Art

Making Digital Art (“The Look”)

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I have some posts I was going to publish soon, but I randomly decided to wait and make my own art for the thumbnails. I sometimes like to make digital art on my tablet using the Sketchbook app. I knew I wanted something with an eye, so I took a picture of mine.

I set the canvas dimensions to 1200 x 630 pixels and arranged my image how I wanted. Though now I realised I have all my blog thumbnails set to squares and next time I should do a square.

I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted, (I have a difficult time picturing things in my mind’s eye) so I just started tracing.

I added a few more lines and adjusted the face shape.

For fun I tried seeing what cross-hatching would look like (A skill I’m still working on)

I realised I wanted to keep it simple. I tried a black background with white lines, then settled on a coral pink instead. I changed my brush size to a 7, and started tracing over the lines I thought were most important in white.

I put a question mark in the pupil, which goes with the content of my post.

I added some dark grey in places.

After cleaning up some lines I finished! It was pretty fast and satisfying to make! I can see a lot of possible variations on this too.

100 Tiny Paintings #21-25

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Here we are again with 5 more paintings! The idea is to simply practice, not try for perfection (OCD I’m looking at you!). Like most of my other paintings, these are just small objects from around my room. I’m using Staedtler watercolour pencils and a fine tip Sharpie.

21. A small glass jar.

22. An old green leather book

23. A small felted pumpkin I made.

24. Scissors

25. A tealight candle. I think this is the hardest to make look right, because of the shades of white. I know how I’d try it with regular watercolours, but pencils I’m not sure. I did try adding some depth on the white part, but it doesn’t really show.

Trying New Paints: Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolour Sketchers’ Pocket Set

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Well that titles a mouthful.

I’ve never used “the good” paints before. I used Crayola watercolours and Staedtler watercolour pencils, neither of which I loved. For my birthday I got this sweet little palette with all the basic colours. I tried it out painting a picture of a pond.

I haven’t used regular watercolours in a while, there’s definitely some things I would do differently. But overall I’m pleased

I used to watch a lot of videos of loose watercolour and ink. I decided not to add ink to this one. I wasn’t trying for realism, I just wanted to make the impression of the pond. I’m so happy with the plants! Though I think I need to watch some tutorials for trees…

I’m really excited to start painting more with this palette!

100 Tiny Paintings #1-5

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I’m trying to make 100 tiny painting this year. Mine are 2×3 inches on watercolour paper. I’m using Staedtler watercolour pencils, and a fine tip sharpie pen. I tend to make art sporadically and can be a perfectionist, especially when it comes to drawing lines. Which is why I like making digital line art; I can zoom in and literally make sure each pixel is where I want it.

With these paintings, I’m trying to go with the flow and not get too stuck up on the drawing aspect (I’ve frequently ruined paper by drawing and erasing too much).

1. This first one below is a leaf from my Pteris cretica fern. The leaves are a little crispy from the low winter humidity. I drew a pencil outline, painted it, then inked the lines once dry.

2. A leaf from my rabbit’s foot fern.

3. Some leaves and flowers from a vine of my Tradescantia sanna plant.

4. Philodendron brasil plant.

5. A field of clover and alfalfa. This is the only one I didn’t draw in pencil first, I just started with the watercolour pencils then tried to define with the pen.

Number 1 is definitely my favorite. I think I should have worked more on the colours for number 4; the variegation on the leaves isn’t quite showing and I don’t like what I did the pen. Overall I think I need to put down a bit more of the pencils before wetting it.