An in depth look at how the drawings were made
While I predominantly work in sculpture, drawing is and will always be my first love. I enjoy sitting down and spending several hours drawing with a dip pen and ink. As the years have gone by in my vocation I have embraced the use of different technologies. In particular, Photoshop. I often compose my sculptures in a digital collage before the real drawing and construction begins. I have had a tablet for several years, an iPad. Drawing on it has never felt natural, until recently. In this post I’m going to break down how the drawings currently on offer were made.
Finding flowers
I collect images of flowers while perusing the internet and out in the real world, capturing photos with my phone. When I search for images I search for are under common use licenses where the work is not copyrighted and ok to work from. In the case that the copyright situation is unclear, I reach out to the photographer for permission to use their image as reference. Many thanks to Erika Stephens for the use of the image for the Red Chrysanthemum!
The Tools
Once I’ve got my reference image or images chosen, I grab the iPad, fire up Procreate, a drawing app, find a cozy spot to work, and start sketching out the main shapes of the flower on the screen using the Apple pencil. Drawing on a digital tablet does not come easy to me. The feel is different. I actually have a huge issue with the strokes made in procreate having a bit of a rubbery, bounce back quality to them if I draw in a certain way. It may be how these drawings attained their wispy quality.
Working in Layers
Working in the real world you have just one layer on a piece of paper while drawing. In the digital world you can have several layers present at the same time… I’m getting ahead of myself here.
So, I do quick sketch using a reference image. I then make a new layer on top of that sketch layer consisting of a clean outline drawing of the flower. I then add another layer, there I do my shading. In this series I used a several pronged brush to draw. I follow the outline layer and erase the excess brush strokes that broke out of my guide drawing. Each shape has a new layer made. As I go I condense or merge the layers. Upon completion of the first pass I erase the initial guide, removing the hard graphic lines.
Drawing
I relish the push and pull nature of drawing and representing flowers in this manner. With a few strokes you can round out a form, create a solid edge, define depth of field, and make a petal really pop! In turn, with an eraser in the application, mimicking the same brush that was used to make the marks, you can remove lines and push petals to the back ground. You can soften edges that need to recede.
I go over the entire drawing three to four times pushing and pulling elements to represent form. The inward curling petals of the chrysanthemums in ‘Cluster’. The petals of the ‘Peony in Green’ pouring outward as they battle gravity. Ensuring the individual petals in ‘Chrysanthemum in Blue’ have depth themselves while simultaneously emphasizing the globule shape of the bloom’s head as a whole.
I love drawing. Don’t know if you can tell.
Time frame
The drawings featured in this collection each took a week to two weeks to draw. What started out as a side project became part of my practice.
Comfort is Key
I constructed a pad of sorts to hold the iPad, have space beyond the borders of the tablet to rest my hands while drawing, and also provide some ventilation, as I was putting the machine through the paces with the amount of computing it was tackling. I had seen someone else using a pad like it. It took half an hour to throw together and while made of just cardboard and packing tape, it is holding up well. I’m currently working on a special release which should be landing just in time for the holidays.
Size relationships
A struggle with drawing on a tablet is understanding the size that you are working in. The original file size for each of these drawings was 18” x 24”. It’s not easy to wrap your head around a specific size when continuously zooming in and out on a screen on a screen the size of a notepad. To solve this disconnect I printed out rough drafts on A3 copy paper as I went along. I marked each print out with notes telling myself where to push and pull things, what needed to be darkened, what needed to be lightened.
Color
You may have noticed in the pictures of the rough drafts that they were drawn in black. One of the beautiful things about the application that I used to make these pieces with is that you can isolate elements like the lifework layer and completely change the colors. I did most of the drawings initially in black or a deep blue, or deep red. When I felt good about the selection of drawings I made a pallet of colors that felt good to me. I then went about finding the schemes for each piece.
The eclectic grouping of colors for this series was intentional. I wanted to make a set of prints that would work together well, but also be attractive to a wider audience.
I almost started writing about the most challenging drawing out of this series, but I think I’m going to save it for my newsletter, which you are welcome to join:
This series was a joy and a challenge to make
At times it was a really good source of meditation during some rough life spots. I am a newbie to digital drawing, but have several years of experience pushing graphite and ink in the real world. I’m grateful to have found a new tool set and am looking forward to what other innovations it brings in my work.
About the Digital
I felt a bit nervous sharing the fact that these pieces were digitally made. There is a lot of confusion out there about what digital art is and how it is made. How many times have you heard someone say ”Well, can’t you just Photoshop it?” out loud, not understanding that Photoshop is not a button.
We’re in a moment of further automation in many many fields, including the arts. I know that in some creative practices it can be used in different ways. I am sure that there are artists out there using it in restricted ways as a tool.
As an artist that has made everything with his own two hands I have been disheartened witnessing how AI art is being made and used. In setting up this shop and looking for guidance and information in learning what some days felt like a new language, I came across sooooo many people pitching get rich quick schemes using AI to generate “art” to throw on to junk products to make a quick buck.
Although there are many struggles associated with it, I take the long way. Everything seen on this site has been and will always be made by hand. While the drawings are digital, a hand held a stick and made marks to make images in hope of connecting to other humans. If you think this is work worth supporting please consider buying a print.
Thank you for coming to my ted talk. Ha! But really, thank you for taking the time here and in purchasing a piece on this site you are supporting the continuation of human fueled art.
