Finished My First Real Landscape Painting

 It took me 3 Days, but I'm done!

My first real landscape, from following JamesJulierArt Tutorial

I'm really happy with the results, except for the sandy beach.  It doesn't look beachy enough for me.

Like the other tutorials I followed, this was done on an Ipad with Procreate, and mine was done on my Veikk with Clip Studio Paint. 

The artist used a medium airbrush for his, but clip studio only has hard and soft airbrushes, so I used hard.  That was the only brush I use for the entire painting. 

Everything was hand painted; no specialty brushes (in digital art, you can "cheat" by using brushes that sort of stamp images in place...I didn't do that). 

I learned a lot and I plan on following more of James' tutorials one day. 

Me & Mac in Rowboat Painting

I Had to Try the Rowboat Again...

Me & Mac, digital art, my take on the tutorial

I had so much fun painting the rowboat for my cousin that I had to try again. 

I had a little red and white rowboat twice in my life...once as a child, and once as an adult when I rented a riverside home for over 8 years.  I miss both of my rowboats.  I used to row the dogs all the time...mostly my little dogs, Annie and Sandy, but sometimes Mac.  Annie and Sandy were white and sand color so I tried to draw Mac, who was black, for contrast. 

I also turned the person around to face the back of the boat, because that is how I row.  I also gave her long hair, and a hat.  I had to totally redraw the figure for facing the back. It's hard to do a top down perspective, but I'm happy with the results.   

Done on my Veikk VK 1200 and Clip Studio Paint Pro.

Rowboat Painting turned into digital Birthday Card

 Rowboat Painting

I made this by following a youtube tutorial by Gal Shir.

I made this cool rowboat painting by following a short "tutorial" by Val Shir online.  It was done on an Ipad with Procreate.  I was able to figure out how to do it on my Veikk with Clip Studio Paint. I couldn't do it exactly...procreate has a great feature that let's people draw perfect lines, curves, and circles by just drawing them freehand and then holding the pen in place.  Can't do that with my Veikk, but Clip Studio has some special rulers that I was able to use. 

I turned it into a digital card for my beautiful cousin

It's my cousin's 30th birthday today so I chose this because it had a lot of empty space where I could write, turning it into a digital card. I'm really happy with how it came out. 

I would like to make it again, but change the colors. I want a white rowboat with red trim, like I had when I was little. I also want to give the character long hair, and put a dog in the boat with her. 

Happy Pill/Beach Pill

This Beach Pill is a Happy Pill, lol.

My results, following tutorial by "The Lazy Illustrator" on YouTube.

This beach pill illustration too several days to make.  I followed a tutorial by "The Lazy Illustrator" on Youtube.

I LOVE the results but it was kind of out of my league.  I had to stop and restart several times, and it was hard to follow because she was using Procreate and an Ipad, and I was using Clip Studio Paint Pro and my Veikk.

Still, I'm very happy with the results, and I'm glad I stayed with it and finished. 

 Cup of Flowers

I followed another online tutorial for this cute cup of flowers.  I don't like the shading underneath; it looks like the mug is falling into a hole, lol.  

Panda Art

I love this cute panda!

My Panda, from following a Tutorial by Art With Flo on Youtube

I think he turned out really cute!  I had to do this tutorial twice because I was more than half way through when I realized I'd messed up on some of the layers and it just wasn't working.  It's really easy to accidentally draw on the wrong layer.

Flo is a great art teacher, and I love her tutorials, but man, I wish I had an iPad and Procreate.  Too pricey for me...the apple pencil is over $170 dollars Canadian and the iPad is anywhere from $1000 to $1700 Canadian...crazy!  But wow, everything seems easier on the iPad with Procreate than it does with my Veikk on Clip Studio Paint. Once I learn how to use the software more, things should get easier though.

Calm Sunrise on the Lake Art Tutorial

 Another Great Tutorial by Art With Flo

My version of Calm Sunrise on Lake, from Art With Flo Tutorial

I'm really enjoying Youtuber "Art With Flo"; she has amazing tutorials.  I did this pretty artwork today, following along with her tutorial.  The tutorial itself is only 24 minutes and 15 seconds long, but it took me hours and hours to do this because Flo used Procreate and an Ipad and I'm on my Veikk with Clip Studio Paint, and I kept having to stop to learn if it was even possible to do the same thing with my gear.

