ADD COLOUR WITH TRADITIONAL FEEL

September 2025

ImagineFX

Follow along as Eliza Ivanova explains her process for colouring artwork digitally without losing that innate sketchbook charm

It's not uncommon to see a beautiful pencil or ink drawing that's been butchered under multiple layers of poorly constructed digital colouring.

Textured brushes are designed to replicate real-life brush, pencil or ink marks, so why not utilise the power of those real marks that have already been laid down on the paper? In this tutorial, you'll be able to follow along with my colouring process, see which brushes I use to mimic my drawing and shading, and learn how to maintain valuable information such as line quality, shading, textures, and imperfections - while elevating your piece digitally.

It's important to keep in mind that your basic setup is key to line up for success from the beginning; the things I look out for are scanning resolution (I use 600DPI or more), and selecting brush packs that contain brushes close to the ones used in the original piece. However, there are plenty of default brushes already available in Procreate that work wonderfully, especially the pencil and ink ones.

I also include brushes to simulate colour splotches and bleeds, and always test out my blending brush for texture as close to a real blending stump as possible. If your digital blending appears too smooth, it can overpower any nearby textures and sticks out as a mistake.

1. Separate the original scan into multiple layers

The first thing we'll need to do is set up our scanned drawing ready to be worked with digitally. Split it into at least two layers, most importantly the subject layer and a background layer. If the subject is pretty well contoured but there are additional elements of shading outside the subject lines, include those in the subject layer. To avoid harsh edges while separating the image into layers, use the Feather option at 2-3% to soften the selection's edges, then Cut and Paste.