30 Paintings 30 Days, Day 21
Women in Red # 21 2014 Susan Lobb Porter
“Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.”
–Eleanor Roosevelt
Technical info: Created on an ipad 2 using Procreate
I took some screenshots today to give you an idea of how I created today’s painting.
How this (arrow pointing up) became this (arrow pointing down)
Women in Red # 20 2014 Susan Lobb Porter
Disclaimer: I’m not going to show you all the layers and all the tools I used to make marks. I go back and forth with tools and colors so much it would make you dizzy. And there isn’t enough room in cyberland for all the screenshots that would entail.
First thing I do is choose the size canvas and resolution I want to use. It’s always white and the next thing I do is change the background color (first photo). I never paint on white. I. Just. Don’t.
After that I use a variety of digital ‘brushes’ as I scribble, erase, smudge and have a good old time making marks, just like I do when working on a real canvas.
As you can see from the screenshot, I did this in a couple of layers. I do that so I can erase into the later work and not lose all those lovely scribbles.
When I’m satisfied with all the scribbles and texture I merge the layers into one. Then I rotate the canvas iPad, looking at it from all directions to see if there’s a painting in there waiting for me.
Aha! I saw the shape of a shoulder and an arm. I opened a new layer and did a rough sketch.
Blocked in the composition.
And stuck with it during the ugly teenage stage when digital death was just a click away. Trust me, it was tempting.
But some refinements, way too many app crashes and half a bag of Pepperidge Farm to die for Coconut cookies later, Women in Red # 20 is done.
This screenshot shows the final open layers. You can see that there are three for the composition. The early layers have already been merged with the original color blocking.
The reason I open new layers as I’m working? Experimentation. If I want to try something, even a major shift in the image, working on a new layer allows me the freedom to protect what I already have. Because sometimes experiments don’t work. And when that’s the case, I can just delete ’em.
So there you have it, the condensed version of Drama in Arty Life: How I create My Digital Paintings. For those of you who have been following this blog for any time, you’ll see that the tools and technology are different but my painting technique remains pretty much the same.
That should give you a general idea of the process involved. Thoughts? Questions? Have at it in the comments below. You know how I loves me my comments!
xoxo
Technical info: This was created on an iPad 2 with the Procreate app.
30 Paintings 30 Days, Day 19
Women in Red # 19 © 2014 Susan Lobb Porter
They’re going gray. My ladies are going gray. Just. Like Me. And no, they’re not self-portraits.
They’re a statement.
I’ll be writing more about this later.
xoxo
30 Paintings 30 Days, Day 18
I’m on my feet when I paint in the studio. Rocking out, hopping around, playing a mean air guitar. Painting, for me, is a physical process.
Or was, until I started spending time creating art on the iPad. For 18 days now I’ve been sitting on my butt way too much. Bum planted firmly on the sofa. Feet up on the coffee table. Maybe a bowl of popcorn by my side. And a cuppa tea sans (accidently) soaking paintbrush. As studio conditions go, well, it’s not a studio.
This digital stuff is a whole ‘nuther way of making art.
Women in Red # 18 © 2014 Susan Lobb Porter
But today was different. This is Women in Red # 18 and she wasn’t created like the rest of the series. Oh sure, she was made on an iPad 2 using Procreate. But for the better part of her creation I was spinning my wheels–
on this–the ancient and sturdy stationary exercycle, the one that was already old when I bought it 25 years ago in the Salvation Army store. But today I had an AHA! moment that was sheer genius. I bought a used over-the-bed hospital table, rotated the handlebars on the bike and now have a totally fine bicycle desk. I’ve adjusted the height so it’s perfect or sitting up straight, not the usual slouch I have when working on the laptop or iPad.
It’s not a workout workout, I don’t envision raising a sweat as I blog. But it keeps the blood going and after almost an hour of light pedaling tonight I ended up with jello legs.
Buh-bye chair-butt. Buh-bye.
Oh yeah, about today’s painting. I don’t know who she is, there was no reference photo, just my imagination. I dunno, I think she looks Greek. Or maybe Roman. What do you think?
“I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it”
Pablo Picasso
Women in Red # 17 © 2014 Susan Lobb Porter
When I decided to take part in Leslie Saeta’s 30 Paintings in 30 days I didn’t know much about digital painting. Actually, I knew nothing about it. So I decided to learn. I figured the 30 day challenge would be a good excuse for a regular digital practice. I also decided to blog about it because going public with my intention, putting it out there to the world meant that I would finish it.
Or at least that’s what I hoped it meant.
We’re now 17 days into this and ‘painting’ with a stylus is becoming more natural to me. I’m sticking with the Procreate app because I want to learn it. Know it inside out.
Tonight I realize how narrow my experience with it is when it dawned on me that I was using the same ‘brushes’ over and over. I found what worked for me and didn’t move off that path. So I made myself experiment and try a few I was unfamiliar with. You won’t notice by looking at the finished image but they’re in there adding to the overall effect.
Tomorrow I’ll experiment again. And every day through the remainder of this challenge. Because trying things I’m not comfortable with is the only way to become comfortable with them in the end.
What do you think?