Tuesday 16 April 2019

Creating with Procreate

Playing with Digital Art

Here I am again! Ive had quite a pause from anything really creative (apart from cooking) partly due to a broken right arm but mainly due to being out and about. 

I've recently, however, been experimenting with digital art software. I want to create illustrations that might work in a planned bird book showcasing Nicky's wonderful bird photographs. I've also got some ideas about creating an illustrated children's book after taking part in a free online university course on 'Pictures of Youth' with Future Learn. 

Nicky bought me a new iPad for Christmas and an Apple Pencil. I downloaded the app 'Procreate' and a text-addition app 'Over'. 

Using some free online tutorials I learned some basic ways in which to create illustrations. In a nutshell, I use layers to trace the basic outlines of a photograph and I then use colour references from that photograph to built an appropriate palette. My aim was to create stylised bird pictures.

Here's my first attempt from Nicky's picture of a bullfinch.


This was followed by a robin - customised for a Valentine"s Day card.



Then by a puffin from a photograph Nicky took at Flamborough.


Here's a film showing the creative process I went through.


You can just start to see here - on the puffin's legs - the temptation I felt to add more painterly detail. 
I succumbed more to this temptation in my next drawing of a Merlin (from an online picture). I think this fell a little between two stools (not pigeons!) in that it's not impressive as a painting but not stylised enough to be a 'cartoon' type representation.


Ive got even more painterly with my latest bird picture (still in draft form) of a blue tit.



Time to pause and refine my skills! 

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