Working away....digitally with Procreate and Art Rage

So I haven't been putting too much new stuff into my Etsy shop lately. I have created so many prints that my studio can't really store too much more. How do I get around this storage problem? I started to create things digitally. Now I just have to worry about storing file sizes but if I want to sell something through my Etsy shop I have to have the piece printed and ready. The cost of printing a quality archival print deters me from doing that. So while I feel guilty for not posting fresh work in my shop, I know that I'm still learning and creating in the studio.

Lately I've been mostly using my iPad with a couple drawing programs I got for it. Porcreate is a very versatile  program that has me working in "oils", "pastel", "pencil" and "chalks". I have found myself sketching in this program more than in my sketchbook. The other program that I've been using is Art Rage which I find has a better set of watercolor functions than the Procreate. The painting brushes are pretty good too but my main complaint about this program is that it's cumbersome to adjust the qualities of the brushes and I prefer the sliders in the Procreate program.

Below are a couple trial sketches with each application. Try them out for yourself and tell me what you think.

Sketch using Procreate for a monotype

Watercolor trial using Art Rage

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

  What do you think of my Valentine's for this year? I did this one for the kids classroom exchange. I wasn't able to get cards done for the shop though. She's cute though, don't you think?

Year of the Snake Print Exchange

Well hello there! How was your Christmas? Hectic? Fun? Relaxing? I hope you're ready for the new year because I can see it's around the corner. 

For the past few years now I have contributed to an annual print exchange through PROOF Gallery and this year we'll be creating images to celebrate the Year of the Snake.   Below is my submission which is a drypoint created on a plastic plate and then hand-colored with watercolors. Below that is the artist proof in straight black and white and I think I prefer that version. What do you think? Which do you prefer?

Do you ever create a drawing and then regret coloring it?

You can view all the snake print submissions from around the world at the Year of the Snake blog

Illustration Friday: Water

Here's today's submission for Illustration Friday's: Water. This little drypoint with watercolor seems to get a lot of love on Etsy. It's a cloud shape that I've worked on several times before and it must hit a chord with me because I'm on the wet west coast. 

This is one of the drypoints I did on plastic and it's made me think that I might not buy another zinc plate again. I did a previous post that explains the process here.

Supergirl three ways

For today's post I thought I'd show you some techniques I've been working on. I'm still trying to teach myself how to paint in Photoshop and the top image is of my "Supergirl" painted digitally in oil with a brush that I created myself. I also carved out the image tonally first like I do my reductive monotypes in printmaking. So I started with a deep brown canvas layer and gradually wiped it away to create the highlights and tones. 

I'm pretty happy with how painterly I was able to keep it and figuring how to create my tones makes me feel more confident about moving to digital painting.

The image below is traditional watercolor on paper and it was very fun and fast for me to do. I keep reminding myself that there was a time when I wasn't confident with watercolor either and that it took time before I found a technique that worked for me.

This version below is a digital watercolor and I still don't think I've found a method that I like just yet but it's slowly getting better.  What do you think? Which one seems the strongest? Which one looks like a "Lori" piece? I want to hear what you think.

Carded! 2012

Guess what? I've had my "Totem Jim" drypoint and watercolor accepted into this years CARDED! show. This year's show will be at the Gallery Gachet in Gastown on April 21, 8pm-11pm. I won't be able to make it for the actual trading but maybe you could? Trade me away!

Taking myself to school.... Photoshop that is

 I've been pretty proud of myself lately for finally submitting to the Illustration Friday weekly topics. I had put it off for so long because I didn't think a week was going to be long enough to come up with an idea and execute a finished piece. I finally convinced myself that each  piece didn't have to be publish worthy and that I could even just submit a sketch. After I eased up the pressure I've been able to create some images faster than I thought I could. You can find my Illustration Friday collection started on my Flickr here.

Besides actually just attempting the weekly topics, I've been trying to keep my submissions as digital pieces so that I can finally learn Photoshop. I'm a bit too old to have learned the program in school so everything I know on it is self taught with the help of a few online tutorials. I really want to paint in watercolor and oils digitally but the program is really too huge for me to have figured out how to do that. It's been pretty frustrating and for last weeks topic: vocal, I decided to try the image in digital watercolor and in traditional watercolor to see how each one translates. What do you think? What are the differences? Which one looks more fresh?

I'm going to keep trying to figure digital painting out with the help of Lynda.com courses but so far it still doesn't give the same level of satisfaction that a brush to paper does.

Wordless Wednesday

Sea Spray Blue

Erin Tyner

Nice Harpy

Groundwork

Wordless Wednesday

None of the Above

Cathy McMurray

Design by Nihan

Star of the East

Year of the Rabbit print exchange

This past week was the start of the Chinese New Year which is celebrated by a large proportion of the Canadian population. All over the country festivals and celebrations are held to see in the beginning of the new lunar year, the Year of the Rabbit.

  Just like last year's Year of the Tiger, the PROOF Gallery in Toronto put a call out to printmakers to create imagery around the rabbit. This international print exchange will be on display from Feb. 2-13.

For my bunny submission I chose to create a drypoint on a plastic plate. Once the edition was printed, I hand painted each print with watercolor. I'm happy to say that my little print made it onto the poster for the show this year.

Gung Hai Fat-Choy!

1000,000 Giraffes

I have a fun post for you today. I wanted to show you my submission for the 1000,000 Giraffe.com site. The goal of the site is to collect one million images of originally created giraffes before 2011. The only stipulation for submitting to this site is that your Giraffe be an original drawing,painting or sculpture created without the aid of a computer. Let's get back to the basics!

The site has some fun features like stat listings, searches, blog and "guess the artist's age" game which is my favorite. It was very easy to upload an image and were notified very quickly that our pieces were accepted in the collection. So for some simple creative fun, draw yourself a little giraffe and submit it to the cause.

Below are the watercolor painting my daughter submitted and the drypoint with watercolor that I submitted. What do you think?

Claire Age: 5

Drypoint on plastic w/watercolor

For those of you in Toronto the Good, I have an invite for you. The Year of the Tiger 9th International Print Exhibit is opening this weekend and will show until the 28th.It is being hosted by PROOF Studio Gallery located in the Distillery District.

I along with many printmakers from around the world submitted an 10x12 original print based on this year's Chinese zodiac the tiger. Prints will be sold to the public and exchanged among the participants. Below is a photo of my linocut with watercolor submission. He's a little cutie, don't you think? To view all the prints in the show go to Year of the Tiger blog.

Fun stuff. What's next year's animal?