Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I continue to experiment in digital art

I'm slowly figuring out my digital art style, I think.

Part of my problem is that digital art is not the same process as physical art. There are too many ways you can move things around in digital art, too many options that I don't understand. What is an Add Layer? What is a Masking Layer? What does this or that button do?

Another part of the problem is that I have zero patience. I cannot abide the Ugly Phase of art. I just can't stand it, and I don't have the patience to fiddle around with brush sizes, textures, and color until things look more like I want them.

So Instead I have an odd, flat, scribbly style in digital, far more so than in traditional art.

This week I did a couple of digital paintings in Krita.

Portrait; digital art; 2022

Tree vs astigmatism; digital art; 2022

I might, with enough time, be able to figure out ways to make better, more natural pictures. I don't often get the urge to paint people, though. I am pleased with how shaggy the tree came out, but I can definitely improve.

Today was also largely taken up by me finally starching my snowflakes. Sure, I'll do a couple more Snowmageddon flakes, but the ones I'm giving away are 100% starched and pressed and are currently drying. I still have several gifts left to finish.

I also need a nap lol.

When don't I?

How about all of y'all? Do you have some sort of last-minute gift rush you're up to? Are you also working on art? (If you are, please feel free to let me know what you're working on and in what programs/mediums!) 

I know today's blog has been super short, but my attention span is 1 chipmunk in diameter and rapidly retreating into the night lol. I will likely take a brief nap before engaging with the enemy (crochet) until an unreasonable win condition is reached (such as: total completion of the remaining gifts). Until then, I'll be signing off.

One last thing before I go - my cat went out for about 10 minutes today, found a mouse trail, sniffed her way along it and then peed on it. What a little turd!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which Plans Sometimes Fall Through
And That's Okay

I'm working on some more abstract digital art, and that's going... weirdly. I made a major oopsie last night, didn't catch it til this afternoon, and had to start over.

It's not getting done tonight.

So about an hour ago, I ate some spaghetti and decided to try a Timer Challenge.

The prompts I drew were "Self Portrait" and "Fruit". My times were "20 minutes" and "5 minutes".

I grabbed a Ticonderoga Black and my big green sketchbook, and I got to work.

"20 Minute Self Portrait"; graphite on sketch paper; 2022

"Five Minute Pears"; graphite on sketch paper; 2022

I'm honestly way happier with the pears than the self portrait... but what can I really expect from a 20 minute self portrait? I wasn't taking my time, I wasn't getting everything perfect, I was beating a timer?

If you're looking for a good exercise to get your creative juices going, I'd recommend looking up an art prompt, then randomly assigning yourself a time. If you'd like to add a little D&D element to this exercise, go pick a prompt from somewhere, then roll a d10 on this table for times!

1. 30 seconds
2. 1 minute
3. 5 minutes
4. 10 minutes
5. 15 minutes
6. 20 minutes
7. 30 minutes
8. 45 minutes
9. 1 hour
10. Roll 2x

Speaking of prompts, if you'd like to have a say in what I draw next, feel free to buy me a coffee over on Ko-Fi and leave a message there with which category of mine you'd like to see next! Today's categories were "Animal" (the self-portrait) and "Vegetable" (the pears). Available categories are:

• Animal
• Vegetable
• Mineral
• Dedbert
• Location
• Geometric
• Word

I'll get back to work on my digital mess, now.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC