Introduction to Digital Drawing

Why do Art?

Many of us are inspired to do painting and drawing because we see a large body of art including painting that in some way evokes our sensations. When we go to another person’s home, we are immediately drawn by their choice of artwork that they have hand picked to add a certain aesthetic beauty to their home.  No doubt, we will come across a piece of art that naturally draws you closer and you don’t always know why we feel the way we do.  Feelings can emanate from a sense of pleasure when we view the painting or remind you of a familiar place hidden in the recesses of your mind.  You may like the bold brush strokes, or the choice of colors, the balance of tones, or just an overall feeling of warmth.  It may even trigger feelings of moodiness with the portrayal of sombre tones, or perhaps generate a depressive feeling or even a sense of escapism to a far imaginary world.  The reason why art is so popular to the masses is that it can conjure up different sensations and feelings to the viewer.  From the artists point of view, the successful portrayal of a deep sense of meaning to their artwork is their ultimate goal.

Be mentally prepared

I urge you not to skip this section as it will provide with important information that you carry through any painting or drawing project that you undertake. Many of us want to do art but may feel challenged when they come to compare themselves with others who are able to produce art with relative ease. This can be the biggest stumbling block for many would-be artists and they usually abandon the hobby without even trying. The problem with beginner budding artists is that they look at a painting completely different from accomplished artists. The beginner often breaks down the artwork to small pieces and often ignores the steps required to create the final piece. Because they concentrate on the smaller aspects of the painting, they feel that they would not be able render the painting and therefore lack the skill. I will show you skills that will train your mind to think like an artist and break down the artwork to manageable tasks and you will be very surprised with your own hidden talent!

Before we venture into the lessons and the techniques of drawing and painting, there are fundamental points that you need to be aware of which is crucial to producing artwork. The first important lesson, is to have the ability and confidence in yourself and to hold a pencil without worrying about the intricacies of each stroke. This is very important and it could be the single reason why many would-be artists give up too easily.

Rule 1: Do not focus on the small aspect of your work, continue with confidence and fluidity and only truly examine your painting near the end. Do not think for a moment that this little exercise is sufficient to sum up your experience as a potential artist. It is not, the improvements in your skills are developed over time with patience and repetition.

Some of you will say, ’How can we possibly create the whole painting if we don’t lay down the brush strokes carefully’. This is a valid point but one that will surely hold you back if you keep this thought inside of your head too long. Try to dismiss this thought completely and I will explain the reasons why. When you focus on a singular point of the painting you are too concerned with the strokes and the technical aspect of that bit as the defining area of your overall piece. It is not, your approach should be persistence and doing by trial and error. When you do follow my method, you will find that as you do more paintings, you automatically adjust your brush strokes method instinctively to tailor it to the whole painting. You will find that you will be creating works of art more rapidly than simply following a very technically biased method. This becomes even more important in the digital art method of painting.

Rule 2: Draw one painting after another and evaluate your painting only after you complete it and then find out how you can improve on your next drawing. This snippets of knowledge adds to your overall skills and you will be drawing without really thinking too much about the techniques.

Naturally, practicing as much as you can will only help you improve your painting. Bob Ross, a prolific landscape painter who would create a piece of oil painting in under 30 minutes was a big inspiration for all of us. His teaching embodies much of my thinking and perhaps many other painters around the world. If you pick up one of his videos or just go to youtube, you will see that he does not focus on the smallest detail and he would tell you that he does not believe in mistakes. You will see that he always focuses on the effect that he wants to achieve ie. the shape of the overall clouds where he simply takes a dry brush over the clouds he has painted to give the ’blurry’ and cloudy effect. The point is, it’s all about the effect and over time, you will instinctively develop the required ’techniques’ that will help you achieve the kind of painting that you are looking for.

Why do digital art painting as opposed to normal art?

Digital art has been with us for as long as the computer existed. We have sophisticated software applications such as Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter that are used by many graphics artists that do all the digital artwork we find in every day of our lives. For example, the billboards, tv adverts, opening scenes to movies, animation, xbox games and many other areas. With the advent of tablets and smartphones such as the iPad, we are now finding that affordable applications are making its way to the mainstream where anyone can create original paintings or drawings. Some critics of art have made comments that art on computers is not art at all and they are extremely ignorant to think so. They would be the very people who have not picked up a pen and tried it themselves. A single freehand stroke across a paper or computer is art in my opinion..

The tablet is perfectly suited for freehand digital artwork and its becoming a fast growing medium where a new breed of artists are growing. Subject matters such as fantasy, anime and specialized subjects are popular with these artists and we are beginning to see more and more people producing content in this medium. It is still early days yet, but the opportunities for people are immense. Think about it, you can now pull out your tablet and create something unique without the messiness of oils, acrylics or charcoal!

Naturally, the multi-billion dollar business of the arts and crafts are not going to disappear anytime soon, but what is happening is that this new medium is drawing a large crowd of people who are firing up their creative juices to produce unique works of art. Expect to see much more digital artwork in the pipeline with more support from applications developers and a big surge of interest from the general public.

The Paintology app much more then an application to draw on your smartphone. It  is a serious application tool that has been designed to transition you from our normal method of painting to this exciting new medium of digital painting. Novices and experts alike will find this tool indispensable for firing up their creative juices in much the same way that you get excited in drawing and painting with the traditional methods of acrylics, oils, charcoals etc.

You will find a variety of lessons to help you get started and quickly become accomplished in your painting abilities. The lessons are all diversified to help anyone at every level  to accomplish their goals and there are comprehensive sections in help and support to find what you are looking for. Do you have some paintings that you want to share with us, we have that too!

So what are you waiting for, let’s start drawing!