How to make a mockup in Procreate

A simple method for creating product mockups in Procreate with JPEG or PNG images

What is a mockup?

Product mockups are a great way to showcase your beautiful patterns so others can see how they might work on various products. They consist of blank product that you can superimpose your pattern on top of.

There are plenty of beautiful mockups available, but they are often created for use in Photoshop or Illustrator.

But is it possible to create mockups from within Procreate?

Of course!

I create all my mockups in Procreate and in this post I'm going to share with you a few top tips for creating your own mockups in procreate from PNG or JPEG images.

What do you need to make a mockup work in Procreate?

You need to look out for a high res jpeg or png image of an object. (Or alternatively if you are a photographer you can take your own!)

This could be anything from a t-shirt, a cushion or a baby romper.

The image needs to show a product that is totally white. It's fine (and good!) to have some shadows, but if the product is off-white it won't work as well.

Look out for images that have very few or no creases and are viewed flat on (if you need to account for perspective, things can get tricky!)

Something like this bag shown below works well. I downloaded this image for free from Unsplash.

Where can you find mockup images?

You can either find free images on sites such as Pixabay or Unsplash or you can buy your mockups through sites such as Etsy or Creative Market.

Out of all these platforms I’ve found my best mockups on Etsy but if you are making mockups for the first time I would suggest starting with the free ones until you work out what makes a good mockup image.

If you are buying a mockup, take a look at the description and check that the mockup is provided as a flattened file (JPEG or PNG) at a high resolution (300dpi is good) It might also be provided as a PSD but we won’t be needing that.

How to create the mockup

Buy or download your image and import it into Procreate.

First create a new layer above the image file.

Now select black and a non textured brush. The monoline brush in the Procreate library would work well for this.

Trace carefully around the edge of the white area you want to put your pattern on.

Sometimes this can be tricky but it’s worth getting it right! Having a small sized brush will help to make it as accurate as possible. You can then use the fill tool to fill the section.

I've decided I want my pattern on the main bag area but not on the straps of the bag.

Once you've finished change the colour to pure white.

Now change the blend mode to multiply so the texture from the photo shows through. You do this by clicking the N on the layer and then selecting 'Multiply'

Next import your pattern over the top and adjust the scale to your preference.

Now apply a clipping mask to your pattern and change the blend mode to multiply.

You can see by zooming in that because we have used the Multiply blend mode the shadows and creases are still visible on the bag making it look more realistic.

You can make all sorts of mockups using this method and once you have created the white layer you can quickly add in different patterns to see how they look.

It can take some experimenting with different images and patterns to get a look you are happy with. I have experimented a lot with different mockups and patterns, and sometimes I am really pleased with the result and sometimes it just doesn't look realistic!

That's why I'd recommend downloading free ones to start with before buying any.

it might just be the combination of shadows, or the colour of your pattern that sometimes makes it work and sometimes doesn't.

However, some of my most realistic mockups I have bought from Etsy as JPEGS and I have made them in Procreate using this exact method.

Complicated mockups

If you have an item of clothing that has seams or places where you think the fabric would not be continuous it can sometimes look unrealistic if you place your pattern over the whole thing.

You can see with this Tshirt mockup below that the sleeves would be a separate piece of fabric and so would the right hand corner that is folded up. If you put your pattern over the whole item it looks odd!

There is an easy fix for this!

For each separate piece of fabric draw the white section on a separate layer. Then add your pattern separately on the top of each one. (Remember to set the blend mode to M for each layer and add the clipping mask!)

Then you can move and rotate the pattern of each section so it looks realistic.

As another alternative you could also drop a coordinating colour onto different sections instead of your pattern. This can also look really nice, especially with clothing!

Why use mockups?

Mockups are such a great way to showcase your patterns on social media, Pinterest and in your portfolio. They give your audience a way to picture how these designs would look.

Before spending lots of money buying images, really have a think about what your patterns would look good on and perhaps buy one or two that would show them to their best advantage.

I’m soon going to have a go at creating my own mockups from images I take myself! I’ll let you know if it’s successful and if it is a new blog post will follow!

Let me know in the comments if this has been helpful or if you have any questions!