I would like to talk about traditional and digital art today.
Back in the day when I started out I only drew traditionally. Pencils, watercolors, acrylics and oils( I partook in a little art class where old ladies painted vases for a couple years once a week before my studies)
I was introduced to working digitally during my studies and quickly fell in love with the convenience of it. Control-Z is a gamechanger. Working digitally makes just going ahead so much easier since you can always erase and change the result till it’s done.
But I feel that working mostly digitally has left me with a bit of a RISK aversion.
I learned a lot from it (and I’m far from done with learning) but now I feel like it is the right time to turn back to traditional media and try to achieve just as finished pieces as digitally.
Why?
Well, a traditional piece is obviously mine. You probably can imagine why this is so important nowadays… I don’t want to talk about that, enough artists are doing so and instead of getting all depressed about the problem at hand I want to move in a direction that CAN be helpful.
It’s not as if I have NO traditional skills. I’ve used watercolors and gouache sporadically, I often like the pieces that I produce, but it is way harder than doing it on my Ipad. And I often start doing more and then something blocks me and I turn to the easier medium.
GOALS 2024:
- get really comfortable using Gouache
- Get confident enough to tackle more complex pieces with gouache
Maybe someday I can also live from selling my originals. :D
I started with small pieces again to get well acquainted with my colors. This piece from Friday worked so nicely and boosted my confidence!
And so I kept going and painted another:
And started another this weekend:
One thing I also feel worth mentioning about working with real paints is the joy of watery colors do their thing ( like in that first layer of paint in the blackberries above) , reacting with the paper.
In the future I will still use my Ipad (but maybe a bit less). I like switching around and it as a tool is hugely valuable to me! I also like planning a painting digitally and then executing it on paper as below:
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_474,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F01835e2a-d85d-4abd-89f8-bdb0b0029204_2000x2000.png)
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WEEKLY PRACTICE
More Birds!!! This weeks reference birds .
Last weeks birds of mine:
Your Birbs<3: Vanessa M. , Christin Seidl - Kryssy Art and Illustrations, Dnkn Hlft Illustration , Hitorik art
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2d9e6a61-efff-4f2f-ac15-b403a8eb3942_1080x2160.jpeg)
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![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_720,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F0020e60c-8490-40b6-881b-1ac6006c16d6_1080x2160.jpeg)
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Will you join me again this week? If so tag me on Instagram. I will share some in my stories and here <3 #schmoescosyartclub
I love this! I have been doing more traditional work for the past year and rarely touch my iPad. I have grown and learned so much more from traditional work than I ever did with digital. I am excited to see your progress too! I have so much more to learn.
Ah! For me sketching feels nicer on paper... Like if I were more on control of it. The way the pencil moves on the paper is different. On the tablet it feels as if it... slips? Like ice-skating :|