How To Mirror Objects in a Drawing in Procreate

No matter what your skill level, Procreate is a powerful app with lots of tools to help you produce the perfect piece of artwork. But what happens when you want to mirror a drawing in Procreate? Fortunately, it has the tools to help you create perfect symmetry.

In this article, we’ll discuss how to mirror drawings, layers, text, and objects.

How to Mirror a Drawing in Procreate

Procreate is an ideal app for digital artists, especially if you want to mirror a drawing. You can do so by utilizing the symmetry and mirror tools. With just a few taps, you can mirror a drawing in a variety of ways. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Tap the “Wrench” icon located in the top-left of the screen to access the “Actions” menu.
   
2. From the dropdown menu, press the “Canvas” icon.
   
3. Ensure that the “Drawing Guide” is enabled by toggling the button to the on position. This will put a grid on the canvas.
   
4. Located just under the “Drawing Guide,” click on “Edit Drawing Guide.”
   
5. At the bottom of the screen, select “Symmetry.”
   
6. Just below the word “Symmetry,” press “Options.”
   
7. The default symmetry is vertical. However, you have other options.
   • Vertical will mirror your drawing on the vertical axis.
     
   • Horizontal will mirror your drawing on the horizontal axis.
     
   • Quadrants will mirror your drawing into four sections.
     
   • Radial will mirror your drawing into eight sections.
     
8. Select “Rotational Symmetry” if you want your mirrored drawing to be flipped. If turned off, your drawing will be mirrored without flipping it upside down.
   

You have other mirroring options. By using the handles on the axis line, you can rotate or move the guide line to any angle or position you’d like. If you select the green dot on the guide line, you can rotate it to any angle. By selecting the blue dot, you can move the guide line horizontally.

Mirror a Layer

Sometimes you’ll want to mirror a single layer and not an entire drawing. Thankfully, you can easily mirror a layer by using the editing menu. To do so, follow the steps below:

1. Tap on the “Layers” icon and select the layer you want to mirror.
   
2. Select the “Pointer” tool from the top menu.
   
3. At the bottom of the screen, select either “Flip Horizontal” or “Flip Vertical.”
   

Mirror Text

You can easily mirror text in a Procreate image. The process is a bit different to mirroring a drawing, but it’s just as easy. By selecting the text, you’ll have the option of duplicating and flipping it. To mirror text, do the following:

1. Tap the “Arrow” tool from the top menu.
   
2. Select the text you’d like to mirror.
   
3. Duplicate the text.
   
4. Ensure that the duplicate text is selected by tapping on it with the arrow tool.
   
5. From the popup window at the bottom of the screen, choose “Freeform.”
   
6. Here you can flip the text horizontally or vertically.
   

You’ll now have a mirrored image of the text on a separate layer. If you choose to do so, you can then combine the layers with both pieces of the text.

Mirror Objects

If you’d like to mirror an object or objects in Procreate, the steps to do so are straightforward. Similar to the mirror text method, you’ll need to create a duplicate of the object and then mirror it horizontally or vertically.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Using the “Arrow” tool from the menu at the top of the screen, select the object you’d like to mirror.
   
2. Duplicate the object so you now have two of them.
   
3. Using the arrow tool, tap on the object you’d like to mirror.
   
4. Using the popup window at the bottom, select “Freeform.”
   
5. Now you can choose to flip the object horizontally or vertically.
   

The duplicate object will now be located on its own layer. If you’d like to, you can combine the two objects so they’re located on the same layer.

Mirring Items in Procreate Pocket

For artists who prefer to create digital artwork on their iPhones, Procreate Pocket is the best way forward. On occasion, you may want to mirror a drawing, either horizontally, vertically, or in other ways. This can be easily executed by using Procreate Pocket’s symmetry tools.

1. Select “Modify,” “Actions,” and then “Guides” to go to the “Drawing Guides” screen.
   
2. Tap on “Symmetry.”
   
3. You’ll now see four icons at the bottom of the screen. From left to right they are:
   
   • Vertical to mirror the drawing vertically
   • Horizontal to mirror the drawing horizontally
   • Quadrants to mirror the drawing into four sections
   • Radial to mirror the drawing into eight sections
4. Tap “Done.”
   
   

Once you’ve made your selection, you can also make some other adjustments by using the handles on the axis line. To move the mirrored images horizontally on the page, select the blue node and slide your finger left or right. If you’d like to rotate them, tap and hold on the green node and move it to change the angle.

Mirror a Layer

You have the ability to mirror a layer using Procreate Pocket using a similar method to the iPad version. To do so, follow these instructions:

1. Select the layer you’d like to mirror by tapping on the “Layers” icon and select the layer you’d like to mirror.
   
2. With the proper layer selected, use the menu at the bottom of the screen and select either “Flip Horizontal” or “Flip Vertical.”

Mirror Text

Mirroring text is something that a lot of digital artists like to do. If you’d like to mirror text in Procreate Pocket, doing so is straightforward. The method is similar to how you’d do it using the Procreate app on an iPad. By duplicating the text first, you can easily mirror it and place it exactly where you’d like on the screen.

1. Select the “Pointer” tool from the top menu and select the text you’d like to mirror.
   
2. Duplicate the text.
   
3. Ensure that the duplicate text is selected by tapping on it with the pointer tool.
   
4. From the bottom menu, press “Freeform.”
5. Here you can select either “Flip Horizontal” or “Flip Vertical.”

The mirrored text is now on its own layer. If you’d like to, you can combine it with the layer that contains the original text.

Mirror Objects

If you want to mirror an object or objects, you can utilize a similar method that’s used to mirror text. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Using the “Pointer” tool, select the object you’d like to mirror.
   
2. Duplicate the object.
   
3. Tap on the new object to ensure that it’s selected.
   
4. Select “Freeform” from the bottom menu.
5. Choose either “Flip Horizontal” or “Flip Vertical.”

The duplicated and flipped object will be located on its own layer. If necessary, you can combine these two layers.

Mirroring Drawings and Other Elements Explained

Creators and designers who use Procreate may want to mirror different elements. Doing so is straightforward. You can use the symmetry tools to mirror a drawing as you’re creating it which will enable you to see your artwork come to life in mirrored form. For text and objects, you can simply duplicate the element and then quickly mirror it horizontally or vertically.

Have you ever mirrored elements using Procreate or Procreate Pocket? Did you use any of the methods outlined in this article? Let us know in the comments section below.