Part 4: Lockdown hobbies – crayon digital drawings

Hey there friends,

Things haven’t changed much the last few weeks, still in lock down and I am grateful to have this time to explore art and drawing.

I spent some time in the sun in my parent’s garden on Saturday. The sun was so lovely on my back. Under the shade of the plants hanging in the garden, I sat with my Ipad and stylus to draw the things I see in front of me. I spent about 1 hour lost in nature and the warmth of the sun just doodling. This is what I drew.

I used the Tayasui Sketches, it’s an app you can download on the Imac and the Ipad. I paid for the extra features and am actually really happy that I did. It’s really easy to use and love the textures and effects you can create on the app. So I looked up the meaning of Tayasui and it actually means easy and simple!!!

What I learnt through doing this:

• I really enjoy using digital apps to draw textured drawings – it is really forgiving if you make mistakes.
• The difficulty about using these apps is that you need practise to remember where the controls are. It took me a few months to get into the rhythm of drawing, knowing where the buttons were to increase and decrease brush sizes, picking the right tool for the right stroke, intensity and colour.
• What helps is having a limited pallet and working with one tool at a time so you get a handle on how it lays on the digital surface … just like mediums in real life.
• Doing swatches, why do they not talk about this more often!!! It has really been the best thing in my art making practice is to test the tools I have before creating something with it. Make Swatches. They look really pretty as well.
• Drawing from life is so so so great for your soul. It adds so much life into your art naturally. The colours and movement really pop too!

Take care during this time,

Teresa x