What makes good anime lineart
Clean anime lineart comes down to three things: confident strokes, varied line weight, and tapered ends. Lines are smooth (not sketchy), heavier on the outside and in shadow, lighter for inner detail, and they thin to a point where strokes lift off. Get those right and even a simple drawing looks polished.
Choose the right brush
You want a crisp inker that stays sharp at any size and tapers with pressure — press for a thick line, ease off for a thin one. Browse the inking brushes category, or grab a dedicated set on the anime & manga brushes page. The right brush does half the work.
1. Set up your lineart layer
Lower your sketch layer's opacity and add a new layer on top for the final lines. Keeping lineart separate means you can recolor, erase, or adjust it without touching anything else. Use the same brush to erase so your edges stay consistent.
2. Turn up Streamline
Shaky lines are the number-one beginner problem, and Procreate fixes it: in the brush settings, raise Streamline (Stabilization). Higher values smooth your strokes automatically, so long curves come out clean. Most anime artists keep it fairly high for lineart.
3. Control your line weight
Flat, uniform lines look stiff. Add line weight: press harder on the outer silhouette and where shadows fall (under the chin, inside the hair), and lighten up for interior details like face features. This contrast is what gives anime art its life.
4. Draw with your whole arm
Complete each line in one confident stroke rather than scratching it in with short marks — overlapping "hairy" lines kill the clean look. Move from the elbow for long curves, rotate the canvas to find a comfortable angle, and don't be afraid to undo and redo a line until it flows.
5. Tidy up and close your shapes
Zoom in and clean stray ends with the eraser set to the same brush. Make sure every area you'll color is fully enclosed — small gaps let ColorDrop flood the whole canvas. Closing shapes now saves headaches when you flat your colors.
Common lineart mistakes
- Uniform line weight — vary thickness for shadow and silhouette.
- Hairy, overlapping strokes — commit to one clean line.
- Streamline too low — raise it to steady curves.
- Open shapes — close every area before coloring.
- Inking on the sketch layer — always use a fresh layer.
Brushes and next steps
You only need one good inker to start — find free options on the free brushsets page, and see our picks in best Procreate brushes for anime. With clean lines done, move on to color: our cel-shading guide takes it from there, and the full process lives in how to draw anime in Procreate.