How to Add Text in Procreate: 2 Steps

Today, we are going to show you how to add text in Procreate in just two steps. Discover how to edit your text using a variety of fonts to fit any style. Compliment your artwork with colors and effects using the intuitive design tools available in Procreate. Engage your audience on a personal level by adding text to your brand designs or product displays.

For our tutorial, we will be using v5.3.4 of the Procreate app. To create our design, we chose a bee-utiful watercolor bee design and a hand-drawn font called Sweet Moondrops. Did you know that you can find tons of Procreate Brush sets to compliment your creative library on Design Bundles?

Find Sweet Moondrops, a totally gorgeous font, in the Plus Hub. If you’re not a member yet, don’t miss out on the amazing benefits of our Plus Membership.

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Before we begin, it’s a good idea to first download and install your fonts on your iPad. This method allows fonts to be installed across your system and can be used by other apps as well.

Step 1 - Add your Text in Procreate

If you are adding text to your design, open your design in Procreate. If not, you can start by creating a custom sized canvas.

In the image below, we created our custom canvas, and then imported the bee design. To do this, tap on the Actions or wrench icon in the top left corner and select Add > Insert a file. After the image has been imported, tap on the Actions tool again and select Add > Add text.

If you are still new to Procreate, we highly recommend taking a look at our 5 top tips for using Procreate.

A text box will appear with your keyboard beneath it.

My Keyboard is too Small

If you are having trouble accessing your full sized keyboard, we can help with that. Sometimes, you're stuck with a smaller keyboard and none of the gestures or suggestions online seem to help. A quick solution is to disable the Scribble option.

The Scribble option allows you to write in the text box, but it can cause issues for some who may want to use a bigger keyboard.

Go to your iPad settings and scroll down until you see Apple Pencil. Tap on the Apple Pencil option and on the right-hand side, scroll down until you see Scribble. Next, tap on the green tab to the right of it so that this option is turned off (shows as gray).

If you want to use this Scribble option anytime in the future, just go back to the settings and enable it again.

Step 2 - Edit your Text in Procreate

The color of the text can be changed by using the Color Palette located in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

The text can be edited by tapping once on the text box to open the keyboard.

Alternatively, you can go to the Layers Panel, and then double tap on the editable text layer > Edit. This can only be done if the text layer has not been rasterized.

Type out your text in the text box, and then, tap on the “Aa” icon on the far right to open the text editing properties.

In the text properties panel you can select the font, style, design and attributes of your text. Make your edits until you are happy with the result of the design, then tap on Done.

From here on you can create special effects such as adding alternate glyphs or a drop shadow. We had some fun creating a drop shadow and adding a Bloom effect to our text design.

The final step is to save your design in your chosen format. Tap on the Actions menu, go to Share and then choose your favorite format.

You can create text in any style, color, or size. Adding text in Procreate catches the eye of your target audience, telling them what your brand is all about. We hope this Procreate tutorial has taught you how to add text and bring your designs to life.