Opacity and Layer Opacity
What is opacity in Procreate?
In simple terms, opacity in Procreate refers to how visible a pixel (or area of pixels) is. If something is 100% opaque, it is 100% visible. If it is set to 50% opacity, it is 50% see-through. You can control the opacity of a brush, a layer as a whole, or a selection.
Brush Opacity
This example shows how to adjust the opacity of a brush with the lower Sidebar slider:
Select a brush
Drag the lower slider on the Sidebar upwards to increase the opacity of your brush
Drag the lower slider on the Sidebar downwards to decrease the opacity of your brush
The opacity of many brushes is also affected by Apple Pencil pressure, so if your opacity is set to maximum and your brush is too transparent, you might be running into pressure issues and should check out this article .
Pro Tip
In the above example, the layer we are painting on and adjusting is a clipping mask applied to the cloud layer beneath, which is why the first stroke does not colour over the sky.
Layer Opacity
This video demonstrates reducing and increasing the opacity of a layer in Procreate:
Open Layers in the top right
Tap on the small letter(s) to the right of the layer name. This will be ‘N’ by default
Set your opacity of the layer using the slider directly beneath it
Because you can change this repeatedly, it is considered ‘non-destructive’.
Selection Opacity
In this video you’ll see how to adjust the opacity of an area isolated using Automatic Selection:
Enter Selections and choose your preferred method at the bottom
Make a selection
Tap Layers near the top right
Tap on the layer containing the paint with two fingers at the same time
Slide a finger left on the canvas to reduce the opacity of the selection
Slide a finger right on the canvas to increase the opacity of the selection
Keep in mind that once you exit this mode, it applies your change. This is a ‘destructive’ action - while you can still immediately undo it after you apply, you cannot adjust this multiple times throughout your project. Each time you apply it, it is a final action.
In the Handbook, learn more about the Paint tools , Layers , and Selections , and feel free to ask us a question if you’re stuck.
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