Alpha lock on Procreate - How to turn it on and what it does

Alpha lock on Procreate is a fabulous tool. It works great for adding details to characters and such. If you don’t know what Alpha lock is or how to turn it on, you’re in for a treat. 

Alpha lock takes the contents of a layer and locks it. What does this mean? It means you can only draw on top of the locked content.

Why is this so great for adding details? Because if I’m adding details to something, I don’t want those details to be on the canvas too. Let’s say I’m adding lines to a shirt. I want those lines to look like they’re on the shirt only. As the example below demonstrates, this is where Alpha Lock comes in handy. 

WITHOUT ALPHA LOCK                        WITH ALPHA LOCK

How do you turn Alpha Lock on? Alpha Lock applies to the layer only, so you have to go to layers to turn it on. Make you’re on the layer you want to Alpha Lock. Click the layer and a menu should come up. Click ‘Alpha Lock’. A checkered background should show up on the layer thumbnail to signal that that layer is on Alpha Lock. 

To remove Alpha Lock, come back to this menu. A check mark should be next to Alpha Lock, symbolizing that Alpha Lock is on. Click ‘Alpha Lock’ again to turn it off.

Pro tip: To quickly turn Alpha Lock on and off, put two fingers on the layer you want to Alpha Lock. Slide them to the left and then to the right. Alpha Lock should turn on/off.

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Thanks for reading!