Painting digital

As I become more and more involved in the digital world, using the mouse and touchpad has been disappointingly imprecise for my increasing demands. And because I’m not going to give up just yet, I decided to buy a drawing tablet and open a whole new chapter.

Although I only have a small tablet without a display, it has quickly become my cyber-pet. We spend a lot of time together and learn from each other. I feel more freedom in drawing, but I still haven’t found my way of painting or coloring.  Also, it seems I have underestimated the PC requirements. Despite being relatively new, it is woefully slow on graphics. And that slows down my progress and reduces my enthusiasm.

For today I have three completely different results from my digital experiments using variations of the painting technique. I would appreciate your comments and recommendations as I am lost in many internet tutorials that do not match what I am looking for. Which is mainly a way of coloring the hand drawings, so it doesn’t look too digital. I realize how crazy that sounds.

For now, I’m using a layering of semi-transparent layers or a watercolor texture, both followed by clipping. I keep looking for other ways.

Thank you for reading, commenting, supporting and recommending.

With love and hugs,

Ivana

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Between worlds

The field of fabric design made me stuck between the analog and digital worlds.

I love to hold a pencil or a brush, touch the paper and perceive the process of creation with all my senses. However, the desire to show off to friends made it necessary to scan. And when I wanted to create a fabric pattern, much more was needed.

Being happy from the “crazy faces” fabric and jacket, the next path was clear to me. I will continue drawing and painting as before, scan the final images and then assemble them into a pattern on the computer. If I learn how to use graphics tools better, it can’t be that hard, right?

I put effort and time into this method, but I still ran into some limits, mostly because of resolution and file size. Look and judge.

Colored pencils origin:

Watercolor origin:

Because I wasn’t satisfied enough, I tried to create simple things digitally. The first success was the mandala, which I presented in one of the previous posts. Unfortunately, it was also the last success for a long time.

I realized that drawing and painting digitally is a completely different discipline that requires a change in mindset. I seriously doubt I can do it. Despite the fact that digital creation never attracted me.

Look at my early attempts.

Something inside tells me it’s too soon to give up and the desire to create fabric design is still strong. I would like to find a way to combine the best of both worlds and still be myself.

Be sure I will keep you updated on progress. In the meantime, I welcome your comments and recommendations.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Being digital

As I mentioned before, digital art is not my cup of tea. I don’t get it in general, although I like some of the pieces. It could be a matter of age or temperament.

Unfortunately I fell in love with creating seamless patterns from my traditional artwork, so a basic knowledge of digital graphics is essential. I am getting through step by step, using intuition as well as tutorials from internet. It’s like discovering a new universe that has long existed for many people.

For example, I was totally excited to discover a tool that adds a watercolor effect. As long as I followed instructions, I got an incredible result. But then I wanted to spread my wings and fly my own way. No, no, no!

I tried to vectorize my drawing of a rose and then apply the watercolor effect. Something strange happened, the rose became a kind of shiny candy instead of a loose watercolor flower. Even so, I put those candies into a seamless pattern. Am I a bit of masochist?

To be honest, not every day is awful. I met a great surprise inside of the tutorial how to draw a mandala. Another thing, which is not generally my cup of tea. But watching how every move of mouse is multiplied and symmetrically placed at the same time, was simply wonderful!

I have no use for mandalas yet, but for the great feeling I will definitely repeat this exercise. Probably combined with a “watercolor” background, as in the title image. What do you think about seamless pattern, based on something like this?

No worries, I still draw and paint by hand and still prefer it.

With love and hugs,

Ivana

Mushroom season

I love mushrooms. I’m obsessed with them. A walk in the forest usually means looking for mushrooms. Partially because of the conditions in which I grew up. Mushrooms were important addition to diet at a time, when both people and market supply were poor.

For us as children, mushroom hunting was a kind of game, an adventure in the forest. And the mushroom dishes that mom cooked were delicious! I would never call them replacement food.

Most people I know only pick boletus mushrooms. I love them too. But since I live in an area not abundant with mushrooms, I have learned to recognize even less common species. No, I’m not a mycologist. I just like to bring enough for a regular meal.

People often look at me with suspicion if I want to poison someone. The symbol of a mushroom that tastes wonderful, even it looks inedible, is Laccaria amethystina.

I use it for my colored pencils drawing and since I changed the graphics software I’m learning to work in, I used the drawing as a background for one of my lessons.

Seamless pattern from my vectorized drawing.

No, I’m not going to go down this route of making seamless patterns. I just needed to practice the tools of the new software. Although it doesn’t look so bad, what do you say? Of course, I miss my colors!

I hope to bring you some next time.

Love and hugs,

Ivana

Path to patterns

I’m still a newbie, but I can look back and make a few notes about the path. If you are familiar with digital graphics, don’t read any further or you will burst out laughing.

The first step was to understand how the seamless pattern works. Believe it or not, I did it completely non-digitally, using scissors and masking tape. It was a huge test of patience, but I succeeded! The only weakness was that the borders between the quarters of the paper, which I moved on the masking tape, were visible in the final image. Which led the non-digital method to digital retouching, unfortunately. And I had no idea how to do it in the beginning.

Being immersed in the basic tools of digital graphics, I discovered a simple possibility how to create seamless patterns from existing images. Yes, after such an effort, I needed something simple with a quick result. In principle, the program blurs the edges and blends with the duplicate.

Now, I’m at the stage where I’m learning to work with layers. Selecting segments and grouping them into patterns can be fun for people who know how to do it. I like getting results, but it’s still exhausting for me. Please give me feedback, I need a kick for more attempts.

Thanks all of you for reading and support!

Love and hugs,

Ivana