StencilMaker AI vs Procreate for tattoo stencils

Which tool should you choose?

StencilMaker AI is our winner for turning an existing photo or drawing into a tattoo stencil. It gives you an initial conversion, line editing, physical sizing and print layouts in one browser workflow. Procreate is the better drawing app. If the design still needs composing, lettering or substantial redrawing, we would start there.

The deciding question is what is on your screen when you begin. A finished line drawing and a photograph of a face need very different amounts of preparation. An artist with a clean linework layer in Procreate may already have the stencil they need.

We make StencilMaker AI, the stencil tool on this site. This is our editorial recommendation, based on our current product and Procreate's published documentation, checked September 27, 2026. We have not run a timed comparison or a controlled print-and-transfer test. The examples below explain how we would choose between the workflows.

StencilMaker AI and Procreate compared

The product details come from our workflow and download guide, Procreate's product page and its export handbook. We are comparing Procreate for iPad here. Procreate Pocket is a separate iPhone app.

Where Procreate is the stronger tool

Procreate lets you decide exactly which marks belong in a design. Keep the photograph on one layer, outlines on another and shading notes on a third. Its layers and masks let you revise one part without painting over everything else. For custom lettering, a changed pose or a flower that needs a different silhouette, that control matters more than automatic conversion.

StreamLine and stabilization smooth strokes while you draw. You can adjust the assistance to suit your hand. A long curve may benefit from smoothing, while an irregular petal edge may need less. These are drawing decisions you can make brush by brush.

For ornamental work, Symmetry guides can repeat strokes vertically, horizontally, across quadrants or around eight radial segments. That makes Procreate the stronger starting point when you are constructing a mandala and changing its pattern.

There is published artist experience behind this use of Procreate. In Procreate's 2023 interview with tattoo artist Darwin Enriquez, he describes using it for stencil linework and using 3D Painting to show clients a design on a body model. It is a vendor-published interview, not a comparison with our tool, but it explains why Procreate can remain useful well beyond stencil extraction.

We would give Procreate the drawing job even in a studio that uses StencilMaker AI every day.

How to prepare a stencil in Procreate

For a reference that needs manual tracing, this is the sequence we recommend:

1. Set up the canvas at the intended print dimensions. Procreate recommends at least 300 DPI for printed artwork. Choose the size before doing the detailed drawing.
2. Import your reference. Lower its layer opacity until you can see new strokes clearly over it.
3. Add a separate layer for the stencil lines. Draw the contours you need and leave out photographic texture that does not help you place the design.
4. Keep shading guides separate if you want to review them without the outlines. Hide the reference periodically to check the stencil by itself.
5. Hide the photo, sketch and color layers before export. Check that the lines you intend to print are visible.
6. Keep the layered original, then export the visible artwork through Share Image as PNG or PDF for your next step.

The controls are documented in Procreate's guides to canvas sizing, layer opacity and sharing artwork. Share Layers is a different export option: its PDF puts layers on separate pages. Choose Share Image when you want the visible composition together.

If your design already has a finished outline layer, skip the tracing. Hide the other layers and inspect the export. Generating a new interpretation of clean linework adds a review step you may not need.

Where StencilMaker AI earns the win

Starting from a flattened reference is the task that favors StencilMaker AI. Instead of drawing the entire first stencil layer, you get a conversion to inspect and correct. The advantage is avoiding that initial manual trace when the result is useful. How much work it saves depends on the reference and the corrections it needs.

1. Upload a JPG or PNG, up to 10 MB. Export a HEIC or PDF reference to one of those formats first.
2. Choose Outline for main contours, Standard for finer detail or Hatching for shading guides, then generate the stencil.
3. Compare the result with the original. Check faces, lettering, proportions and small gaps before making print decisions.
4. Add or erase lines where needed. Adjust the stencil's line thickness and ink color while keeping the uploaded original separate.
5. Set the physical dimensions. Use mirroring when your transfer process needs it, a fitting sheet to compare sizes or a tiled PDF for a larger piece.
6. Download PNG, PDF or JPEG and open it in the app or driver your printer supports.

Those options are part of our current stencil workflow. Manual edits, colors, sizing and downloads do not use another generation. Asking for a new generated result, including a different style, does.

The limit is fidelity. A conversion can miss a line, join two shapes or change a detail. For a face, inspect the eyes, nostrils and mouth against the reference. For lettering, compare each character and its spacing. A neat-looking result still needs that check.

