Category: digitalart

Sumi Ink

To be more free with my lines, to allow my hand to flow without too much thought behind it. I am still yet to “get there” but am enjoying the process.

A lesson on ink.

Ink is a super fun medium to play with. I have been playing with Sumi ink lately and have found it loose and free. As someone who has tendencies toward careful and slow mark making using ink has helped me to loosen up. To be more free with my lines, to allow my hand to flow without too much thought behind it. I am still yet to “get there” but am enjoying the process.

Fun, loose and quick!

I found doing these studies helped me to use my ink brushes on my digital drawing apps.

What I learnt:

  • Ink makes you commit to your strokes, don’t think too much. Have a word/picture in your mind and paint.
  • There is little room for error.
  • Simpler the better.
  • You can achieve different values by adding more water/ink. The more water the lighter the wash (just like water colour).
  • Quick strokes work best.
  • Composition is key.
  • Rhythm is needed, light touches to create dotted thin strokes and more pressure to create bold voluminous lines.

What you will need:

  • Sumi Ink Option 1, Option 2
  • Paint brush (any)
  • Paper (printer paper works but can bleed if you use too much water)
  • Porcelain dish or cup to hold the ink
  • Cup filled with water for washing your brush

Art created on: Bamboo App

A few artists I drew inspiration from to do my studies.

Matisse

Henri Matisse has a few notable pieces whereby he uses brush strokes to depict nature, faces and still life.

Anna Farba

Anna Farba, a botanical artist, has made some lovely floral art with ink.

Rosie McGuinness

Rosie McGuinness, London Based artist fashion artist and life drawing.

Lucy Auge

Lucy Auge, UK based artist has a beautiful collection of inky flowers.

Check out my pinterest board for more ink art ideas to learn from Pinterest Board.

Wishing you a lovely week ahead.

Teresa xx

Drawing apps for the Ipad mini 1

These are the drawing apps I use on my very very old Ipad. I know some don’t have up to date technology so, hopefully this helps you find tools for your older Ipads. My Ipad still works beautifully – so I patiently use my rubber stylus and Ipad to create art!

There are a few apps that I have on my iPad (2010):

53 paper app

This was the first drawing app I used on the Ipad. There was a version before this one with beautiful notebooks covers. Unfortunately I hit update and I found myself with tiles rather than note books, which is a shame. I have grown to like this app more and more as I use it. This was one of the more fancy apps developed back in the early 2000s. Gosh technology has really advanced! It is great for quick sketching and jotting down thoughts. I can easily use this app whilst watching a movie. I also used it this year to do some of Inktober 2021.

Pros:

  • This app is probably the most intuitive and responsive.
  • Perfect for getting your ideas on “paper.”
  • Great app to learn about colour mixing.
  • Cut and remove function is useful as you can literally fling parts of a drawing off the page or shift elements to create a balanced compositions.
  • Layers!!
  • The mixing well ❤

Cons:

  • The functions are limited if you are looking for something more advance.
  • This app isn’t well supported.
  • It takes a while to learn how to use the app – but once you do it is a fun app.

Bamboo Paper app

This is the first app that helped me to draw more consistently. I even posted many of my drawings on to instagram. I started with very simple line drawings. Once I was comfortable with this I started to play around with shading and line work. I actually really enjoy using this app and found that I could work very quickly on this app to get ideas out of my brain. There is 6 brushes in total, you are given 3 for free and can purchase the others. You are given a limited colour palette.

Pros:

  • This by far has the smoothest line quality. By this I mean that the finish of your drawings will have very little pixels and jagged edges as you might find on other apps.
  • Limited palette is a pro and a con – because having limitations actually helps with creating because you have less choices to make.
  • Accuracy when using a rubber stylus.
  • The greatest thing about this app is that I have used it the most out of all the apps.

Cons:

  • Images exported are small usually 27 x 36 cms, 10 x 14 inchs, 768 x 1024 px, that is 72 resolutions.
  • Limited Colour Palette
  • Limited range of lines (3 different weights per brush)
  • No layers – it’s not very forgiving when making errors.
  • Hard to colour in shapes – it’s sketchy if you want that look but precision is not really achievable.
  • Hard to erase.

Evernote penultimate app-digital handwriting

Penultimate, is alright…. It’s an extension to Evernote’s note taking solution which I actually really enjoy. Evernote was an innovator back in the day when OneDrive or the cloud had not yet existed. It came during the same wave as Drop Box and Flickr. The drawing and note taking experience is pretty crap, tbh, it makes your writing look messy and the accuracy in drawing lines in unacceptable for a drawing/note taking app. There may be an update that fixes these things however I definitely have not had a good experience with this app at all.

Pros:

  • It syncs up with ever note.
  • Simple app.

Cons:

  • Inaccuracy – the lines seem to flick out at the end making your writing messy.
  • Colour selection in this app are not my favorite.
  • Not the most enticing app.

Tayasui Sketches app

This is the most comprehensive app. I have purchased the full version of this app. Great for the screen printing affect, that requires the layers of lines and colour. I love this app!

Pro:

  • Layers!!!
  • Variety of tools.
  • You can create art in any medium in digital form.
  • The app is great for creating graphics in general, layering typography on a block of colour.
  • Every Colour you can think of is available on the app.
  • It feels like you are using real life mediums, for example the way the water colour layer and dry and the patterns you can create is realistic.

Cons:

  • Can be a bit confusing for new beginners as the functions are not as intuitive.
  • There are so many tools that sometimes it can be overwhelming.

Thanks for getting to the end. Enjoy your week!

Teresa x

@365daysofscribbles

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

How to create your personalised CARDS

Hello there,

Today I want to show you how to make a simple print out card that you can do in seconds. I am a do-it-at-the-last-minute-but-make-it-pretty kind of person. I often write up cards and make them the night of orrrr the day of so that I can add a personalised touch to the gifts I give.

Microsoft word has helpful ready made card templates that you can use, alternatively you can also use a blank page and section the page in half.

1. Place the image or drawing upside down on the top left hand corner

2. The message on the bottom write hand.

See example below:

I sometimes like to sketch so luckily I have a bank of drawings I can snip and paste onto a word document.

Mac shortcut keys combo is command + control + shift + 4 & use the screen print button on Windows

Have a lovely day.

Teresa x