Storage Needs for Procreate and iPad

Affiliate Disclaimer: Artmellows.com may contain links to affiliate websites( Amazon and others), and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links. For more Info check our Disclosure here.

How much storage should you get on your iPad Pro if you are using it for digital art with Procreate?

Well, the 11″ and 12.9″ iPad Pro starting versions offer 128GB of storage. The output file size is the primary determinant of the amount of storage required. iCloud Drive makes it easy to move files between your Mac and iPad.

My first purchase was a 128 GB iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil. So far, it’s been a good fit for me. I transfer my creatives once a month onto the external storage, 128 GBs works for me( call me lazy)

Over the course of the previous several years, I’ve only utilised around a third of the device’s total storage capacity.

About a third to a half of that space is taken up by other programmes, but ProCreate and Concepts have emerged as two of my go-to picks.

The functionality of ProCreate is more closely aligned with that of Photoshop. Generally, unless you are shooting HD or 4K video, or keeping plenty of top-tier games, movies and music, 128GB may be more than adequate.

If you can easily extend to 256GB then go for it, but remember, I believe you will be saving or backing up your work to a cloud storage service, so capacity isn’t really a problem in the Pro range.

32GB of storage for artwork = 32,000MB, even if each art file was 10MB, you’d have the capacity for almost 3000 drawings in Procreate App. So, 32GB iPad is enough for a beginner, however, if you are creating HD and multi-layered Creatives then you would need 128GB, then again you always have the option of saving the creations externally.

If you are working in vector drawing programmes, you will discover that it is hard to fill a 256GB iPad with only your work (after the space taken up by iOS and apps).

Even working in Photoshop, a 4K picture is roughly 24MB per the whole layer of information, so even if the files were 100MB, you’d have room for 300 with 32GB of free storage.

Also Read: Is Procreate Good for Graphic Design? Procreate App Vs. Photoshop, Which Is Better?

Why does Procreate take up so much storage? How big are procreate files

There is a lot of iPad space taken up by ProCreate’s files. I’m curious about two things: 1) how much storage a normal file requires, and 2) how big of a difference there is in file size when recording is disabled.

Well, I usually don’t say the taboo words” It depends” in my blogs but in this case, It all depends on how often you want to use it, how many drawings you intend to create, and whether or not you intend to save them anywhere other than the computer.

Procreate doesn’t keep/save everything.

As an illustration, consider brushes and swatches (palettes):  One of my 4k cinema quality paintings & Creatives with 10 layers in procreate format is 50-60 MBs. 

Despite the fact that it has two layers in multiply and adds modes, I’d estimate that the usual document size is closer to 20 or 40MB unless you paint on a smaller canvas or merge all layers together. 

Also Read: Do Professional Artists and Illustrators Use Procreate?

Depending on the layers you have used, a procreate file can go from 60 Mb to 100 MB.

It’s only available on the iPad version of Procreate, and not the iCloud version.

Creating a URL to where all your brushes and swatches are saved will allow you to re-add them to your iPad if you ever need to do so.

Personally, I have a Procreate Additional Material folder on iCloud. All of my downloaded brushes, swatches, and other resources can be found here.

If you want to use the iPad as your only device and you create a lot of large-scale artwork, you may find yourself running out of storage capacity sooner than you expect, particularly because I imagine you will be using other applications on it as well.

If you intend to save your artwork to your laptop or desktop computer, Cloud storage or even external Drive you won’t have to worry about using up all of your 128GB of storage space.

Although 128GB is plenty for those just getting started with Procreate, if you find yourself running out of space in a few years, just transfer the finest of your work to a cloud service, such as Dropbox or Google Drive.

My own artwork is stored on Google Drive & External Storage ( 3TBs), regardless of whether it was created on an iPad or scanned from a paper version to my laptop because it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

And it also allows me to delete less frequently used or important art files from my iPad, thereby freeing up some space.

Also Read: Is Procreate Good for Logos? Procreate is not My Pick For Logo Creation

Ways to store your Creatives from Procreate

Use Google Drive

This is one of my favs. I store a bunch of my artwork from Procreate App On G-Drive. Google Drive is the world’s most popular cloud storage service.

As a matter of fact,  you can use Drive to create and collaborate on projects using Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Gmail and other applications take advantage of Google Drive’s unique collaborative environment.

