How to Make Stickers in Procreate, WITHOUT having to Draw

Can you use procreate to make stickers with no drawing skills?

Have you discovered the excitement of creating stickers on your iPad in Procreate yet? If not, then you’re about to. Today we are sharing our ultimate sticker tutorial for creating your own stickers on your iPad. It’s actually surprisingly easy to do once you know how and with a bit of practice (and patience) all of these can be done within 20 minutes or less. Before you read on, just wanna thank you for being here and let you know, this post is most helpful if you already have a working knowledge on the basics of Procreate!

What do you need to create stickers in Procreate?

Creating stickers in Procreate is not as hard as you might think. You just need an iPad, Apple Pencil, the Procreate App and this guide!
Before we begin, you might want to make sure you have the latest version of Procreate, AND an iPad and Apple Pencil that is compatible.

As of this post, Procreate will work on the following models of iPad:

• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation)
• iPad Pro 10.5-inch
• iPad Pro 9.7-inch
• iPad (9th generation)
• iPad (8th generation)
• iPad (7th generation)
• iPad (6th generation)
• iPad (5th generation)
• iPad mini (6th generation)
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad mini 4
• iPad Air (5th generation)
• iPad Air (4th generation)
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad Air 2

So, How do I make my own stickers on my iPad?

To create your own stickers in Procreate, you can design a shape or an image from scratch or import an image and redraw it or use a portion of it for the sticker. There are literally so many ways to start, the important thing is to just START!

Let’s look at my TOP 3 favorite ways to create stickers in Procreate, especially if you don’t draw!

Yes, you can always draw it freehand and this option is perfect if you have artistic talent. As an extra bonus, your stickers will be 100% original!

BUT, IF you want to create stickers in Procreate without having to draw, keep reading!

In this post we will go over using the following 3 methods:

1) Grab it from an AI output: I love this option. Even tho I am an artist who can draw freehand, I am excited about using AI to generate images quickly which frees up my time to create more things!

2) Create one in Canva: I love this option too and show an example of this below.

3) Use a favorite photo that you own or have the rights to use.

This first one is the newest way I use and I am so excited about it!

1) Grab an AI image and import it in Procreate

I am using an AI (artificial intelligence) text to image generator called Jasper to work with an image I want to make into a sticker.
I will be sharing a whole bunch of posts on AI Art – How to do it and What to do with it soon, so for now ‘stick’ with me! (yep, I am a cornball so that PUN was Intended!)

So, here is the image I downloaded from Jasper Art! Jasper art files are only 512px X 512px so I am going to use an image upscaler to make the image larger. Even though stickers are usually not very large, I like to upscale any lower quality images to get the best output.

Here’s the example from Sticker Mule to show you WHY upscaling a lower quality image is important! 🙂

Now let’s get back to the process!

First, you want to OPEN the Procreate App and create a NEW Canvas Size!

I like to make my procreate canvas larger so I have more options once I have created my art. If you create your art too small, you won’t be able to print it larger for something else like wall art or a t-shirt.

I don’t know if it’s an OCD thing, but I love using 12″ X 12″ canvas size at 300 dpi – which allows for 37 layers to work with, PLENTY of layers, especially for a sticker.

By creating a circle on a different layer and masking it, you can create a simple circle sticker and add some simple text like I did with this one:

If you want to get a little fancier, you can outline the shape and make a more unique shape for your sticker like I did here:

Once you have the design you like, you can export as a PNG and use as a digital sticker OR print it out and share with your friends! If you want to make stickers to sell on Esty, one of my favorite peeps has written all about that, so bookmark this article to read when you’re ready!

2) Let’s Create a Sticker in Procreate from an image we made in Canva

I created this adventure sticker in Canva. I found this text I liked, grabbed a school bus element, and the birds and trees element. I put these elements all together in Canva then sent them to my iPad via AirDrop.
In my iPad, I drew the little squiggly lines, and made the sunburst background and drew the shape I wanted for my sticker.
The super short video below is a screen recording from my iPad so you can see what I did.

If you want to dig deeper into Canva, one of my very good friends Pam, teaches all about Canva and has a really helpful Canva FB Group here!

3) Use Your Own Photo to Make a Custom and Personalized Sticker in Procreate

This is a fun and easy option to create a very personal sticker quickly in Procreate!

After you import the image onto your canvas, make a duplicate of that image just in case you need it.
I am using a photo of my dog! An easy way to save some time is to remove the background of the photo using Canva, then download the image before you put it into Procreate.

For this image, I could not locate the original, so I cropped out a lot of the image, uploaded to Canva AFTER I removed the background, then I used the upscale tool in Sticker Mule to make it larger.

Because I am in the image, Canva deleted all of our background and left me in the photo with Kinzie, my rescue pup.

Canva has a brush you can use to remove more background, but I find I have more control over the image and erasing INSIDE of the Procreate app. So, I airdropped the image to my iPad and erased the remaining parts of the image that I did not want, a.k.a “me”, lol and got the result I was looking for.

I drew a thicker white line for my sticker outline, which is not needed, but I like to use an outline and usually mix that up with colors as you can see below!

Wrap Up to creating stickers in Procreate

So, what do you think? Will you be using procreate to create your own stickers? These are perfect for digital stickers, but you can also use the art you created to make larger digital designs, wall art, tshirts, printables, digital products and even real stickers using your own printer or a service like Sticker Mule!

We will talk about how to print the stickers in the next post, but there are SO many things you can do with digital stickers without needing a printer or sending them off to be printed. This is what I do, because I live in 75 square feet (my van) and having a printer in here would be a little too cozy for comfort.

If you like what you are reading, I hope you will consider signing up to hear from me! I will be sharing about art and all the ways I create to build my income and enjoy my life while I travel full time!