What make Procreate that popular is more the power of mouth and popularity of the iPad, not because it’s actually the best thing ever on mobile. They certainly gave it good marketing campaign.
It’s probably good for people learning to draw: simple interface, big canvas, most of the basic tool is there. Procreate came from a touch based painting app before Apple Pencil ever existed is one of its advantages (and what I hate because it’s too touch dependent).
But for people already learn to draw digitally from computers day, and need more speed than simplicity, Procreate is a hindrance for work flow. Most of the advanced tools are either hidden or made into gestures:
I still find the color dropping to fill a gimmick: the only way to fill is long press the color on the toolbar then drag it to the location need filling. It take more efford than just use the paint bucket tool and easy to miss-fill when used with a screen protector that might affect touch.
No smart close gap, reference multiple/ showing layers /layer folder for filling and selecting. You can only refere one layer and that’s it
layer folder can’t be clipped/selected/transformed
Better alternatives at similar price:
Infinite painter has almost every features Procreate had (notable perspective rulers) and the features it lacked above. Works on both iPad and Android, one time purchase 10$ (40% off it purchase on first 7 day ). Good for people perfer clean interface.
Krita: has every features you will ever need for drawing digitally. On par with CSP when it come to features and even more useful one if you are willing to dig up. Less than newbie-friendly interface. Great for people growing up with computer. Free on Android and PC.
ibis Paint X: lack perspective ruler but better fill tool, editable layer folder. Has some snapping features for perspective, and ads-based extra functions. Free but might be more annoying with the ads. One time purchase 10$ to remove all ads limit. File can be imported to CSP. Available on both Android and iOS.
Now, if we compare broke artists:
Ipad 10.2 320$, Apple Pencil 99$ (need charge and might have to be replaced after 2 years), Procreate 10$ = 429$
Tab S6 lite ( Pen inclued and battery-free):300$, Krita 0$, Infinite Painter 10$, Tvpaint 0$ (despite being an animation software, it’s actually great for painting) =300-310$
Tab S7 FE: now 420-450$, same software and pen above with bigger 12.6" screen = 430-460$
Sure, the iPad is great value, but Android is still cheaper and has desktop grade App at no cost.
Edit: Another Procreate advantage is big brushes library that come from a huge user base. Could be problem for some and not for others.
That’s all I’m trying to say. Procreate seems to do exactly what a lot of artists want. Many have already invested in an iPad so swapping to Android means ditching their iPads and buying an Android tablet. Samsung and Google need to promise more than the 3-4 years support and match Apple’s longer term support for devices because these investments for poor artists mean a lot to them.
Obviously supporting £50 cheapo devices isn’t worth while but spending £500 - £1200 on a device which won’t get security updates after a few years is a very serious consideration.
On that note - yes, Samsung is now offering £450 trade-in on older Samsung devices which would mean in 1-2 years I could get the next generation Galaxy devices cheaply and keep up to date with Google security updates but I’m hoping not to be adding to digital landfill by doing this yearly.
That’s old age catching up on you mate.
Marketing campaign? I don’t remember ever seeing one over here. Certainly word of mouth was a big driver - I tend to think if a product is good, people will recommend it to others. Then if you throw in plenty of Youtube tutorials and lots of Instagram artists posting what they have done in Procreate - this has turned things around. Especially when you throw Procreate into the mix when so many people were calling tablets toys and that you could only use Photoshop to create “art.”
Those people still exist - they still clamour for Adobe to port fully over to iPad but it’s not a device for me until they do something with the Pencil drawing experience.
Adobe gets lots of free advertising from Apple’s efforts to support it on iOS - they even launched Fresco as a ProCreate killer and that is compliment enough that the Procreate app is a serious contender. Maybe not in professional studios where people will be using Desktops with an Adobe subscription but for a lot of one-man-band type businesses.
I didn’t come to defend ProCreate as I’ve never used it - my iPad and Pencil don’t get much use because I prefer Wacom EMR and I’m slowly starting to get to grips with my new Galaxy S8 - but that comment shows you haven’t used it either. Why do we have paid toolbar apps if not because a lot of people want maximum screen real estate?
Clip Studio / Photoshop / Affinity etc on desktop have heavy UI interfaces and in some cases the tablet versions did the same (I believe Affinity actually redesigned the iPad version to declutter the interface) and people buy tablets because they want a touch interface while creating their art.
If they are not colour accurate, or even have CMYK support they are not better alternatives.
I already used Procreate a whole lot, I seriously tried giving it a try. Drew around 15 finished pieces with it, looked up every tips and tutorial I could find on Google to speed up work flow. It took a lot of patience not to switch app half way as I really wanted to know if it was as wonderful as people worshiped it to be. It wasn’t.
I like my tablet for its mobility, but also like my easy accessible fast usage toolbars. Not something you have to dig up in 3-4 click or being a difficult to perform gesture. Of course this is my personal preference and it’s fair that other people like clean interface.
But the features I mentioned that was missing in earlier post is seriously something that slow down workflow greatly, and they are available in other paid and free apps. Something that took 30 min to do in Procreate can be done in 5-10 min in CSP or Infinite Painter. That’s the reason I find it so underwhelming.
What you’re describing is how I’ve tried Blender vs my muscle memory and preferences for Softimage XSI and how I’ve tried Adobe InDesign vs my muscle memory and preference for Quark Xpress or how I’ve tried Affinity Photo vs my muscle memory and preferences for Photoshop. I even tried Clip Studio and Krita on desktop and I just can’t see how people think Clip Studio is so amazing.
The list goes on - just because I don’t like the way software X looks or does things doesn’t mean it’s rubbish software. It just means it’s not for me unless I really make the effort to learn how that software works because I really have to.
I also think people are underestimating how many young people grew up on iPads and iPhones at this point. My daughter does art commissions and even video projects (she’s in high school) using nothing but her iPad and associated apps. Trying to get her to use something with more features, but also more complexity in an OS she is less familiar with (she has a macbook – and they use macbook airs at school) is just not worth it to her.
Android is just as bad as WIndows to them. They don’t care about maximum functionality. They care about comfort–what they know. And they use iOS every day. And it ends up being more cost-effective because Procreate is a one-time purchase for almost nothing. CSP is a subscription, and Android is higher cost because they would have to buy something new–not something they already have.
Biggest takeaway from your post is that we all wanted a competitor to Photoshop and young people are making that change. Adobe Fresco isn’t gaining any traction whatsoever among young artists because they all hate the idea of subscription.
For that alone and despite never having used Procreate - I love it.
