Acorn Squash Times Three

1/7/17 Sketchbook Pro

You know it’s winter when I sketch the same squash three times. I did the same exercise just about a year ago, too – sketched once in water-soluble colored pencils, once in watercolors and once in Autodesk Sketchbook Pro. I didn’t get very far with digital sketching last year because my Android tablet and the stylus that was compatible with it made me feel like I was drawing with a fat crayon while wearing a mitten.

I recently got a new Surface tablet/laptop, which comes with a stylus that I’d heard was much better for sketching, so I decided to give Sketchbook Pro another try. Indeed, the pressure-sensitive stylus is much more responsive and easier to use. I still feel like I’m wearing a glove, if not a mitten, and the app has so many tools and options that my head spins. Digital sketching will probably never be my thing (I love hands-on art supplies too much to give them up!), but I look at it as just another medium. Every medium I’ve ever tried – ink, marker, watercolor, gel pen, ballpoint pen, colored pencil, graphite – has taught me something new, and I’m willing to learn whatever digital sketching can teach me.

 

1/7/17 colored pencils

It’s possible that the only thing it has to teach me is that I should stop sketching digitally. 😉 In any case, it’s a good way to pass these cold, wet, dark days.

1/4/17 graphite

Carnival Times Three

1/26/16 water-soluble colored pencils

I like eating squash, but that’s not why this carnival squash made its way into my grocery cart. I knew those vibrant colors and patterns would be a still life before it ever became part of dinner.

Yesterday I sketched it the old-fashioned way – first with colored pencils and then with watercolor. We didn’t eat it last night, so this morning I had one more chance to sketch it, this time with Autodesk Sketchbook.

Each medium has very different challenges and frustrations, and yet each is fun in different ways. With colored pencils, I examined the intricate patterns more closely as I tried to emulate them, but I completely forgot to save out the white highlights. I skipped the initial line drawing on the watercolor version, so going straight to paint was difficult, yet also liberating because I allowed it to be more abstract without trying to capture the patterns accurately. I think I got its shape most accurately in the digital version – the shape was more difficult than I had initially thought; by the third try, I had more practice – and it was easy to put in white highlights afterwards, but the tools (spray paint and brush) I chose made it look blurry.

I think this squash has earned its keep. It’s dinner tonight.

1/26/16 Van Gogh watercolors

1/27/16 Autodesk Sketchbook

Stopping in Time

12/26/15 brush pen, colored pencils

Running a series of errands yesterday, we stopped first at the hardware store, where I opted to stay in the car for a sketch. Roosevelt Way Northeast is lined with gnarly, knotty old trees – all of them split open on top to make room for wires.

12/27/15 Infinite Painter

I was just thinking about putting in a vague suggestion of the buildings and other background when Greg finished his shopping. I’m glad I didn’t have more time – I think the sketch turned out better because I stopped when I did.

That is one major drawback of digital sketching. With that blessed undo key and dozens of tools to try, I can fiddle and refiddle with any sketch way beyond where it should have ended. An overworked watercolor sketch is usually bad news, but an overworked digital sketch is no better. 

Like Spray Paint

12/25/15 Infinite Painter

Last night before settling down for the evening, we went out for a drive in the neighboring areas to see the Christmas lights. The temperature was in the 30s (as it still is today), so I didn’t have the courage to get out of the car, but I got Greg to park for a few minutes so I could try sketching a lighted tree with my tablet. As clumsy as my stylus felt, the subject matter seemed ideal for digital sketching – a lighted object in the dark. Last year when we watched the Christmas ships, I had tried it with traditional toned (black) paper and opaque gel pens, but I wasn’t happy with the results. I’m not exactly thrilled with last night’s attempt either, but it’s not bad for a first try at sketching a tree in the dark. I also used a different app this time – Infinite Painter – which I like much better than Autodesk Sketchbook.

This morning I tried again, this time with a still life. With my primitive stylus, which feels like sketching with a chunk of ice that slides all over the tablet surface, I realize it’s much easier to paint rather than draw (which I’d been attempting previously). Again, I’m not thrilled with my result – no matter which tool I chose, it felt like using spray paint with a really huge nozzle – but I’m having more fun now because I’ve accepted my stylus as a paint brush rather than a fountain pen.

12/26/15 Infinite Painter

It’s like using any medium: You have to use the appropriate tool. Until I get a better stylus (which doesn’t seem to exist for Android?), I’m OK with digital painting instead of drawing.

More Selfies

12/12/15 brush pen

12/16/15 Autodesk Sketchbook

It’s been self-portrait weather almost continually the past couple weeks. I’ll spare you the really scary ones, but here are a couple, including my first digital selfie. 

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!