Use Cloud Storage/dropbox

For most professionals, procreate artists’ cloud storage is the computing level they need to take advantage of A professional product that millions of people use on a regular basis doesn’t imply that the average user cannot benefit from its features.

Cloud storage is a service that allows you to store your data on a server and access them from any device or location.

Users exchanged data on social networks like Facebook, Procreate Artists utilised material storage devices prior to this breakthrough. They, in fact, continue to save their data on physical media.

Because of this, not all consumers are aware of the benefits of cloud storage at this time.

Cloud storage, on the other hand, is no longer a novelty or a rarity.

People talk about their motivations for using them in everyday discourse.

Even though everyone is aware of what it is, the amount of users isn’t that great.

Use External Storage

Take Control of the Data on Your External Hard Drive: Keep just what you use. When you connect to an external hard drive, it appears on your iPad, and you can drag and drop files onto it to transfer them to the hard drive.

This is a straightforward process.

Monitor what is stored on your external hard disc. Doing so is as simple as ensuring that all of your files are up-to-date and relevant.

How much storage space do you need for Procreate designs

We need to answer these questions -Which iPad model & size do you have? How much storage capacity do you utilise on it? 

Not only is it a wonderful place to start, but it may also act as a nice wake-up call to how much space you’re taking up.

To get a list of your applications, scroll down to the bottom of the page, which is organised from the most storage taken to the least storage App.

By holding your cursor over each App, you’ll be able to see how much storage space it takes up and accordingly, you can space up by deleting them.

Also Read: Are Procreate Brushes Copyrighted? The facts

How to improve your iPad Storage capacity

Do the iPad data Clean up regularly

Clear iPad cache

Like any other computer, your iPad has a portion of its storage designated for recently used information, like cookies and photographs.

A “cache” is the term for this area. Ideally, the cache will help your iPad run faster by allowing you to quickly access particular data if and when you need it.

To remove your iPad’s Safari cache, open the Settings app and choose Safari.

You’ll be logged out of every page you’ve visited before and will have to re-login after clearing this cache.

You’ll need to erase applications from your iPad’s cache if you want to clean it. You can view how much space each app uses up by visiting your iPad’s Storage screen.

It’s a good idea to clear the cache on your iPad if it’s functioning weirdly or you’re running low on storage space.

Get rid of Older Time-Lapse Videos

I didn’t know this when I first started using Procreate, so, basically Procreate automatically records your movements as you work if you leave the default settings in place.

These videos can be fun and sometimes useful to upload in youtube for more views, but they consume a significant amount of storage space on your iPad.

If you do intend to use your time-lapse videos from time to time, I recommend leaving them enabled but deleting the video files one at a time as you need them to free up space.

Find out which applications are using up the most space on your device.

You’ll find a list of all of your applications listed in the Storage section, sorted by how much space they use up.

Continue scrolling down to view the list of all your apps.

Choosing any app will bring up a new page that displays the consumption in two parts: the amount of space the programme itself takes up (in light grey at the top) and the amount of space taken up by data and documents stored inside the app.

Remove or uninstall the Apps that you don’t use.

When you get a new iPad or iPhone, you are likely to spend the first few months exploring the many applications.

If you are using an iPad for your procreate only, then there is NO need for any extra Apps to be present on your iPad. So, get rid of them ASAP.

Remove all the Extra wallpaper applications, games,  and unused software applications that would reduce the storage .. It’s just the beginning, after all.

Disable the App-Refresh option in the Background

Some applications need to be updated on a regular basis in order to provide you with the most current information.

They need to run in the background to create the data you see. While utilising Background App Refresh keeps your iPad’s applications up to current, it may have a considerable influence on the iPad’s processing speed..

Is there a way to deactivate this? Yes, there is.

Go to Settings – General – Background App Refresh – switch it off. It’s that simple.

Set up a backup plan

Find out Your iPad’s most recent backup date is how long ago. Before making major modifications to your gadget, it’s a good idea to back it up.

iOS devices may be backed up in two ways.

You may back up your iPad to iCloud.

Go to the Settings app, touch your profile image, and choose “iCloud” while you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network.
Tap “Back Up Now” after turning on “iCloud Backup.”

---