Select the artwork and use Object > Path > Simplify to reduce anchor points while keeping the shape. Fewer points mean smoother curves and lighter files.
• Fix wobbly curves. Use the Direct Selection tool to delete extra anchors, or the Curvature tool to redraw problem sections.
• Unify colors. Image Trace often generates near-duplicate colors. Use Edit > Edit Colors > Recolor Artwork to merge them into a clean palette, and save the palette as swatches.
• Group and name. Organize elements into named layers or groups (outline, fill, highlight, lettering). This will matter when you animate.

Handling Lettering

Hand lettering usually traces well in Black and White mode. Trace it as its own layer, keep Corners moderate, and check overlaps where letters connect. Fixing one bad join by hand is faster than fighting the trace settings.

Handling Multi-Color Art

You have two approaches. Trace the whole piece with a Colors preset and clean up afterward, or trace each Procreate layer separately in black and white and then fill the resulting shapes with your own colors. The second approach takes longer but gives much cleaner shapes, since each trace has only one job.

Step 6: Save and Export

• AI keeps everything editable and is the best choice for After Effects, with layers preserved.
• SVG (File > Export > Export As, or Save a Copy) suits web use, cutting machines, and other vector apps. Check the options for fonts and decimal precision.
• PDF works for print handoff.

Keep a layered AI master so you can re-export later without retracing.

Bringing the Vector into After Effects

Motion designers usually want the vector for animation. A reliable path:

1. Import the AI file into After Effects as a Composition – Retain Layer Sizes if you want each Illustrator layer as its own layer.
2. Select the imported layer and choose Layer > Create > Create Shapes from Vector Layer.
3. You now have native shape layers with editable paths, fills, and strokes. You can apply Trim Paths, Repeaters, Wiggle Paths, or puppet-style rigs, and they stay resolution independent.

Before animating, check for heavy shape counts. A trace with thousands of tiny paths can slow your composition. If previews lag, go back to Illustrator and simplify more aggressively, or merge shapes that will always move together.

A Free Alternative for Simple Line Art

If you only need a quick single-color vector and don't have Illustrator, Adobe Capture is a free mobile app that can trace a PNG from your iPad. Its Shapes module has a threshold dial and a Smooth toggle, and it exports SVG. It works best on black-and-white line work and gives you less control over paths than Illustrator does, so it suits quick jobs more than detailed illustrations.

When Tracing Isn't the Right Tool

Sometimes the goal isn't a perfect vector. It's a consistent look across motion. If your Procreate piece has textured brushes, painterly shading, or a hand-inked feel you'd lose in a trace, converting it to vector may flatten exactly what makes it good. In that case, consider keeping the artwork as raster and building the motion around it.

This is where an AI motion tool such as Styleframe can sit alongside Illustrator rather than replace it. That can help when you want your Procreate illustration style carried through a shot without tracing every frame.

Treat it as a complement: use Illustrator when you need true vector paths to animate, and Styleframe when you need to extend a raster illustration style into motion.

Quick Troubleshooting

• Traced shapes look blobby: the source is too small or too soft. Re-export at a higher resolution or lower the Paths and Noise settings.
• A white box appears behind the art: enable Ignore White, or delete the background shape after expanding.
• Too many anchor points: use Simplify, or lower Paths and raise Noise before expanding.
• Colors are muddy or duplicated: reduce the color count, then use Recolor Artwork to merge similar swatches.
• After Effects chokes on the file: reduce path counts, merge shapes, and precompose static elements.

Final Checklist

1. Prepare the Procreate art with separate, clean layers.
2. Export at full resolution as PNG or PSD.
3. Trace with the right preset, then tune Threshold, Paths, Corners, and Noise.
4. Expand, simplify, and clean up the result.
5. Organize layers and save a layered AI master.
6. In After Effects, convert to shape layers and animate.

Image Trace won't replace hand-drawn vector work for every piece. For line art, lettering, and flat-color illustration, though, this process gets you to a clean, scalable file quickly.