Digital Manipulation

For our next assignment entitled 'digital manipulation', we were to take the extensive catalogue of drawings built up from our previous projects and develop them further using the digital cintiq. We were briefly introduced to the Wacom Cintiq in a short lesson where we were taught the very basics on how to use the pen stylus to draw with on photoshop. I did not feel at all confident with this project because I had never before worked like this, and was not familiar with the technology, or programme we used.

Wacom Cintiq (image found here)

I started by practicing with all of the different brush tools that are provided on Photoshop and experimented with the various effects and looks they could give as if I was testing out real brushes on paper:

Once I had a better idea of which affects work available to me to use I began gathering my sketchbooks from past subjects using them to draw from, and recreating them with this software. Here are some examples of the work I created, mostly focussing on people and characters, but mixing them up:

drawing of carly 

drawing of lucy

water bottle

gent o

based this on Jade

Lucy drawing

From the mayors of hartlepool

Old man on bus with browns

I used thin lines in most of these to replicar my fine liner in the original drawings, and I usually stuck with black in the colour scheme. Sometimes however I altered the colours to suit the original and drawings and also the thickness of the lines to suit whatever media I changed in the drawings.


In these, I experimented a little bit further with the size and opacity of the brushes as well as the colours and the mark making.

(same as what I based my lino print on)

Experimenting more from mayor drawings

Reportage plant

Experimenting

Experimenting 

Because I did not feel that any of these techniques were working, I began using photographs of my studies and further editing these in photoshop. Here is how I did this:

I first edited the brightness and contrast of this image because I thought it looked
quite dull and I wanted it to appear cleaner to work with.

I then selected the filter gallery and looked at the many options that were
available to me.

After looking at each individual filter, I settled on this one to enhance the mark making of
my bear drawing.

I then again adjusted the brightness and contrast of the image to make the background
appear whiter and more natural.

To further clean the image, I used the brush tool in the white colour and cleaned up the
speckles that were surrounding the bear.

This was the finished result. 

 I then edited one of my final images for animals and creatures in the same way:

I began by editing the brightness and contrast again

I then chose a filter that I liked and adjusted the settings of this

I then cropped the image to finish to crop off the dirty paper marks
and bring the image closer together.

This was the end result.

I edited my painting of the parrot in the same way to make it look
as though I had used textured brush strokes rather than fluid marks.

I worked from an old photo to create this image and traced it. I then added text. The bolder lines were much different to how I was working straight onto the cintiq.

Artists who inspired me

When I was working on this project I found a few artists who work digitally and otherwise to inspire my work. Here are some of those artists:

Phillip Bannister 

I found inspiration from Phillip Bannister when I was working at enhancing the look of brushstrokes in studies that I wanted to look much more like paintings. He is a digital artist but his style and his pieces often look like traditional paintings, and I found this very admirable and inspiring to my work.

image found here

When looking at his work you would not assume that he had worked digitally and on software like I worked with for this project. I admire his skills in his work and in the parrot study I completed above, I looked to his studies for inspiration.

Helen Bullock

I also found some inspiration from Helen Bullock, whose art is quite quirky and simple as she only really uses simple lines, and so I took obvious inspiration from that for most of my studies. 

I really admire the simplicity of her work, and how she uses negative space in her studies. I took inspiration from these features, especially in my studies of people and the mayors.

She also often adds text to her pieces, which I admire as I like to work this way myself and added some to my own studies. I like the way she uses colour in her work, and how her studies differ from the usual kind of digital art. I also admire the way her studies have a range to them, they are usually quite limited in detail but sometimes she adds quite a lot of detail to one area of her work which is very nice, and leads our eye around the image as viewers.

I admire the above drawings. I like how the facial features in the above left are quite defined and although again the detail is very limited, they look accurately drawn. I like how the artist has quite a childlike way of drawing in some of her studies. (Images found here)

Katharina Drees

I found a great amount of inspiration from this artist as she creates beautiful line drawings through the digital process. Her art does vary, many of her studies are in full colour and are quite detailed, but I took most of my inspiration from her continuous line drawings of people. 

found here

I think the above drawing is stunning, as she has managed to capture the figure using busy lines only. I love how she has expressed more of the detail in the face, and then how this pulls out, again leading our eye around the image.

found here

 I also strongly admire the above study, it is much less detailed than the one discussed previously but still the character of the figure has been captured very well, and it's admirable how it has been produced digitally.


Overall, I enjoyed the experience of experimenting with a new and modern form of illustration. I think that working digitally is an excellent way of producing art for todays world, and having the opportunity to experiment on the cintiqs was a very positive thing. However, I think that I would have benefited further from more tutorials on how to use the software, as my lack of knowledge on this subject let me down I believe. Also, I was not always fortunate enough to be able to use one of the cintiqs in the studio. I would like to further practice because of this, and because I enjoyed the procedure of working digitally. It is definitely important to practice with digital art in the modern world, although despite feeling as though I'd like to practice and further experiment with it I am not sure if it is something I am likely to use through choice in my art, as I prefer a more traditional approach.