Stop Accidental Hand Marks While Sketching in Procreate
Ever feel like your hand is sabotaging your creative flow on Procreate? You’re in the zone, sketching away, and suddenly—whoops! The color picker pops up, or unwanted marks appear on your canvas.
If you’ve experienced this frustration, you’re not alone. Many digital fashion illustrators and designers struggle with accidental screen inputs when they lean their hand on the iPad while drawing. Fortunately, Procreate offers ways to make your creative process seamless, even when resting your hand on the screen.
Here’s how to prevent accidental screen inputs and focus entirely on bringing your fashion sketches to life:
Use an Apple Pencil: If you aren’t already, consider investing in an Apple Pencil. Procreate is optimized for this tool, and it automatically prioritizes Apple Pencil input over touch input. This means your hand resting on the screen becomes far less of an issue.
Customize or Disable Touch Gestures: Sometimes, touch gestures are the culprits behind unexpected changes. Here’s how to fix that:
Turn off Touch Actions: Go to Actions (the wrench icon) > Prefs > Gesture Controls.
Navigate to the Eyedropper section and ensure that Touch is toggled off.
Review all gesture controls and turn off touch input where it isn’t necessary. To learn more, read Gesture Controls Preferences here.
This customization prevents your fingers from accidentally triggering actions like painting, smudging, or color selection.
Enable “Only Draw with Apple Pencil”: To further block unwanted touch input, adjust your iPad settings:
Go to Settings > Apple Pencil.
Toggle on Only Draw with Apple Pencil.
This feature ensures that only your Apple Pencil registers drawing input, not your hand.
Consider a Drawing Glove: If accidental inputs persist, a drawing glove can help. These gloves cover part of your hand, reducing friction and minimizing unwanted touches on the screen.
Digital sketching should be about creativity, not frustration. With these tips, you can focus on perfecting your fashion designs without worrying about accidental screen inputs.