Choose by the reference in front of you

A portrait photograph

We would try StencilMaker AI first when the composition is settled and the job is to extract a stencil. Review which edges describe the face and which only describe lighting. If correcting the generated features becomes a redraw of most of the face, switch to Procreate and trace the decisions yourself. Repeated generation is not always the shorter route.

A mandala that still needs designing

Choose Procreate. Its symmetry tools let you build and revise the pattern as you draw. Once the linework is complete, it may be ready for export without conversion. StencilMaker AI becomes more relevant when you have a flattened, shaded reference and want to separate out a usable stencil treatment.

A finished flash drawing with clean outlines

Stay in Procreate if that is where the layered drawing lives. Hide the color and shading, inspect the outline and export it. For a scan with pencil texture or a flattened image that needs interpretation, try the stencil converter and judge the cleanup required.

These are workflow recommendations, not results from three test images. The useful comparison is the amount of correction needed to reach a stencil you approve.

Print size can undo a good stencil

Both tools export PNG, PDF and JPEG. The file extension alone does not decide whether the stencil prints at the intended size.

In Procreate, check the canvas dimensions and the space around the artwork. A 10 cm canvas with empty margins does not make the drawing itself 10 cm wide. Its canvas guide also explains that changing DPI alone changes the physical dimensions without adding pixels. Relabeling a small image as 300 DPI does not restore missing detail.

StencilMaker AI puts physical dimensions, transfer mirroring, fitting sheets and tiled pages in its export workflow. That is our preference for preparing several size options or dividing a larger stencil across sheets. Procreate's multipage layer export serves a different purpose from a tiled layout.

Open the file in your printer's supported software. For our PDFs, use 100% or actual size with fit-to-page disabled, as described in the printing guide. Measure the output before transfer. Check whether mirroring is already enabled in the printer app so you do not reverse it twice.

We have not tested these two workflows on the same thermal printer for this article. The print recommendation is about the available controls. It does not establish better transfer quality on skin.

Procreate wins on software price

The U.S. App Store lists Procreate at $12.99 as checked September 27, 2026, and Procreate confirms there is no subscription. Local prices can differ. If you already own a compatible iPad, that is a strong price for a drawing app you can use across many projects. An iPad and an optional compatible Apple Pencil are separate costs.

StencilMaker AI offers two free generations with an account and no card required. Our monthly Hobby plan is listed at $15.99 for 20 stencil credits at publication. Credits are not the same as a count of stencils: Outline uses 1, Standard 1.5 and Hatching 2 per generation. Review the current plan and billing period before subscribing.

Procreate is the cheaper software purchase over repeated months. Paying for StencilMaker AI makes sense when converting references removes enough tracing work from your own process. We cannot put an honest time-saving figure on that without measuring your references and cleanup.

There is also a difference in where the work happens. Our editor runs in a browser across phones, tablets and computers. Generation needs an internet connection and sends the reference to an image-processing service. Projects save in the browser you use and need backups to move between devices. They do not automatically sync.

Procreate stores its native artwork on the iPad. Its published position excludes generative AI and says the company does not have access to your art. If keeping the drawing process out of a generative service is a requirement, Procreate is the appropriate choice.

Using both without losing the original

You can use StencilMaker AI for the initial conversion and Procreate for a more involved redraw. Download a transparent PNG from our editor and import it into Procreate, which supports PNG files. Keep that import on its own layer, then draw corrections separately so you can compare them.

A PNG gives you the image, not the originating app's editable project history. Keep a project backup from StencilMaker AI and keep the layered Procreate file. Recheck size whenever the artwork moves into a different canvas or printer app.

You can also draw the original in Procreate and export a JPG or PNG for conversion here. Do that when you want a new stencil treatment of shaded artwork. A clean outline that already prints correctly may need no further conversion.

Final verdict: StencilMaker AI for stencil preparation

StencilMaker AI is our pick for the specific job of converting an existing reference into a tattoo stencil and preparing the file for print. The initial conversion, local corrections and dedicated print options are the reasons it wins this comparison.

Procreate wins for original drawing, detailed manual control and software value. Keep it if you already draw there. Use it first when the design itself still needs work.

To decide for your own work, open the editor and explore the bundled peony example, or use the free generations on a reference you are allowed to use. Compare the important lines with the original, make the corrections and check the printed size. That tells you more than a promised completion time.