#30Faces30Days wrap up

A week into June and the 30Faces30Days challenge seems ages ago. It was such a busy, exciting and inspiring experience. There was a video tutorial each day, with some of the first tutors appearing again for a second session. 

Since each tutorial was almost an hour long, and each portrait could take anything from  an hour to a few hours to complete this entailed a considerable amount of time dedicated to the challenge. 

Sktchy Art School

The videos were posted at the Sktchy Art School website, available from 6.00 am (Brisbane time).. using]The Mighty Network is available for both IOS and Android users,  an advantage since the Sktchy app is only iOS. I would watch some of the video and if I had time do some work on the portrait. The reference photos grade been previously posted on the Art school site so we were able to do a preliminary sketch. 

Sometimes the tutor would start in a different way, such as using the reference photo selecting sections to use in the final work. We learned how work with multiple layers (trying not to get confused) and how to experiment with the many interesting facets of the Procreate app. 

Such a lot to learn and absorb - I know I will need to go back, take one tutor at a time and really master each particular approach and technique.

What is digital painting? How do you do this? 

These are questions put to me recently by a friend when talking about the challenge. She was complimenting me on the portraits I had been posting on Instagram and Facebook. When I said that these were all done digitally using the procreate drawing app, she couldn’t picture how this was done.  Then I realised that for the last few years I have been dabbling in an art form foreign to many. 

Essntially one is drawing or painting on digital device using a stylus or even one's finger.

There are any number of apps that allow one to draw and paint digitally. 

Procreate

Procreate is in a league of its own. The wonderful talent behind Procreate are based in Tasmania. Their business model is unique in this age of subscription based and in app purchases. It’s a ONE TIME PURCHASE - and that includes EVERY NEW UPDATE - FOREVER! 

Then as if this isn’t enough, the choice of brushes native to the app is vast. (All the tools are called ‘brushes’ even though you might be drawing with a charcoal or crayon ‘brush’)

As with Photoshop, layers are available so each section of the painting can be drawn on separately, and when combined make the finished work. 

Procreate records each stroke that you make to create a timelapse. This allows one to view the process of the painting. There of few of these portraits on my Instagram page which will give you an idea of how the painting evolves. Here is one of them.