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Description
I did indeed end up making a lineless guide! Hopefully its readable, but ill type it out and go into more detail here:

1. Sketch- Make a basic sort of sketch, usually I do this by using procreate’s studio pen and turning it down to 60-40% opacity. Sometimes if it’s a complex design I make two of these sketch layers, one a basic shape and another with the details.

2. Outline- On a new layer, draw over the sketch using one or two of the character’s colors. If you’re doing to paint bucket areas later, you might want to use two colors to prevent the first color from spilling into areas it shouldn’t be in. It’s good to leave an outline you don’t fill of where the mouth, nose, and eye ridges/brows will be.

3. Basic fill- paint bucket in the main body color. If this is a dragon with complex scale patterns, you can fill each scale in one by one, alternating between this and step 5.

4. Details and patterns- Here, either making a clipping mask over the base layer, or a new layer. This way, if there’s a gradient on the details or main body, blending it won’t make it spill into other areas. Use a clipping mask if you want them to have the same shading applied to them as the body/base layer. Use a new layer if you don’t want to risk the shading getting mixed from one area to the next, as different colors need different shading, and mixing it will start to look a bit weird. You can also use a new layer if you’re doing a dragon’s wing membrane or a different area of a character’s body- I often split the head and neck into two different layers. However, this will mean that for each layer you use, you need two more clipping masks for the shading, which count towards your layer limit.

5. Complete details- Here, you’re going to go back onto the main body layer, color drop/paint bucket into the detail area (if you used a clipping mask), and add any gradients/patterns to the detail clipping mask and main body layer. Gradients are not the same as shading a character, and it doesn’t give the same effect as add and multiply layers!

6. Flat shading- Now you’re going to make two new clipping masks going onto the main body, but also above the detail clipping mask. This way, it applies to both layers! Set one layer to multiply, and another to add or hard light. The multiply layer will be used for shading, and is best used with a light color so you don’t overpower the base color. The add layer (what I used here) will be used for lighting. Brighter colors seem to work best, although you should experiment. For shading scales, put the shading at the bottom and one side of the scale, and the lighting towards the top center (but not completely at the top). Dont put it at the top, as the scale above casts a slight shadow on the one below, and the curve of the scale will receive the most light.

7. Blending- this is probably one of my favorite parts to this. Use a rough-edged brush to push around the color on the multiply and add layers. For procreate, I usually use the flat brush (in the painting section), as it seems to give the illusion of an object being slightly rough. Try to make it so that there are no very sharp edges where the shading begins and stops while doing this. Faint lines where they do this are okay and generally aren’t noticeable. FOR SCALES AND MOUTHES and anything else that has a clear edge where it begins and stops, don’t imply this line with color- use shading to do it! Blend only the top edge of the multiply layer, leaving a crisp line where the scale/lip begins and stops.

8. Touch ups- Fill in any holes in the color that you can find, erase any random spots, and do the eyes/nostril! For eyes, I typically use an off-white base color, 3 colors for the iris, and a luminosity and overlay layer. I also use a layer for the pupil, then a multiply layer for eye shade, and a layer with the white flecks of light. I found a good tutorial for this a while back, if you want you can ask me and I’ll check if I still have it.

Hopefully this was helpful, and have fun!! Feel free to ask any questions you may have!

Description
I did indeed end up making a lineless guide! Hopefully its readable, but ill type it out and go into more detail here:

1. Sketch- Make a basic sort of sketch, usually I do this by using procreate’s studio pen and turning it down to 60-40% opacity. Sometimes if it’s a complex design I make two of these sketch layers, one a basic shape and another with the details.

2. Outline- On a new layer, draw over the sketch using one or two of the character’s colors. If you’re doing to paint bucket areas later, you might want to use two colors to prevent the first color from spilling into areas it shouldn’t be in. It’s good to leave an outline you don’t fill of where the mouth, nose, and eye ridges/brows will be.

3. Basic fill- paint bucket in the main body color. If this is a dragon with complex scale patterns, you can fill each scale in one by one, alternating between this and step 5.

4. Details and patterns- Here, either making a clipping mask over the base layer, or a new layer. This way, if there’s a gradient on the details or main body, blending it won’t make it spill into other areas. Use a clipping mask if you want them to have the same shading applied to them as the body/base layer. Use a new layer if you don’t want to risk the shading getting mixed from one area to the next, as different colors need different shading, and mixing it will start to look a bit weird. You can also use a new layer if you’re doing a dragon’s wing membrane or a different area of a character’s body- I often split the head and neck into two different layers. However, this will mean that for each layer you use, you need two more clipping masks for the shading, which count towards your layer limit.

5. Complete details- Here, you’re going to go back onto the main body layer, color drop/paint bucket into the detail area (if you used a clipping mask), and add any gradients/patterns to the detail clipping mask and main body layer. Gradients are not the same as shading a character, and it doesn’t give the same effect as add and multiply layers!

6. Flat shading- Now you’re going to make two new clipping masks going onto the main body, but also above the detail clipping mask. This way, it applies to both layers! Set one layer to multiply, and another to add or hard light. The multiply layer will be used for shading, and is best used with a light color so you don’t overpower the base color. The add layer (what I used here) will be used for lighting. Brighter colors seem to work best, although you should experiment. For shading scales, put the shading at the bottom and one side of the scale, and the lighting towards the top center (but not completely at the top). Dont put it at the top, as the scale above casts a slight shadow on the one below, and the curve of the scale will receive the most light.

7. Blending- this is probably one of my favorite parts to this. Use a rough-edged brush to push around the color on the multiply and add layers. For procreate, I usually use the flat brush (in the painting section), as it seems to give the illusion of an object being slightly rough. Try to make it so that there are no very sharp edges where the shading begins and stops while doing this. Faint lines where they do this are okay and generally aren’t noticeable. FOR SCALES AND MOUTHES and anything else that has a clear edge where it begins and stops, don’t imply this line with color- use shading to do it! Blend only the top edge of the multiply layer, leaving a crisp line where the scale/lip begins and stops.

8. Touch ups- Fill in any holes in the color that you can find, erase any random spots, and do the eyes/nostril! For eyes, I typically use an off-white base color, 3 colors for the iris, and a luminosity and overlay layer. I also use a layer for the pupil, then a multiply layer for eye shade, and a layer with the white flecks of light. I found a good tutorial for this a while back, if you want you can ask me and I’ll check if I still have it.

Hopefully this was helpful, and have fun!! Feel free to ask any questions you may have!