digital art

Willingness – Part 2 – Starting to add colour

Angela PorterLeave a comment

I’ve been awake since stupid o’clock. After trying to return to sleep, I decided, around 6am, to get up and do some arty stuff.

So, I thought I’d record my next stint at adding colour to ‘Willingness’. I’m doing this digitally, and I had figured out the colour palette I’d like to use for it. I made some adjustment to the dusky purples I had in the palette and added some brighter versions, but they’re a tad too saturated and bright, so I’ll adjust those colours and re-colour the areas in which I’ve used them.

I love how the peaches and yellows almost glow against the soft blue-grey background.

I spent nearly an hour on just a few bits and pieces, and while I was working I was chatting away. I then realised I’d started having a bit of a rant about a couple of poor shopping experiences I’d had with businesses abroad, and how products sent to me weren’t what I’d ordered or were not as they were described. Not just that, but the huge difficulty in getting a refund of any kind from them. With the latest one, I just feel like throwing the towel in. I’m out of pocket with product that is not fit for purpose, but they’re whinging about how they’ll lose profit if they refund me, even if I return it all to them, at my own cost, so either way I’ll be out of pocket, not them.

Sometimes, I really think it’s just not worth the hassle and stress.

Anyway, that made me turn the video into a timelapse with music. Nearly an hour of art condensed into about seventeen minutes. You can view it here.

Monday Mandala – WIP

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Yesterday, I used one of my rather mechanical entangled drawings last week to generate some tiles and surfaces in Repper. I figured out my colour palette and how I wanted to add colour yesterday, and this morning I continued to work on the design for over an hour.

Rather than having radial symmetry, this design has two axes of symmetry – horizontal and vertical.

I did record this process, and I found myself talking about some things that are too personal to share. These were some things I needed to voice, to hear with my ears rather than my inner voice. The process was valuable to me, but not something I want to be available to all and sundry.

Instead, I deleted the audio, and replaced it with a brief voice over introduction and some music to accompany the sped up video recording. I condensed over an hour of work into about fifteen minutes.

I also learned that voice over is entirely possible to do, but that I need to find a different way to do this. The function I used in Movavi only gave me a few seconds of voice over time. I’ll work it out for sure.

WIP Wednesday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

An abstract drawing that I started yesterday. I think the drawing is complete, maybe. But I wanted to start to add colour to work out what palette I want to use.

This is it so far, after a couple of hours mucking about with colours, layer settings and so on. I’m quite happy with the dusky pink and mossy green, but not so sure about the dusty blue.

This isn’t my only work in progress. I’ve just finished uploading my daily morning drawing vlog on YouTube:

I started to draw another abstract drawing in this vlog as I talk about inner critics, overly talkative me, and other stuff.

Both drawings are being done with a micro sized Uniball Eye pen on Canson marker paper. The paper is so smooth and a pleasure to draw on with pens that dry quite quickly, like the Eye pen.

For now, once I’ve done my social media posts, I need a break. The sun is shining and my feet are feeling eager for a little walk. So that’s what I’ll be doing in about an hour!

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

It’s Thursday so that means a new coloring template for the members of Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. This week it’s a mandala.

As it’s the first Thursday of the month, it’s also the start of the month-long color palette challenge. This month, I’ve chosen one of my favourite colour palettes – verdigris tones and copper.

As usual, I’ve made a start on the template, and this month I recorded the process and me talking my way through it and it’s available on my youtube channel.

Monday Mandala

Angela PorterLeave a comment

And the second post of the day is a ‘Monday Mandala’.

I started adding colour to this one last week. I’ve spent the morning and some of this afternoon completing it.

It’s worked out OK, though perhaps a bit too brightly colourful for my present colour choices. I’m still learning how Clip Studio Paint works.

Monochrome, that’s what I’d like to use to colour this, or a similar pattern. Maybe I’ll turn my attention to that in a little while. It’d be nice to compare the two for sure.

April’s Color Palette Challenge is nearly over…

Angela PorterLeave a comment

At the start of each month, there’s a color palette challenge for the members of the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group. The palette can either be used with the first template of the month, or any template from any of my numerous coloring books.

I’ve been adding colour to the 01 April 2021 template, and my image today is of a part of that template. It’s all cute, doodly, kawaii and the colour palette is a pastel rainbow. Not colours I’d choose nowadays, but it goes with the cuteness of the template.

