Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Going Digital

12/14/15 Sketchbook Express
I’ve seen digital sketches online for a long time, but just recently, a few of my friends have been sketching on their iPads. Although I’ve had a few sketching apps on my Android tablet for a while, I hadn’t made any actual sketches with them – just messed around with the stylus and the various options to see what they do.

After seeing recent sketches by Gabi Campanario on his blog, Facebook and his Seattle Sketcher column, I got more motivated to give it a try. There’s definitely something to be said for such a small and thin sketch kit (as long as the battery is charged). I also really like some sketches he did at night – subject matter with a mostly dark background seems ideal for digital sketching (I actually had plans to use my tablet to sketch the lunar eclipse a few months ago, but I’d forgotten how to use the apps!). And you can’t beat that undo key. J

Anyway, this morning as I was heading out to my usual meeting in Shoreline, I grabbed my tablet and stylus. I didn’t bring my sketchbook because I was afraid I’d chicken out and use what’s familiar. What you see here is my first attempt. Compared to all my favorite fountain pens, the stylus felt clumsy and strange, but it was fun to experiment with the various tools. I don’t much care for Sketchbook Express, though. (If you’ve used a good Android sketching app, I’m all ears.) For one thing, the free version I have doesn’t enable easy sharing – so I had to e-mail the image to myself to get it out of the tablet. Though bizarre and bass-ackward, I used my phone to take a trophy shot to upload it on the spot!

I can tell you right now that tablet sketching will never, ever replace my beloved pens, inks and paper. But it’s still fun to mess around with. It’s like any other new medium I’ve tried – some are just novelties that disappear from my attention after a while; others stay around. We’ll see how long this one lasts.

I couldn't figure out how to upload directly from the tablet so I shared on
Facebook the old-fashioned way!

1 comment:

  1. You did a good job with the tablet. It is so, so, so different from sketching with a pen! I guess the more you practice the better you (or I) will get, but I agree that it won't replace my pens and my watercolors. It is a totally different feel. I'll have to go check Gabi's posts and see how he did. I took your suggestion and started sketching my ornaments to post them and their stories on my blog. My sister had already started doing the same thing. lol

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