Video 06: If you cannot see the embedded video: https://youtu.be/fZzxYcbypbY

Last night just before I went to seep I had an epiphany: I should paint digitally the way I would paint on a canvas!

This may seem obvious to you, but I am a trained 2D animator and the only digital painting I have ever done was underneath strong line art. Yesterday, that is how I begun this work as well. Then the epiphany struck.

When painting on a canvas, I always paint over my artwork. I work in translucent layers so that I can see my sketch, and when necessary I go back and redraw bits an pieces of my sketch with a pencil crayon. I do not toss confident brushstrokes, but instead I explore the persons or characters I paint as I slowly build them up from nothing.

I chose a textured brush and kept the opacity pressure sensitive. I would get strange lines in my work, but that’s alright. I find that sketchiness and imperfections in an artwork somehow make it feel more real. My favourite artist are Monet and Drew Struzan after all. My favourite digital artist who is responsible for me wanting to attempt digital art at all is Selenada. I work by building up layers of paint. I find in this way that the translucency and the different paints under the painting also make the work feel more real than if I was trying for photographic accuracy. There is movement in brushstrokes and liveliness that cannot be achieved with smooth blending. I am a painter not a photographer, why should I aim for photographic accuracy?

The challenge is also figuring out how “real” I want this work to feel. The proportions are that of a cartoon and the inside of the book is illustrated with ink line art. Should I bring in the ink line back to the work?

For now, I’ll focus on painting, but I may need your input to answer those questions soon.

Until next time…

Cheers!

Mili