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#1 in Digital PaintingUdemyBestseller on UdemyDigital PaintingPaid courseBeginner levelCertificate

Drawing and Painting on the iPad with Procreate (Udemy.com)

Learn everything you need to know about Procreate with hands on drawing lessons. Now updated for Procreate 5.

Created by: Brad Colbow

Last updated December 2021

Our take

Based on the ratings of 19,162 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in December 2021. No course pays to be reviewed.

A short, project-led tour of Procreate on the iPad, taught by Brad Colbow, a working illustrator best known for his YouTube channel on drawing hardware. The syllabus runs about 5 hours across 37 lectures: the tools, a section on advanced tools, a 68-minute walk through making a comic strip from panels to inks and colors, and a final painting that pulls it all together. It's built for people who own an iPad and want to stop fumbling with the app; drawing itself gets lighter treatment, and one reviewer wished for more drawing tutorials. Roughly 87,000 students have enrolled and it carries Udemy's Bestseller badge.

Reviewers keep saying the same thing: it's easy to follow, and Colbow has a pleasant voice that makes him easy to listen to. Beginners who had never opened Procreate say they felt comfortable with it by the end. The complaints are consistent too. One student found some sections clear and others hard to connect, another wanted more on choosing canvas sizes for print versus web, and a two-star review says the teaching isn't systematic and you'll still need another course to get good. More than 19,000 reviews average 4.7, with about two thirds giving five stars, so the grumbles are a minority.

The bigger caveat is age. The last update was December 2021. There is a 9-lecture Procreate Updates section, but features added since then aren't covered and some menus will look different. It's also the only iPad-specific course in CourseDuck's digital painting list, which is exactly its appeal: less theory, more tapping along. Worth buying for anyone who wants to learn the app quickly, and best paired with a fundamentals course for those who also want to learn to draw.

Best foriPad owners who want to learn Procreate's tools by making a comic strip and a painting rather than sitting through a feature list.
Skip it ifYou want to learn drawing itself rather than the app, or you need coverage of Procreate features added after 2021.

Pros

  • Easy to follow; reviewers with zero Procreate experience say they felt comfortable by the end
  • Learn by making things: a full comic strip section and a final painting, not just a tool tour
  • Colbow's delivery and pleasant voice get repeated praise in the reviews
  • Short at about 5 hours, with captions in 15 languages

Cons

  • Last updated December 2021, so Procreate features added since then are missing
  • A couple of students found sections hard to connect and the teaching not systematic enough
  • Little guidance on picking canvas sizes for print versus web
Absolutely loving how easy this is to follow! I've never used procreate before and I already feel SO much more comfortable.
Pamela Bell, a student

Genuinely beginner-level for the app, but you need an iPad, the Procreate app, and basic comfort using the iPad.

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What you will learn

  • Users will have a deep understanding of Procreate
  • Create Speedraw videos they can post online
  • Create and import custom brushes
  • Have a basic understanding of how to compose and create a painting

Course content

7 sections · 37 lectures · 5.3 hours of video

  1. 1Introduction to Procreate 1 free preview3 lectures · 15 min
  2. 2Get to Know the Tools 1 free preview4 lectures · 29 min
  3. 3Advanced Tools 1 free preview5 lectures · 40 min
  4. 4Drawing A Comic7 lectures · 1.1 hours
  5. 5More Cool Features6 lectures · 35 min
  6. 6The Final Project3 lectures · 40 min
  7. 7Procreate Updates 2 free previews9 lectures · 1.5 hours

Who it is for

The instructor says it suits

  • People who have an iPad and want to learn how to draw
  • Illustrators learning to sketch and draw
  • Illustrators with experience who are unfamiliar with the iPad

What you need before you start

  • You will need an iPad, preferably a newer one (iPad air, iPad Pro or a recent iPad Mini)
  • You will need the Procreate application from the app store
  • Some basic familiarity with the iPad would be useful

How it compares

Against the other 175 rated Udemy courses in Digital Painting on CourseDuck:

  • Rating4.7 out of 5higher than 76% of them
  • Reviews19,162#1 of 176 by number of reviews
  • Length5.3 hourslonger than 66% of them
  • Last updatedDecember 2021more recently than 56% of them

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Course Description

From the moment Steve Jobs walked on stage and unveiled the iPad I’ve wanted to draw on one. It took a couple years for the hardware and software to catch up but now the iPad a fantastic little art studio you can easily take anywhere. 

