Procreate is a wonderful program to design home decor and home furnishing accessory items. We love to use Procreate for our home decor and home furniture tray product designs.
Designing a home decor accessories tray in Procreate is easy if you follow our 4 simple steps and instructions as 1) find a tray shape to use as a reference photo, 2) import the photo into Procreate., 3) add layers in Procreate for each part of the tray, and 4) use the clipping mask function.
A home decor tray is one of the easier product designs you can design in Procreate. If you are starting to do your home decor and home furniture product design in Procreate, a tray design would be a good item to start with.
Here are our 4 Easy Steps to Designing a Home Decor and Home Furnishing Accessories Tray Using the Procreate Program
Step 1 – Find a Tray Shape Reference Photo For Procreate
The first thing you need to do is find a tray shape that you will use as a reference. You can find one online, or maybe you already have a shape of a tray in your collection that you like and want to see how a change of color or a pattern will look.
If you want, you can draw out the tray from scratch on the Procreate canvas, just as you would be paper. But, we have found it much easier to start with a tray photo as a reference. This will give us an excellent base for the shape and design.
Whatever tray photo you choose, the photo will not be seen on the actual design. We usually either delete the photo’s layer once the design is completed or turn off that layer. But we never show the reference photo layer on the final design.
Step 2 – Import Into The Procreate App
Import your reference photo onto a canvas in Procreate. Before you actually import it in, we have found that it is best to crop the reference photo as close to the shape as you can. This way, you do not have a lot of extra background on your canvas and will make it easier to work with the photo in Procreate.
Cropping an image is usually much easier to do in another program like Apple photos, Photoshop, or Lightroom. We do not recommend trying to crop or change it too much in Procreate, especially as the photo is only for a reference that will not be seen on the actual design.
Import the reference photo by using the add photo function on the left-hand side of the Procreate canvas. Use your two fingers to adjust the photo to the size that you want for your drawing.
The larger the reference photos and drawing, the easier it is for me to work with the design. You can always adjust the size later but work on as large a surface as possible. This helps you get the detail you need.
Step 3 – Add Layers, Outline, Fill with the Procreate App
One of the most important things you can do when designing with Procreate for home decor and home furniture product design is you need to add layers. Everything shape, side, part, and design element should have its own layer.
This is where a lot of people make a mistake with their Procreate product design. They do not add a layer for each shape and each design element. Here is an example of the tray design:
- Bottom of the tray – Add a layer and draw the bottom of the tray outline, then fill the shape with color.
- Right Side of the tray – Add another layer. Outline the right side area of the tray and then fill it with a color.
- The tray’s left side – Add another layer, outline the left side of the tray, and then fill with another color.
- Top of the tray – Add a layer, outline the tray’s top, and then fill with another color.
- The tray’s rim – Add a layer, outline the rim of the tray and then fill with another color, etc.
As you can see from this example, every single part of the tray has a layer. This will make it much easier for you to change and adjust colors as needed or add other design elements using the clipping mask function.
When designing a home decor tray, we do not worry about the actual colors of the tray parts. In fact, we will usually do each side and part in a different color on purpose. When we are designing the tray, we can clearly see our design and if we need to make any adjustments. We will change the colors and finish once we have outlined the entire tray.
You will also notice that when we outline the shape on each layer, we will fill it with a color. Making sure the shape will actually fill with color is important in this entire design process, especially using the clipping mask function.
If you want to know what Procreate pens will work best to be able to fill in the shape with a color, you can read our blog on What Procreate Pens or Pencils To Use Procreate’s Clipping Mask Function? Read the blog by clicking here.
Step 4 – Use The Clipping Mask Function In Procreate
We like to use the clipping mask function for almost all our colors or designs. The reason is that when you use the clipping mask function it does not show the outline of the design but will just show the color. We find this gives a much better look for the entire design to use the clipping mask function whenever possible.
To find out more about the clipping mask function, you can read our blog on 4 Easy Steps Using the Clipping Mask Function in Procreate by clicking here.
We love to use Procreate and find it a useful tool to help us with all our home decor and home furniture product accessories design. Designing a tray in Procreate can be quite easy to do.
If you would like to discover how Mondoro can help you create, develop, and manufacture home decor and home furnishing products in Asia, please feel to contact us; we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to contact Anita by clicking here.
Related Questions
How Do I Make A Pattern Repeat In Procreate?
Procreate is a great tool to use to design home decor and home furnishing accessory product design. To use the Procreate program you must have an Apple Ipad. There are several easy steps you can take to make a repeat pattern in Procreate. Some of the steps are that you need to 1) import your pattern to your photos on your Apple devices. Once you have done that then 2) you are ready to start to adjust the pattern size, 3) duplicate the layers and then move the layer around on your canvas until your pattern repeat is completed.
To find out more about using a Pattern Repeat in Procreate you can read our blog on 6 Easy Steps to Use Procreate to Make A Pattern Repeat by clicking here.
How To Set Up A Color Palette In Procreate?
The Procreate App for Apple IPad has a palette feature that allows you to easily set up your own color palettes. This is a great tool that helps you to organize the colors you need when you are designing products by using the Procreate app. The Procreate palette tool will not only organize the palettes for you, but will also show you the RGB, HSB, and Hexadecimal Value of your color, along with the exact position of the color on the color wheel. There are several methods you can use to find your palette colors, but one of the easier ways is to photograph the color and import the photo into Procreate.
You can discover more about how to use the Procreate palette by reading our blog Setting Up Your Color Palettes in Procreate, What You Need to Know by clicking here.
