Time to Review

I have reached a milestone that probably means nothing to anybody but myself. That mark is 50 iPad drawings/paintings in a row — one per day. Each drawing averages about 2-4 hours. I am halfway to my goal of 100.

Now is a good time for a review and an assessment of some of those images.

Instead of rambling on for 500 words (as I tend to), I’ll get right to the images, no need to scroll (much).

iPad Digital Drawings/Paintings — Review

To begin with I thought I might explain why I consider my images drawings/paintings.

My intention was to “just draw” on the iPad. I had no intention of “painting,” it seems the accessibility to colour induced me to “paint and draw”. This is a cause of some of my struggles, rushing the drawing to get to the colour, or adding colour as an afterthought.

Ink on Paper

This drawing was my last “official” ink on paper drawing before starting down the digital road. The image is number 500 of “My Dailies” over at Instagram.

I threw in all my tricks and shortcuts as a final hurrah: tower house, rocks, mountains, clouds, spires and trees.

Date: June 3, 21

Ink drawing on “actual real-world” paper

Pencil – Digital

This is digital drawing number 2. The goal was to see how close I could get to emulating a real world ink on paper drawing.

Although it comes close the drawing is actually executed using a “sketching” brush in Procreate.

None of the ink brushes appealed to me at this stage.

Date: June 6, 21

First successful attempt at digital emulating my real world style

Digital Ink and Colour

By the time I reached drawing number 23 I was fully immersed in digital colour. My goal at this point is to combine ink drawing with full colour painting.

Combining a foreground rendered in ink and a painted background created an interesting sense of depth.

Date: June 28, 21

Keeping it loose and depth experimentation

Automatic Mindset

At drawing number 37 I had become very frustrated with myself as painting was taking over causing neglect of my drawing.

I decided “automatic drawing/painting” would be my approach. I just let the drawing happen automatically (thinking not required). Of course at some point I do take control.

Date: July 12, 21

Freedom from Me

I enjoyed the previous drawing experience so much that “.. hey, why not do another one the next day …”.

I just let the drawing happen until I was ready to take control and mold the marks into something interesting, and of course colour and smudging too.

Date: July 13, 21

Pure automatic drawing – two in a row – a rarity

Loose and Easy

A few drawing/paintings later (number 43) I was experimenting with PEN.TIPS in an effort to reduce the slippery feeling of an Apple Pencil.

You can read about my thoughts on PEN.TIPS to see how that process worked out for me.

Date: July 17, 21

Working with a PEN.TIPS and keeping lines bold

Digital Painting and Collage

If you have a look at the previous image you will notice that I cherry picked the “tower house” from that image and added it to this drawing.

Originally the image was just the rocks in the foreground, I was spending too much time and needed something quick to balance the composition.

Date: July 21, 21

Have Fun – dammit!

For drawing 48 I chose to be loose and bold with my marks. I wanted a funky looking tower house, straight lines be damned.

I was reasonably satisfied with the process. I felt in control most of the time. Of course that doesn’t mean I’m happy with the final results. I like the house, the rocks not so much. 😦

Date: July 22, 21

Loose and tight at the same time – what?

Halfway

My halfway drawing — number 50 is an experiment with a blotchy ink brush. It is the same brush I used for the header image in this post.

The goal was to react to the brush and see where it lend me. Some interesting effects are created, however, replicating the “happy accidents” is not so easy.

Date: July 24, 21

Adding some mist is a great way to cover — issues?

Perhaps I’ll do another review when I reach drawing number 75 … maybe I will know what I’m doing the by then.

By the way, if you happen to be a time traveller from the future and reading this now, you must be aware of my progress since this post. As for me, I have no idea what the future brings. I hope I managed to get better. 😉

Have a great week and as always the clickable header image for this post is repeated below.