Luckily, it was ,sort of.  My boat is different.  Flo provided people with a brush that sort of stamps her boat in place.  Hers is a more Asian influence type boat, very cute.  I couldn't use that brush so I imported a rowboat photo and traced the silhouette and filled it in.  I would have tried to draw it on my own but I was exhausted and have a migraine after hours of staring at the little screen, wearing my reading glasses (they always give me a headache).  I added a hat, lol, but that's it. I also used Flo's technique to duplicate the boat layer so I could flip it upside down for the reflection.  

I also learned how to use the opacity sliders and blur tools to make it look more like reflections.  I also FINALLY learned how to use the ruler tools in Clip Studio.  I mean, I knew how to use them before, but the trouble was, I couldn't figure out how to turn them off so I could STOP using them before today, lol. 

Here's the same painting before I put in the boat.  I saved it like this so I can try to draw a boat freehand when my migraine goes away.  

On that note, I'm off to take a tylenol 3, and grab a bite.  It's almost 6 pm and I haven't eaten since my toast and coffee early this morning.  I lost time in the world of art today...the entire day went by, lol. Last time I noticed the time it was noon, lol. Oops. 

Goldfish Painting

 I'm SO Pleased with my Goldfish, lol!

My Goldfish, thanks to a cool tutorial on Youtube by Art By Flo

A Youtuber named "Art With Flo" has this adorable Goldfish Tutorial and I decided to follow along.

It's supposed to be easy, and maybe it is, for people with Procreate and an Ipad, which is who the tutorial is meant for.

It wasn't quite so easy following along on Clip Studio Paint Pro with my Veikk VK 1200 display tablet, attached to my laptop.  Mostly because I am still learning how to use both the Veikk AND Clip Studio AND how to draw, lol.  For people who already know how to draw or how to use their art tablet and software, I'm sure this would be an easy tutorial.  It took me hours, lol.

The Youtuber is great at explaining things so it's totally not her fault that I had to keep stopping to google "how to do XYZ on Clip Studio Paint" because it wasn't the same as on Procreate. 

I'm really happy with how my fish turned out.  I think it's my favorite art piece so far. I love goldfish, and had many growing up. They were the only pet I was allowed until I was about 12 and snuck home a gerbil and hid it in my closet, lol.  My childhood goldfish, named Charlie, lived for years and years.  

This is a fantail, or maybe a swantail Goldfish, and Charlie was just a run of the mill ordinary goldfish.  I am babbling because I am exhausted and I have a bad headache, so I'd better stop here, lol. 

Self Portrait from a Photo Reference

 Self Portait

Self Portrait using Clip Studio Paint Pro

So today I learned how to import images to use as either tracing practice or references or both.  I chose to quickly trace the lines of my face, hair eyes, and backgrounds to try to learn proportions properly. I'm still not ready to free sketch as my hands are very wobbly and I'm not used to me Veikk VK 1200 tablet yet. 

I wasn't totally happy with the cheek on the first try so I redrew my line art and tried again: 

Self portrait cartoon try 2

I played around with the lasso tool and blurred and changed the hue, saturation, etc. of various spots, then darkened everything. 

Below is the real photo, of me at the beach.  The first one looks more like me.  When I redrew the lines, it took away from "my" look, but it did give me a more cartoony look. 

My reference photo, this is me at the beach at sunset last summer.

I really have to learn how to shade properly. I tried but it just looks like my face is dirty in the photo, lol.

I had fun doing this though, and I'm still learning a lot.  I have to turn myself into a comic somehow. I'm pretty overwhelmed because I don't really know how to make the comic look like me, other than giving it a side pony tail.  Also, I'm not sure which age/weight etc. I should make the comic because the time span I'm using for my stories if over 30 years.  

,,,

One Ball from Pool

 Another Lesson from Udemy Class on Clip Studio Paint Pro

One ball, learning Clip Studio Paint Pro

This is from Lesson 60 of my Clip Studio Paint Pro Class on Udemy.  Here I learned how to use the "make a circle" tool which isn't actually a circle, but an elipse, how to make an oval in the circle, how to add and change text (still need practice on that), how to add a shading and highlights layer and how to add a Gradient background layer, choosing my own colors.

