Making GIFs in Procreate is actually a lot easier to do than you might think. I create GIFs primarily to use in Instagram Stories, so I have made most of the GIFs in my brand colors. My Giphy channel has over 2 BILLION views… I can’t even believe that! I’m gonna brag real quick and say that Joe Jonas has used one of my GIFs before and I still think about that to this day. Okay, on to the tutorial!
In this tutorial I’m going to show you two different types of GIFs to make which I like to call a “wobbly GIF” and a “writing GIF“.
Before we get started, we need to create a new canvas. I like to make mine at 8×10 inches with a 300 DPI. Please keep in mind that Instagram does make the GIFs a little more pixelated than other platforms like Giphy or Snapchat, but I do have a tip at the end on how to help alleviate this!
Wobbly GIF:
Step 1. Create your base layer
Step 2. Lower the opacity
Step 3. Create a new layer on top of that
Then trace over the first layer and make sure the lettering is slightly different. You will then repeat these steps until you have as many variations as you like. I usually stick with 3-4 layers.
Step 4: Turn the opacity to 100% for all the layers
Step 5: Export the GIF
Click on the wrench icon, then share as Animated GIF. This is where you will be able to see a preview of the GIF. You can change the speed to your preference. Before exporting make sure you have a transparent background, then click the orange Export button to send to your computer.
Writing GIF:
Next I want to show you a more complicated animation, which is where it looks like you are drawing the letters/design but in reality it’s made up of a bunch of layers.
Step 1: Make your design / word
Step 2: Duplicate the design a handful of times
Step 3: Turn off all the layers except for the bottom layer
Step 4: Erase everything except for the very first section
Step 5: Move on to the next layer
Turn down the opacity, then turn on the layer above. In this layer you will erase everything except the next section of the word. You’ll keep erasing less and less, with each time including what was in the last layer.
So as each layer builds more of your word/design will stay on the canvas. You want to try to make each layer the same length so that the GIF doesn’t appear to slow down or speed up in a random spot.
Step 6: Duplicate the last layer
This will make the GIF appear to pause a bit at the end.
How to Avoid Blurriness with GIFs:
One way I’ve figured out to avoid blurriness in Instagram (at least a little bit!) is to crop the canvas down to the design. Instead of resizing the design to fit the canvas, you can crop the canvas down. Click on Canvas then crop to fit around the word/design without losing any details.
If you liked this tutorial on how to make a GIF in Procreate, then make sure to check out my tutorial on using lettering guides in Procreate. If you have any tutorial requests, leave a comment!