Digital Painting & Collage (3/1)

I have more experience with Photoshop, so I wanted to explore something new with this project and decided to try drawing using the Art Set app we had played with in class. I have a simple, short stylus that I was using, and it took some time to get used to this as a drawing tool. I also really had to play with the app for a while before I got the hang of the different tools and effects I could create. I looked at the different paper types first and then went through each material (paint, marker, pastel, crayon, etc.) to see which effects I enjoyed most. (I was using the $2 version of this app with more basic functions). I found that I really liked the sketchy pastel lines because they encouraged me to draw quickly and achieve a very spontaneous effect. I also liked some of the bold color options and bold strokes of the paint and marker tools.

I had traveled to Santorini, Greece last May and have been wanting to paint the buildings there since I got back, so I decided to make a drawing from memory using the colors and shapes that stood out most to me from my trip. Drawing on the iPad felt very freeing because I could make fast lines, switch between materials quickly, and I wasn't worrying about having the right perspective or perfect form in any of the buildings. I also played with blurring the background and grew to really love the sponge and paper towel tools that allow you to smudge the material. After finishing the drawing on the left, I decided to import it into Photoshop and add some collaged photos I had taken from my trip. I grabbed pieces of the bright flowers, blue roofs and buildings, sunset images, and a picture of a sign that says "The Dream." Overall, I'm mostly happy with how the original drawing turned out because I was straying from complete abstraction (which I've been doing lately) but at the same time not getting caught up in realism and focusing on how I picture Santorini in my mind.

I got so into using this app that I spent about 3 hours just making drawings and experimenting. So here's another drawing because I just couldn't stop! This one is based on a recurring dream I used to have where I would jump across buildings and climb across obstacle courses above skyscrapers.