Use Procreate to create and export individual book illustrations, then assemble the complete interior in a page-layout app unless your printer specifically accepts another workflow. Before drawing, ask the printer for the finished page size, bleed, color profile, resolution, and preferred file type. This prevents a polished illustration from being cropped, scaled, or recolored unexpectedly at print time.
1. Get the book and printer specifications first
Write down the finished trim size, orientation, whether the artwork reaches the edge, the required bleed, safe area, color profile, and accepted exports. Do not copy a bleed value or CMYK profile from a different printer’s tutorial. If the printer has a template, use the current version and ask which dimensions include bleed.
Procreate’s custom canvas lets you set dimensions in physical units or pixels, choose a color profile, and set DPI. Its handbook also notes that larger canvases allow fewer layers on a given iPad, so plan the working file around the device’s layer limit as well as the page size.
2. Create a separate canvas for each finished page
- Make a book-page preset using the printer’s specified dimensions and units.
- If artwork runs to the edge, extend the background or image through the exact bleed area provided by the printer.
- Keep faces, lettering, and other essential details inside the safe area; do not place them where trimming or binding may remove them.
- Name canvases with the book title and final page sequence, for example
BookTitle_Interior_012. - Save a duplicate of the custom canvas preset so the next page starts with the same dimensions and color settings.
For a two-page spread, confirm whether the printer wants one spread canvas or separate reader pages. Unless instructed otherwise, plan individual page files and let the layout application place them in the book.
3. Check image detail at the actual printed size
DPI describes how many pixels are used per inch when the artwork is placed at a particular physical size. To estimate effective resolution, divide the image’s pixel width by its placed width in inches. For example, a 3,000-pixel-wide illustration placed 10 inches wide has an effective resolution of 300 pixels per inch. That calculation is a diagnostic; the printer’s own minimum and accepted methods take priority.
In Procreate, use Canvas Information to inspect pixel dimensions and DPI. Do this at the intended page size, not only while zoomed in on an iPad. If you enlarge a small source image to fill a larger printed area, the displayed DPI number alone cannot create missing visual detail.
4. Choose color settings with the printer
Ask which profile and color workflow the printer wants before starting a large illustration set. Procreate supports RGB and CMYK canvas profiles and advises artists to choose based on the artwork’s destination. However, the correct choice for a specific book depends on the printer’s workflow; do not convert everything to a random CMYK profile because a general article says “print requires CMYK.”
Colors on an iPad display will not guarantee an exact match on paper. Export one representative page and request a physical proof if color accuracy matters. Pay special attention to saturated colors, dark shadows, skin tones, and artwork that mixes photographs with painted elements.
5. Keep an editable master and export page artwork
Keep the original .procreate canvas as your editable master. Procreate can also export flattened TIFF, PNG, JPEG, and PDF files, as well as layered formats such as PSD. Ask which format your page-layout application and printer prefer. TIFF may suit a print workflow; PNG can preserve transparency; JPEG is compressed. These formats behave differently, so test a representative page before exporting every illustration.
Export each page with a stable filename and put it in a numbered folder. Keep the source and the print export separate so a correction does not accidentally overwrite your master. If you export multiple canvases as a PDF from Procreate, each canvas becomes a page in one file; that can be useful for a sequence of illustrations, but it does not automatically provide the complete book structure, text flow, front matter, page numbers, or cover.
6. Assemble the full book in page order
Import the illustrations into a page-layout application and add the text, captions, page numbers, and other book elements. Confirm that each placed illustration has the intended scale and crop. Create one page per reader page unless the printer requests spreads, and export the interior using its current PDF specification.
- Check the opening and ending pages of every chapter or section.
- Review any image crossing the gutter and confirm the printer’s binding-safe area.
- Verify that page numbers and captions do not overlap the artwork or trim area.
- Make sure the cover is supplied separately if the printer requires a separate cover file.
Do not manually impose pages into printer sheets unless the print provider explicitly asks for imposed files.
7. Inspect the exported PDF, not just the Procreate canvases
- Open the final PDF in a separate viewer and confirm the page size and page count.
- Scroll through the whole file to catch missing, duplicated, or out-of-order pages.
- Zoom in on small lettering, fine line art, gradients, and texture for pixelation or export artifacts.
- Check all edge-to-edge images against the printer’s bleed and trim template.
- Compare the PDF’s color and crop with a physical proof when the images are color-critical.
- After fixing a page, export a new final PDF and recheck the affected page and its neighbors.
Final Procreate-to-print checklist
- Printer specifications were confirmed before final artwork setup.
- Each illustration uses the right physical dimensions, bleed, safe area, and color profile.
- Effective image resolution was checked at the placed print size.
- Editable Procreate masters are preserved separately from flattened exports.
- Page files are named and assembled in the intended reading order.
- The complete book interior—not only a stack of illustrations—was exported and reviewed as a PDF.
- A physical proof was reviewed when color, crop, or fine detail is important.
Request a print-file check
When your complete book PDF is ready, submit it for a free file check. Include the trim size, page count, quantity, and the printer’s specification sheet so the export can be checked against your actual project.