Learn to Draw on iPad

Building Your Image With Layers

Layers are used to overlay bits of your drawing on each other, much like pieces of tracing paper stacked one on top of another. Your alien sketch currently consists of one single layer with your rough outline. Since you’ll need to get rid of these rough guidelines later without mucking up your finished drawing, you’ll add another layer to your drawing that will sit on top of the guidelines.

Tap on the “Layers” button in the upper-right corner of Sketchbook Pro, then tap the “+” sign to add a new layer, as shown below:

The new layer is transparent, so you won’t notice anything different about your canvas just yet. But now you’re free to go hog-wild with your mad paint skills — without disturbing your guidelines.

Select the brush tool; if you don’t see it on the screen, tap and hold on a drawing tool in the left toolbar, then select the paint brush in the middle of the top row, as shown below. In Sketchbook Express, tap the brush icon at the top, and choose the brush image shown below.

With the brush selected, tap on the “Properties” icon in the bottom center of the stage. This will bring up the Brush Properties window.

Tap and hold in the center of the properties circle, then drag to the left and right to change the brush size. Set the brush size to a medium thickness, around 7 pixels as shown in the image below:

Now trace the outline of your alien using the brush tool. Pinch and zoom as required to make the image large enough to trace. Don’t worry about the inside lines for now; just focus on making nice, clean lines to outline your alien. Take your time; you can use the undo tool if you need to redo a brushstroke, or even if you need to revert all of your changes in this layer and use a different brush size altogether.

That’s the beauty of using layers. The rough sketch is on the bottom layer; therefore, it isn’t affected by anything you do on the top layer. Your final outline should look like the image below:

Now that the broad outline strokes have been made, you can trace some details on your alien. Open up the Brush Properties window again and shrink your brush size by a few pixels. Pinch and zoom as required to trace your alien’s mouth, fingers, cheeks, chin and arms, as shown below:

There’s just a few very fine details left to trace to complete the outlines of your alien. Generally, the smaller the detail you’re trying to outline, the finer your brush should be.

Open the Brush Properties window and shrink your brush size down a few more pixels. This time, trace your alien’s pupils, eyebrows, the lines under the eyes, and teeth, pinching and zooming as required. Your final outline should look like the following:

Hey — that’s looking pretty good! It’s amazing how a few brushstrokes can take your drawings from simple guidelines to something recognizable.

Adding Colors to Your Drawing

You’ll use another layer to add some color to your alien. The benefit to using layers is becoming quite apparent; each time you shift gears as you draw, adding a new layer allows you to preserve your work from previous layers.

Add a layer to your drawing, and position it between the sketch layer and the outline layer by dragging the layer to the appropriate position using the handles as shown below:

Your brush tool should still be selected; if not, select it from the tool palette. Choose a nice alien green color from the color palette on the right, as indicated below. Sketchbook Express users won’t have a palette; tap the brush icon at the top and choose a green from the color mixer.

Now trace the inside of the alien’s body with the green brush. You may want to use a slightly larger brush for this step; if so, simply bring up the Brush Properties window as before and make your brush a little larger. You don’t need to trace around the eyes or the mouth; you simply need to trace the outside lines of the alien, as shown below:

The lines you’ve just drawn create a bounded area which you can fill with color. If you’re a sucker for punishment, you could fill the area by brushing in the color, but there’s a faster way. Tap on the brush icon in the top toolbar and then choose the paint bucket tool, as shown below:

Now tap inside the alien’s body. If you joined all of your lines together when you traced the inside of your alien, then the body should fill in entirely in green, as below:

If the whole stage turned green, don’t worry! Just use the undo tool and make sure that you’re drawing on the correct layer, and that all of your green brush strokes are connected. If you’re wondering why the alien’s mouth filled in with color, remember that you’re filling the green boundary on this layer only; the black lines of the alien’s mouth exist on a different layer, and don’t affect the actions of the paint bucket tool.

Tap on the brush icon on the top toolbar again and switch back to your paint brush; you’re going to add color to spots that aren’t supposed to be green. Change the brush color to white using the color palette on the right and pinch and zoom so the alien’s mouth fills the screen. Now start carefully painting the alien’s teeth white, as shown below:

Once your alien has some shiny white teeth that any alien dentist would be proud of, use the color palette to select a medium red color, and paint in the alien’s tongue. Then select a darker red color from the paint palette and paint in the alien’s mouth. Finally, use a bit of black paint to fill in the alien’s pupils.

Your alien should look similar to the following image:

A few carefully chosen details can really bring your alien to life with a hint of personality. Add a few dark green liver spots to your alien’s underside and some white highlights to the eyes, as detailed in the screenshot below:

That does it for the basic coloring — in the next section you’ll take things up a notch by adding some shadows and highlights.