  • I believe it’s best to learn through examples. here is what we will be doing in this course:

  • We will be going over the tools

  • After going over the tools we will be using them to draw to reinforce how they work

  • The drawing sessions are simple and easy to follow, anyone can do them

  • We will go through how simple comic strips are made step by stem from drawing panels to pencils to inks to colors and backgrounds

  • We will be learning all the shortcuts and options associated with each and every tool.

  • The final project will take all the skills we’ve learned and combining them into one final painting

Why Procreate? The best drawing app for he iPad is Procreate. procreate has been listed in the iPad’s top selling apps month after month and for good reason. It rivals many desktops apps for power and features. In this class we tackle Procreate to start drawing on the iPad. And it's constantly being updated with new features.

Who is this for:

  • People who want to learn to draw but don’t know where to start

  • Illustrators looking to learn everything about Procreate

  • People who love drawing and sketching and want to start doing it digitally

Now updated for Procreate 5.

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Instructor Details

Brad Colbow

Hi, I’m Brad. I’m a professional graphic designer and Illustrator.

I’ve published comics, run conferences but what I’m best known for is running a Youtube channel where I talk about technology for illustrators. In that time I’ve published reviews on everything from the Surface Pro to the iPad pro. And everything in between. 

I believe drawing and illustration is a journey, we are all constantly learning and getting better and I blog about that on my channel as well. I think anyone can learn to draw all it takes is practice.

It’s never to late to pick up a pencil and start learning.

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Reviews

4.7

19,162 ratings on Udemy

Select a bar to show only those reviews.Select the bar again to show every rating.

By Pamela Bell on 5/3/2026

Absolutely loving how easy this is to follow! I've never used procreate before and I already feel SO much more comfortable. Strongly recommend this class to anyone just getting started with Procreate!

By Elena Kolesnikova on 2/18/2026

The course is very accessible! Everything was clear to me! I enjoyed taking this course. I immersed myself in drawing with joy. Now I know the program and the tools in it better. Thank you!)

By Abdulazim Rahim on 12/18/2025

some sections were really good while others failed to be coherent leaving the student struggling to connect things together. some videos explained things really well while others did not

By Laila Ibrahim on 1/21/2021

I enjoyed this course from the beginning to the very end. It took me 2 weeks to go through every night and I'm not perfect but I feel I am set on a solid foundation in my creative journey. Thank you so much for this course!

By Kathryn Gaffney on 1/17/2020

Yes. Enjoyed it. Nearly everything eventually clear. However, it could be hard sometimes to find the bit I want to check over, and I don't see how to bookmark things in this program. I find the speech and some actions often too fast. I know some online tutors add boxes and arrows later to make certain points clear or add in something forgotten: this would have been a useful addition.

By Serge Tanguay on 3/5/2019

Easy to follow. The idea is really good In the Banner section, but shades come center top light on the banner, from the left-center for the letters, from middle and down right on the suckers and from anywhere on the sticks by the way it is a really good presentation. Every things are clear and easy to understand, even for pocket version excpept that liquify fonction wich is not an included option. Thank you.

By Joshua Barry on 2/2/2019

Brad has made a very in depth and yet easy to understand course on how to use Procreate to draw and paint on the iPad. I learned a lot of tips and tricks that have helped me become better at using Procreate. Thanks for the great course Brad!

By W. Beckers on 1/30/2019

Mooie cursus op een goede en kalme manier wordt alles duidelijk uitgelegd. Ook mooi is de ondertiteling (wel in Engels). Ook de projecten die gemaakt worden zijn goed. Vooral als oefeningen zijn deze goed na te maken terwijl het programma 'Procreate' dan helemaal duidelijk is. Waarna jezelf dan ook zelfstandig met 'Procreate' verder kunt werken. In feite is het 'Learning by Doing'.

By Petar Cigularov on 12/5/2018

Really good starting point for beginners, who were never in touch with drawing and painting software. You will get all the Procreate knowledge, you need to start a simple drawings. All the important tools are really good explained. Most of the videos are short 5-10min. and bring the features straight to the point. Procreate itself, is one of the cleanest and easiest to work with software I've ever used. It has a simple user interface. I strongly recommend to use the Apple Pencil - the drawing process is more smooth and handy. You will get also basic sketching, toon-shading etc. so that you can move to the "next level" of drawing. After the course, you will have an idea, how approach the drawing of things you want to draw.

By Fred Harris on 1/27/2018

The instructor is very precise in his delivery. I'm already learning things I didn't know, and I just got my app two days ago. I'm really enjoying this course. There is so much about this app I didn't know about.

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Overall Score : 94 / 100