Fast Neotraditional Tattoo Design in Procreate + Expert Critique

🌺 Uncover the secrets of neotraditional tattoo design with Procreate in this in-depth tutorial! I'm Russ Abbott, and I'll guide you through the process of creating a stunning tattoo design from start to finish.
🎨 In this video, I take a neo-traditional line drawing from the talented Matt Truiano and show you each step to render a beautiful hibiscus flower, ready to be tattooed on to skin. From setting up your canvas to the final color tweaks, I cover it all.
👁️ Stay until the end for an exclusive segment where Matt Truiano himself critiques the design, offering priceless insights from a master of the craft. Learn what makes a neotraditional style tattoo stand out.
✨ What you'll learn:
-How to set up the perfect canvas for tattoo art in Procreate
-Importing and adjusting line art for digital rendering
-Speedy value studies and efficient color rendering
-Utilizing Procreate's selection and color fill tools for precise design work
-Applying layer blending modes to enhance your artwork
-Real-time design adjustments based on expert critique
🎁 As a bonus, I've included a link to download the Procreate Canvas File and color palette I used in this tutorial, absolutely free! Perfect your neotraditional designs with the tools crafted for tattoo artists.
🔗 Download the FREE Procreate resources here: www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/0yp23w...
🔗 Download Matt Truiano's Procreate Flash Stamp Sets here:
tattoosmart.com/search?q=trui...
🔔 Don't miss Matt Truiano's incredible insights on neotraditional tattooing. Check out his Instagram @matttruiano and listen to the ‪@honesttattooerpodcast‬ for a deep dive into the world of professional tattooing.
🔗youtube.com/@honesttattooerpo...
👇 Let me know in the comments how this tutorial helped you and what other Procreate tricks you'd like to see next!
👉 For more tattoo design tutorials and artist discussions, make sure to subscribe and hit the bell to be notified of new content!
0:00 - Introduction
1:38 - Creating a Canvas
2:29 - Changing the Background Color
3:06 - Importing the Line Drawing
4:23 - Free Gray Values Color Palette
5:20 - Color Drop
5:39 - Reference Layer
7:01 - The Most Common Problem
8:44 - Color Fill
10:10 - Clipping Mask
11:19 - Adding Shadows and Highlights
13:15 - Coloring the Values Using "Overlay"
17:01 - Adjusting Hue, Saturation, Brightness
22:39 - Final Highlights and Tweaks
27:23 - Adding a Cast Shadow
31:01 - Meeting Matt Truiano
35:34 - Matt's Definition of Neotrad Style?
36:15 - The Critique
36:45 - From Illustrative to Neotrad
40:24 - Simplifying the Color Palette
46:22 - Matt's Least Favorite Part
48:14 - Thoughts on Plagiarism vs. Flash
50:45 - How You Can Work with Matt's Flash Designs
54:15 - Conclusion

[@CAKESLAPPA]

Very helpful thank you for contributing to my skillset and all of the endless amounts of inspiration you've given over the years.

[@Tattoosmart]

Hey, thanks so much for watching! I appreciate the feedback. Glad this helped you out. Don't miss the Free giveaway of the Procreate file and the Color Palette. Link in the description.

[@j.cvaltierra2990]

You my good man have saved me hours and hours of time. With these nuggets. Thank you!

[@lichdesign]

It's incredibly valuable that you are showing the mistakes we all make and alert us how to avoid them.

[@Tattoosmart]

Glad you found this useful. Don't miss the free color palette and Procreate file from this project. Link in the description.

[@tat2joeelliott]

dude i learned more about procreat in your video than any where else thanx

[@Tattoosmart]

Glad I could help! Make sure you check the description for the free resources.

[@Inkbyjeremy]

Great info thanks 🙏

[@Tattoosmart]

You're welcome! What was your main takeaway?

[@nikiroorda2522]

This is a great video!!

[@Tattoosmart]

Glad you think so!

[@stevelowe340]

Hey Russ thanks mate the help with procreate is much appreciated after a year I am still struggling with it your tutorials real help me.

[@Tattoosmart]

Happy to help! Big shout-out to Matt Truiano too!

[@tattoostudioleitmotif4703]

Thanx for all your work buddy!!!!! Cheers from France 🤘

[@Tattoosmart]

Merci beaucoup!

[@tattoostudioleitmotif4703]

Really appreciated😉🤘

[@DaveDanchuk]

Learned a few tricks. Should make my coloring quicker. Cheers!