I also used the magic wand tool when adding the shading, so that I could draw inside the lines.  

Learning a lot today! I had to stay inside with air conditioning because of my asthma, so it was a nice way to spend the day, learning and practicing art.

It was super hot out, 90 degrees with the humidity today and my asthma has been really bad.  Yesterday I triggered my asthma badly by sitting outside with my best friend all afternoon in the heat.  It was nice out and I wasn't sweating or anything; I actually would enjoy the heat if it weren't for my stupid lungs.  I have severe chronic asthma and any extreme of temperature badly affects my lungs.  So the heat makes my airways constrict and I can't get enough air.  It's awful because it actually hurts, trying to breathe.  I wouldn't have sat out but it was the first time I got to see my best friend since the pandemic started.  She's Canadian but lives in America and she waited until her Mom was fully vaccinated to come.  Laurie is also fully vaccinated, but I don't get my second shot until tomorrow at 1 PM, so we had to sit outside and stay 6 feet apart.  We could have sat inside with masks on but I can't wear a mask when my asthma is bad.  

I'm hoping I'll be OK when I go for my second shot tomorrow, and that it won't be so hot that I'll get sick waiting in line.

My Single Tree Forest

 I turned my tree into a forest :-).  

My single tree forest, assignment from Udemy Class: Clip Studio Paint Pro

I had so much fun with this exercise, and I learned so much!  I hope I can retain it, lol.

First I made a single tree (see earlier post).  Then I learned how to squoosh all those layers into one layer.  Then I duplicated that layer and moved the tree over, while resizing it or flipping it horizontally.  I repeated these steps until I had a forest.  

Then I used the selection tool to select the white space above the forest, inverted that selection so it chose the trees instead of the white space, and used the fill tool to make a solid outline of my forest.  Repeated it with two lighter colors and rearranged them. 

I thought that was fun so I used the lasso tool to select various parts of the photo to adjust the brightness, hue, luminosity and contrast. I made some brighter and some darker, and blurred it all.  I kept playing with it until I thought I understood what I was doing (not sure yet if that's true, lol), and stopped with this.  I like the feeling of light coming through the trees.  I love walking in the woods and I love it when the light streams through.  

Multiplying Images in Clip Studio Paint Pro

 Back to My Veikk VK 1200 drawing tablet and Clip Studio Paint today 😁

I painted a simple pine tree on my Veikk VK 1200 using clip studio paint pro and the watercolor and pen brushes.

I'm still working on my Udemy Class, Clip Studio Paint Pro, by Brian Jackson.  In the past few lessons, he's been showing us how to paint simple trees.  I don't like his technique so I just painted in my own style...a very simple pine tree.  The purpose of the lesson isn't the painting though, it's to learn how to paint on different layers and then smoosh the layers into one so that the finished item can be selected, copied, and pasted, and altered to look a bit different.  Every time you use the selection tool to copy and paste, you're given a new copy layer, and you can move the copied selection to a different spot, flip it horizontally or vertically, and resize it so it's bigger and smaller.  Very convenient, and very easy!

Here's my little tree copied, pasted, resized, and flipped horizontally so it looks like a small forest.  I also added a very simple background.  Having fun!

Here's my tree copied, flipped, resized, and pasted into different positions, so it looks like a mini forest.  I also put in a very simple background.

I'm having so much fun with this!  Yesterday I couldn't use my Veikk and I was having withrdrawal, lol, so I had to download a free drawing app onto my phone so I could quickly try something while i was waiting for my friend.

I am so addicted to this!

Digital Watercolor Tree

 I painted a tree!

Watercolor tree on Veikk VK 1200

I found a wonderful art teacher on Youtube. I love her tutorials and her art style too.  I just wish she wasn't drawing on an Ipad with Procreate.  I follow along as best as I can on my Veikk with Clip Studio Paint, lol.  So far, I think she's a way better teacher than the guy who's teaching the Udemy class I bought yesterday.

The artist's channel is called Genevieve's Art Studio, and her video is called How to Draw Watercolor Fall Trees in Procreate

Mine isn't as pretty as hers but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I learned how to do so many new things.  Now if only I remember them tomorrow, lol.

