This month I was a little more methodical with my digital art learning regime. I have been following YouTube tutorials for a while now. But this time I decided to use what I learnt to make something new.
I started with a simple tutorial from Art With Flo and made a sunset landscape with a swing. You can check both below.
You can check out her post here – You Can Draw This SUNSET LANDSCAPE – Procreate Tutorial (artwithflo.com)
The tutorial was simple and yet I struggled with making clouds. I need to practice that more. I did learn a lot about adding depth and how the mountains furthest away from the viewer would look as compared to the once closest. The swing with the girl was actually a free brush freshly added in the brushset of Art With Flo.
So, after making this landscape, I decided to play around and see how can I modify.
I removed the furthest mountains and moved the sun below. Instead of swing set, I used another brush from Art With Flo brushset to make the big pine trees. I also played around with the sky colors trying to get a look that could look like sunset. I used the techniques I learnt from the tutorial to blend the colors using blur tool. It was fairly simple. Clouds were still a challenge. I will need way more practice that I did this time.
I wanted to do a night scene next. I love making moon and stars. That’s actually a super fun process for me. So, I used the second image as a template this time and started by changing the sky color. I removed the big pine trees and added a tree skeleton using another free brush from the same brushset. Art With Flo has some really cool brushes and she keeps adding new brushes there.
Anyways, I made a huge moon this time. I have no idea how badly I messed up the proportions or how unrealistic it may appear. But I like it. And that’s all that matters to me right now – Having fun.
I tried adding a lot of mist between the mountains. It looks okiesh but this is another thing I need to practice. In this one I didn’t even try to make any clouds.
I find digital art so much more flexible than making anything on pen and paper. For a newbie like me, going digital helps me correct my mistakes without wasting a lot of art supplies. I am usually terrified of using paint of any kind. But digital paint never runs out.
Making art on my iPad is great for my writing creativity as well. While making this scene, I kept thinking about the girl on the swing and what kind of life she could be having. I think the other paintings are part of the same story. I mean after the girl on the swing leaves, the pine trees will be visible before it gets dark and the moon rises.
I know I am stretching the limits of my imagination to connect my various digital art projects. Whatever it maybe, I just know that for a girl who can barely draw a line, being able to make something that even remotely resembles a landscape is a big achievement.
January 2021 was productive – at least as far as my creativity is concerned.