As I was working today, I was thinking about how different traditional media and digital painting are. I seem to run across frequent criticisms of digital art, as if it’s cheating somehow.
I do love the feel of paper and the smear of chalk, the smell of charcoal and blowing away the dust. But I love digital more, because I’m not really an artist. I’m an illustrator. My goal is to tell a story. The medium or technique is not the point.
I follow illustrators and artists on Instagram and enjoy the variety and skill I see. Sometimes I grab something from my monthly SketchBox and do ART! It’s expansive, fun. But then I get back to work.
I’m getting so many continuous hours in on my iPad Pro that I’m running out of battery. 3-5 hours at a time. I keep my pad pretty bright, but I have background refresh off, or I’d get much less.
I’m nearing completion of one character — at least all parts of her will have been addressed soon. I’m working top to bottom, left to right. In traditional media, that keeps my hand from smearing too much, so it’s just habit.
I’ve seen some artists wearing a fabric glove. Yes, my palm has occasionally “drawn” something. But it’s not a problem since I keep all layers locked except the one I’m on and keep each character on a layer. That way, a mark on one side isn’t merged into the color of the active layer.
