Create Personalised Gift Tags in Procreate

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Becky Liddle

In this article, we’re going to look at a couple of different ways to make your own gift tags using Procreate. We all need gift tags, right? Having the ability to create your own means that you can personalise and tailor your tags however you want, they’re also really fun to create. There are endless possibilities in regard to your design. You can, quite literally, apply any design you want.

I’ve used a few different resources in this article, please see below for links to download them. All are available on Creative Fabrica and of course, you can use whatever elements, designs, or fonts you wish.

You don’t have to download all of the above, however, these are the elements and fonts displayed in my designs.

I’ve also added below some tag templates which you’re free to save and use. You can edit these as you wish or cut out the tags you like best.

Tracing a reference image

First, we need to get the shape of our tag in Procreate. You can either use the above template and trace over the image as we’ll do below, or add your elements on top of the tag shapes as you wish.

If you want to find and use your own tag shapes, I’d suggest using the website Pixabay, it offers a large collection of images that are free for commercial use without attribution.

For this exercise, I’m going to use an image downloaded from Pixabay.

Find your reference image which you want to use the shape of and save this to your tablet.

Create a new canvas in Procreate, it doesn’t really matter what size, I’m going to go for the standard screen size canvas.

Click on the settings icon in the top left-hand corner, and then insert a photo. Select your reference image from your own gallery.

You’ll now see that your inserted image has appeared as a layer. Create a new layer on top of this one.

Go to the brush tool and select an inking brush. I like to use studio pen or technical pen (which are both within the inking section).

Click into your brush to see the stroke properties menu. Change the streamline up to 100%, as we’re going to be drawing lines, this will ensure that they’re as straight and even as possible.

Go back into the layers menu, and on the image layer, click the N next to the tick box. Use the opacity slider to make your image appear faded. I’m going to go to 39%. The reason for this is just to make our lines that we’re going to draw stand out more against the background of the reference image.

It’s time to draw! Go back to your new layer and grab your brush. Start drawing around the edges of your chosen tag. For super straight lines, draw and hold your stylus down and the shape will snap to a straight line.

For tags like the below, It’s sometimes easier to treat the pointed end and square side separately and then use the transform tools to join it all together.

Now you have your tag outline! You can either delete the reference image layer or hide it by unchecking the box next to the layer name.

Choose the colour you want your tag to be, and drag this from the top right-hand corner into the shape.

Tip: this technique can be used for anything in Procreate. If you want to draw an image, you can add a downloaded picture and “trace” it on another layer.

Adding elements and using clipping masks

Now we need to decorate our tags. You don’t have to use the same elements or designs as me, however, I’ll show you how to add them and use clipping masks.

I’m going to add some text first, so to do this, go to the settings tool and select add text.

Arrange the text how you wish on the tag, I’m going to make it slightly extend over the edge of the tag.

Click on your text layer in the layers menu, and select clipping mask from the options.

Adding a clipping mask makes the contents of that layer only appear within the elements created on the layer below it. So, as we have coloured our tag in, the clipping mask recognises this coloured area and applies our text only to this part, hence why the edges of our text extend out past the tag. Clipping masks are really effective and can be used in so many ways once you get the hang of how they work!

I’m now going to add an image, to do this, go to the settings tool and select insert a photo. Your image will appear as a new layer.

Click on this layer and again, select clipping mask and position it how you want.

I’m going to change the opacity of this layer to make the text stand out a little more.

I’ve also added a new colour to the background of the tag and added a simple “to” and “from” in the bottom corner.

Cropping your canvas

You might notice that your tag is a lot smaller than your Procreate canvas. If this is the case, it’s easy to crop.

Click on the settings tool and then select canvas from the actions menu. Then, click on crop and resize (the first option on the list).

You’ll then see the crop and resize tool. Use the transform tools along the edges of the canvas to crop to the size you wish and then press done.

Final touches

I’ve used the same technique to create a few different tags. All of these are made using clipping masks alongside downloaded elements and text.

You could also use a backing paper or seamless pattern as a background for the tag. For a tutorial on how to create seamless patterns in Procreate, click here.

Adding the backing paper is done in exactly the same way as adding a clip art element, you just need to ensure that the pattern covers the entirety of the tag and that clipping mask is selected on the image layer.

I’ve also created a mini mountain scene on a tag, where I’ve used quite a few elements. Please see example below of how the layers and clipping masks should look, in order to create this effect.

When I first started using clipping masks and different layers, it took me a little while to get my head around it, I found it really helped to see how the layers should look when clipping masks are applied.

I hope that you enjoyed this article, and can use the different techniques across your projects! You can mix and match these and experiment with different shapes, elements and fonts. You could even personalise your tags with the recipient’s name.

Your tags will look perfect once printed out, if you’re able, you could embellish them with gems or glitter, and add some ribbon or string for a finishing touch.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments and thanks for reading!

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