Saturday WIP

Angela PorterLeave a comment

I’ve been lacking artistic oompf and inspiration in the last day or so. This morning, I remembered all those tiles I’d created in the Repper app and thought using one as the basis for some art may be a good idea to get me creating. It seems to have worked.

I’ve finished, I think, the lineart, and I’ve started to add colour along with some pattern/texture. I’m not entirely sure if the glow/shadow patterns are working. Also, I don’t seem to have that intensity of contrast/highlight in the colours. Still there appears to be some volume in the individual shapes, so that’s ok.

The choice of colours, the fussy patterns and the lack of intense contrast between shadow/highlight may just be indicative of my ‘meh’ mood today.

Still, it’s almost time for me to shower and head out for my walk. It’s sunny but very breezy outside. My window is open and I’m revelling in the cool air flowing over my exposed skin. Actually, it’s rather more than breezy, there’s quite a stiff wind blowing! Invigorating and perfect for a walk!

Template Thursday

Angela PorterLeave a comment

It’s Thursday once again, and that means another template for the Angela Porter’s Coloring Book Fans facebook group.

This week, it’s a typically entangled one, with plenty of botanicals, which is quite apt as it’s Earth Day 2021 today.

I drew the design with pen on paper, and added the colour and background digitally.

Yesterday, I was missing in action from my blog, and much of social media. It was one of those days where it just didn’t happen. I was awake early for my weekly delivery from Abel and Cole. Mid-morning I had the monthly frustration of getting my prescription from the pharmacy. I then actually went for a walk. It was a shortish one after being relatively inactive for so many months, but it was lovely to be out. To see the spring flowers – primroses, a few early bluebells, celandine, cuckoo flower, birdseye speedwell, daisies, dandelions, lords and ladies, a few colourful primula scattered here and there amongst the primroses, flowering cherries puffballs of pink blossom, wallflowers and tulips. The trees were starting to shake out their new, still-furled leaves, getting ready for their May-ball.

It was lovely to be out and moving. However, in the afternoon, I began to crash and burn. I was getting increasingly frustrated with any attempts to colour part of this template. Nothing seemed to work. So, in the end I decided I was overly tired and had a nap.

On waking, I still didn’t feel like getting frustrated with art again, so I pottered around in the evening, being gentle with myself.

I woke this morning with the solution to my problem – the plain, white background I was working on was what was contributing to the frustration. So, I popped a soft coloured craft paper background, and things just started working. However, I wanted one that resembled the sky, or sea, so I altered the background later on.

That’s where I am at the moment with this template, and that’s how it’s likely to stay. Others will complete it in beautiful and varied ways that express themselves, and I shall look forward to seeing how people tackle it, as always.

Mandala – finished.

Angela PorterLeave a comment

I’ve spent this morning finishing yesterday’s mandala.

I’m fairly pleased with the result. I love the sense of volume I have in the design. I almost feel like I put my fingers inside some of those ‘folds’ around the chains of seeds! And being able to create this intensity of volume or dimension in my artwork is what makes me smile. It’s not often I say I love my work, that’s for sure.

I’m not so happy about the background texture/colour. However, it’ll do for now, as I can always go back and change it.

I added a third colour – cool blues – to this design. The last ring of ‘seed pods’ would’ve been brown, and I thought there was enough brown in the design already. Also, I wanted the furled, stylised leaves in the other ring to be green, so blue was the colour I settled on.

I had a bit of a ‘ta-da!’ moment as I was adding colour to the furled leaves. I recognised that I was starting to use a pattern as a way of adding the highlights and shadows, a shape that could be used in all of these particular forms.

My final task, before calling this mandala done (for now at least) was to add shadow around the whole mandala. I don’t think I’ve been all that successful with it. Again, it’ll do for now until I work out a better way of doing this.

In hindsight, the choice of that coppery brown may not have been the best one I’ve made. However, this mandala really has been a fab learning experience for me – not just of the software I’m using, but of how I work artistically. I’m finally beginning to think a bit more about what I’m doing. I’m still working very intuitively, but I’m recognising the unconscious thoughts that steer me as I work.

I think this is developing as a result of me talking about my artistic process as I create YouTube videos. That’s an interesting and positive side-effect of making the videos – they force me to express in words what is fairly abstract and unconscious as I work. I guess I don’t have many opportunities to talk about my art and process with others, and YouTube, and this blog too, is helping me to discover more about my own inner workings.