Does this look too digital?

demotlj

I bought some watercolor brushes for Procreate from Adilson Farias and they are my favorite of the many I've tried but brushes are only half the equation. The best part of Farias' brush package for me was the video that he includes with the download that shows how he uses his brushes to make the piece look like real watercolor. He doesn't just paint with a brush -- he smudges the digital paint, blends it, erases it, creates blooms and edges, and does all kinds of manipulation to make it look traditional. He even adds some small mistakes at the end so it doesn't look as perfect as digital.

Blitz55

@lpetiti HAHA, I googled it just to make sure I was spelling it correctly.
But yeah, that is one great thing about digital, is that it allows you to really play with little to no consequences, meaning you can try all kinds of things out on your original piece and if it doesn't work, just undo, or delete the layer you created it on. It's kind of an ultimate art playground in that regard.

But, traditional work does force you to make tougher decisions sometimes, to stop and plan, and think things through. At least for me, and that can be very beneficial too. Plenty of room for both!

Blitz55

@demotlj That was a point I was almost going to bring up and I'm glad you did. It's not always about getting a brush and that brush is going to make your work amazing, it's about how you use those brushes. If you just apply some of those brushes with out much effort they can almost make your work scream digital more. It sounds like he made a great set of brushes and did a great job explaining how to use the brushes. I like that, I may have to check them out.

lpetiti

Thank you guys! These are all really helpful things

lpetiti

Update: I bought Procreate and I already like the brushes more than what I use in Adobe. I feel like I can manipulate the materials more like I would using them in real life. I can’t wait to keep learning

demotlj

@lpetiti I have tried a lot of watercolor brushes for Procreate and if you decide to buy some, I definitely recommend Adilson Farias' as top choice. I mostly do traditional watercolor and am not an expert in digital but I've played around with it and haven't found a brush that emulated watercolor brushes very well until I used Farias'

Any digital I do do is on my iPad with Procreate which I've been using for about 5 years and the program just keeps getting better. I use it a lot to do the preliminary sketches for my watercolors or to enhance them after I've finished. It's a great program and I hope you enjoy it. Have fun.

NessIllustration

@lpetiti This looks very much like oil pastel - lovely!

lpetiti

@NessIllustration thanks Ness! I used a weird mashup of a bunch of different brushes. Interesting how it makes it look like oil Patel!

lpetiti

@demotlj thanks! I will look at those brushes

NessIllustration

@demotlj I just looked those brushes up and they look AMAZING! It was an instant buy for me, can't wait t try them out. Thanks for the recommendation!