[@Tattoosmart]

Awesome! Don’t miss the free gray values palette and the Procreate file- link in the description.

[@samehmke3396]

First one here

[@jacenburchell683]

Priceless! My only critique would be to change the white balance on your camera to something other than auto. When you change colors on your iPad the auto white balance messes with the colors.

[@Tattoosmart]

Thanks for the tip on the white balance. I was so bummed when I saw that color shift in the edit. I don’t have the expertise with color grading to figure out how to fix it in post. I’ll work on getting the setting locked in so that doesn’t happen in the future.

[@jacenburchell683]

@Tattoosmart Right on! It is really hard to fix in post-edit. Thanks again for the video!!

[@ri-ealismtattooart2244]

I love the quickness and stuff but I feel it not benefit me to be better at drawing i want to realy draw and shade things . instead of dropping colors i im investing in more brushes and want to make my own fav folder or as example a greywash set so I get the tattoo feeling ( doesn't need necessary the tattoo card brushes because the ones I tried did not realy feel real ) But I use the world famous set a lot , and the noire ink set . i want to design and color with this tones because that would give me the best reference offcourse . Not have all the knowledge yet but love to get it like when I get the ghost wash then it is that tone and offcourse I want to build it up but now I can make too dark tones from the lightest wash so the speak even when tje opacity is not in the max . So anyone have some tips :) Because its a great tool also the 3D models it has so much potential if it didnt have the one flaw that make it useless . You cant design decent on the inside positions inner arm , inner bicep , inner forearm outside all is great but the inside doesn't connect If you guys can make that work then its real game changer . dont hating on you , you kindly aknnowledges the problem already a big while back . Love your customer service ! Hoped you fixed the problem but as I understand even after the update this problem still exist . for me its a deal breaker and that is so sad because its so powerful so fingers crossed hihi

[@sips1er1]

How do I add the swatches.json file to procreate?

[@Tattoosmart]

Make sure you’re on your iPad when you download it. Then tap the file and tap “open in Procreate”. Then go look for it where your palettes are stored in the color picker.

[@Vitaminepille]

Something is wrong with the files. It can’t be opened in Procreate, as it’s a json file. It should be a .swatches file (renaming it does not work). Also the procreate file of the rose itself does not work either (it’s multiple folders with weird files in them)

[@Tattoosmart]

Hey, thanks for letting us know. We've updated the link and this should work for you: www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/0yp23wh6nng4l1jssfavh/h?rlkey=xi8vcmynxitz8s4bsbizx6q1f&dl=0

[@JOKE485]

I didn't get this info from my 3k$ course from ben fisher, LOL. For anyone watching that considers buying his course. Don't, it's a ripoff and all the information is online for you to find to learn how to tattoo. No course will explain exactly how to. No price will ever be high enough to saturate experience. After tattooing for 2 years, i've learned more from experience and free sources than the shitty course I paid for.

[@Tattoosmart]

It sucks to hear you didn't receive the info you needed from that paid course. I'm not familiar with the artist you mentioned, but hopefully they are taking your feedback and trying to improve in the future.

[@JOKE485]

He's on youtube, more of a "business" man than an artist. When I mentioned it in the facebook group he has he threatened to kick me for voicing my opinion in the group. Uses my tattoo to showcase what his students can do etc even though I asked to take my art down. He's a douche and fake.@@Tattoosmart

[@CodyRaneJohnson1990]

Same bought that course when I first started my journey

[@Jcrof]

@@JOKE485 Damn. Thanks for sharing bud. You will help whoever sees this that has considered buying his course.

[@inb4230]

lol the same could be said for basically any course, and honestly if you're paying 3k for a beginners tattoo online course, well..Every conman needs suckers and unfortunately they're out there. Just ask ol Russ here, he also sells a "course " that teaches terrible scrupulous tattoo "artists " to overcharge their clients in the region of THOUSANDS for A SKETCH,a STOLEN sketch at that.Just Google "TATTOOGATE". stop coming here acting like you're this good guy trying to help russ,the only thing you want to help is your wallet,i get why though, there's a lot of people with disposable money to throw at anyone that sings a semi pretty song without doing a single second of research, aka suckers.Can't buy hard work,or talent. What this guy was pushing in the tattoo industry is absolutely sickening,advising his "customers ",99% mediocre artists that just want that quick buck out their customers to demand thousands of dollars consultations and then make their customers hostages to designs they didn't want and were TRACED off the internet,to rephrase one of them "either that or I'll be laughing all the way to the bank ". True story