How to Erase in Procreate

Each design program has its own set of features. Some are very obvious to use, while others are somewhat hidden. The eraser in Procreate is a very simple tool to use, but it has a few tricks up its sleeve that I'll show you so you can speed up your design process.

This quick tutorial will teach you four different ways to erase in Procreate. Let's get started!

Method #1: How to Erase in Procreate Using a Regular Brush

Step1

We'll use some 3D aquatic objects from Envato Elements for this quick tutorial. These are in PSD format, so you won't have any issues opening these files in Procreate.

First, go to the Eraser tool, located at the top-right corner of your screen.

Go to the eraser tool, located at the top-right corner of the screen.

Step 2

Select a Procreate eraser or brush. For this tutorial, we'll use the Medium Hard Blend Brush.

Now we'll start erasing the flippers with our eraser in Procreate. As you can see, the flippers have disappeared.

Start erasing the fins with your eraser in Procreate.

To fill the white spot made by the Procreate eraser, drag the Color Picker button with your pencil.

Drag and drop the color to the white spot to fill it.

Now drop the color into the white spot. It will fill automatically.

Drop the color and it will fill automatically.

Method #2: How to Erase in Procreate Using the Same Brush

Let's say you're creating an art piece with a watercolor brush. If you want to erase parts of that watercolor painting in Procreate, you shouldn't use a different eraser brush; this can make the textures of the eraser look too obvious and unnatural in the painting. It's best to erase with the same brush you used to create the watercolor painting.

There's a shortcut that allows you to erase with the same brush that you're drawing with. This way, you'll save time switching between brushes and selecting the right one.

Don't worry if this sounds confusing—I'll show you how to erase in Procreate using this method.

Step 1

Create an illustration. For this example, we used a Wet Sponge brush. After you finish your illustration, make sure that you have the Brush tool button selected.

Create your illustration and then tap the Brush button.

Step 2

To erase in Procreate with the same Wet Sponge brush, just hold the Eraser tool icon until the message Erase with current brush comes up. This means you'll be able to erase with the current brush from the Brush tool you used for your painting.

Hold the eraser tool, and your eraser will switch to the brush you used to create your painting.

You can now use the Eraser tool in your painting.

Go ahead and erase, you'll see the brush has the same texture as your current paint brush.

You'll notice the eraser in Procreate has the same texture as the Wet Sponge brush. Learning this method will help you save time eventually.

Method #3: How to Erase One Color in Procreate

Learning how to erase one color in Procreate is not difficult, but it requires some precision. To erase one color in Procreate, we'll explore methods 3 and 4.

Step 1

The manual way to erase one color in Procreate is to select your desired eraser brush and carefully erase the borders of an element—in this case, a flipper. For this step, use a small brush size, and be careful not to go over the edges of your element.

Start erasing the borders of the object. This way you'll be able to delete the background color.

Step 2

After you've erased the borders of your element, use a larger brush to erase the rest of the color.

Start erasing the rest of the background color.

You'll notice the color has been removed because of the transparent background.

Once you see the transparent background that means you're done.

Method #4: How to Erase One Color in Procreate Using the Selection Tool

We've reached the final step in learning how to use an eraser in Procreate. In this section, we'll be using the Selection tool and our 3D aquatic objects. This tool allows you to select specific areas of your artwork and modify them to your needs. You can do many things like resizing, inverting colors, color filling, and more.

Step 1

Tap the Selection tool.

We'll now erase one color in Procreate and remove the background of our elements, so they have a transparent background. Before we start, double-check that you're working on the layer with your elements and the background color.

Step 2

Tap the Add button in the Automatic function of the Selection tool.

Tap anywhere in your background color now. You'll notice that the background has turned orange. This color change means the background has been selected correctly, so now you're ready to do whatever you want to the background.