Still Life and Scenery on New Art Tablet

 I've been practicing on my Veikk art tablet some more, and having a blast.  

Digital painting of apple, following a Youtube tutorial

I followed a Youtube tutorial to do this apple, and I'm really pleased with how it came out, especially since the tutorial was done on an Ipad using Procreate and mine was drawn on my Veikk using Clip Studio.  I hope I can find more tutorials like that.

Just playing around with various brushes

The dock photo is just one I came up with on my own...just playing with brushes and trying out different effects. I forgot to put in the reflection of the mountains...oops, lol.  

Lesson 1 from my new art book

The simple shaded sphere was lesson one from my new book, How to Draw in 30 days. 

Simple cartoony style, practicing with the tablet

Lastly, this little house drawing was just me practicing how to use layers and the reference tools.  I think I still like this simple style the best, although I did have fun doing the apple.

I'm really enjoying this :-)

Back to Simple Cartoon/Comic Style

 I think I like the simple style best so far...

I'm using a book called "How to Draw Cute Stuff" by Angela Nguyen, and it is just the cutest little drawing book every.    It's probably for children, but I don't care, as it really makes me smile. 

The little girl above is my attempt at drawing one of the hairstyles in Angela's book.  I really like how she came out. 

The little doodles above are simple doodles from her book, where she's showing us that circles can be made into lots of differnt animals. I also followed her shading and "use pastel colors' advice for this one.

I bought the book at Coles bookstore, but it is also available on Amazon. It has so many cute human and animal characters, as well as little cars and cupcakes, etc.  It's just really cute.

I also ordered some new art books on Amazon.  

Fred and George Weasley, as Cartoons 

LOL

Learning how to draw faces looking in different directions, second try. 

 Yesterday I drew the two faces below.  I was unhappy with the fact that their eyes were too high up, so today I redrew them.  I lowered the eyes and eyebrows to line up better with the ears.  I learned how to blend the hair highlights better, and learned how to clip layers to the layers below, which was cool...and I guess how Clip Studio got it's name, lol. 

I used so many layers I got confused for a bit, lol, but it all worked out in the end when I remembered I could put layers in folders to help better organize.  I'm still having fun, and still learning a lot :-).  I'm also still forgetting a lot of what I learn, but I guess with time, practice, and repetition, I'll start to remember more.

Learning how to draw faces looking in different directions, first try.

Using 3 D Models as sketch references

 Clip Studio Paint has 3D models

I'm learning new things every single day! Today I learned about using 3D models.  You import a model and then lower the colors so they're muted, and then make a sketch layer on top so you can design clothes right on the model. It's a good way to learn the proportions of the human figure.  Here's my first and second try.  

Using 3D models in Clip Studio

Using 3 D models in clip studio

The models are naked and have no hair or facial features, so you can draw clothes, hair, eyes, noses, lips, etc., right over them.

 I'm still learning, so my drawing is very basic, lol.  The only difference between the two pics above is that I moved the eyes on the second photo, and changed the colors. I also omitted the shadow under the feet because it looked too much like when the Sims pee themselves, lol  

I watched a bazillion drawing and digital art tutorials on YouTube today, and learned a lot.  I've managed to retain some of the info too, lol. 

I like my freehand drawings of my self character better than this, but I wanted to learn to use the modeling tool.  I still need to learn how to do hair, shading, proper sketching...there's so much to learn, but for now, I'm just trying to learn the digital art program and get used to my new drawing tablet. 

Digital Art

 I'm still learning :-)

I'm having fun with Clip Studio Paint Pro, and have been following the built in tutorials. I'm learning a LOT.  I'm just not retaining everything, so every day I have to relearn it.  Bleah, lol. Aging sucks when it affects memory.

Here are some of my most recent sketches, done on Clip studio, using layers (so far I have a paper layer, a sketch layer, a line art layer, and a color layer). 

Practicing "my" character with Clip Studio Paint Pro

More practice with clip studio. 

As I learn, I'm also learning how to sketch. I'm not an artist by any means but I've always loved drawing and arts and crafts in general.  I know these look like something a little kid could draw, but I really want to keep the characters super simple. 

I need to learn how to draw different facial positions, and different poses. I'm having fun though.