Environment spread, any advice?

[Jean Watson]

@ArtistErin So lovely! Beautiful colours and love the composition. Only one thought when I look at the version at full size - the textured charcoal (?) strokes are much the same from foreground to background in terms of their impact. I wonder whether it would help to have the most textured areas in the foreground (flowers) and make it less textured/softer towards middle ground and even more so background? If it doesn't make sense to you, feel free to ignore!

[kirsten-mcg]

@ArtistErin Beautiful! I really love the soft light background!

[ArtistErin]

@Jean-Watson Hi! Yes I thought of that too, I may revisit once I get through the rest of my roughs, will be polishing everything up before I add to my portfolio, I'm finding as I move through each composition I learn more and like certain aspects of each illo better than others... It's been a ride for sure!!! First time I've illustrated a
"remake" so to speak and I am trying to reign in my processes. Getting there, I post progressions and see the screens don't agree (Cintiq vs. monitor) and it's been a challenge trying to keep everything looking good on both.

[ArtistErin]

@kirsten-mcg Thank you I am learning sooo much!! Isn't growth awesome?? I know you probably feel the same, I see so much progress from your earlier work too, I know you are just so delighted with how far you've come, I'm guessing? Sometimes with those breakthroughs you've got to stop and savor them a little

My learning process sometimes I find I go in circles then wonder "what am I doing wrong here" then I hear just what fits my question, from someone here, or a YouTube, or the SVS classes, all the places... and somehow my brain clicks into gear and it feels so satisfying...

[Jean Watson]

@ArtistErin That's interesting - I hadn't even thought of the difference between Cintiq vs monitor screens. Something for me wrestle with down the track. So glad we've got this forum - it's great to follow your and others progress and fingers crossed I'll show progress too in the not too distant future.

[kirsten-mcg]

@ArtistErin Yes! That's how it's been for me too! Its so exciting to look back and realize how much you've progressed over the course of a few months or a year. Makes me excited for next year!

[Pamela Fraley]

@ArtistErin beautiful! I haven’t figure out how to do gradients yet. Loish uses gradients a lot and her work is gorgeous. I tried to use the gradient tool in Procreate, but it just changes the colors to weird neons. I probably just have to manually color it.

[kirsten-mcg]

@Pamela-Fraley I have a watercolor blender brush from a brushback that I bought for Procreate, and it's amazing for doing gradients! It blends the colors together, just like using a brush on wet traditional media. And it gives a much more organic feel than using the gradient tool. The brushback I have is called OMG Watercolor Brushpack, and the brush is called an "add water" brush. I'm sure there's other brush packs out there that have similar brushes. Maybe something to look into.

[ArtistErin]

@Pamela-Fraley I didn't know that about Procreate... in fact I think Loish uses a Cintiq so I figured I'd head in that direction because I've been trying to manually draw all of those fades, yet it looks choppy and wrong. What I am also wondering is how to create a timelapse in Photoshop, that I see on IG all the time for reels, if there is a way to do that in Photoshop... I'm sure there is I just haven't taken the time to figure that one out.

[ArtistErin]

@kirsten-mcg I'd like to check into this, I am planning on getting an iPad Pro sometime soon, been wanting one for my traditional work and when I am doing Plein Air watercolors which I'm thinking down the road to fix my need to over render. I think Digital painting is so great for making "perfect" art but I know there is a side of me that needs to be imperfect and looser. This is why I think I love Loish and her very controlled loose style...

Does Procreate cross with Photshop? Can you take an image from Procreate and drop it in Photoshop and edit? Just wondering, I'm a newbie with that stuff... I used to start illos in Painter and was able to open Photoshop and polish up work that way, this was way back in my early days of digital painting. I loved Painter for its simple intuitiveness and easy tools. It seems Procreate is that way as well, whereas Photoshop is so menu driven. I love it yet it's not as intuitive.

Rambling again...

[ArtistErin]

@Jean-Watson This is a fantastic forum... It's great to have a place to level up skills and feel like you are doing it at your own pace. I love that I can post and get real honesty. My Dad's an artist but is tentative to share his true perspective with me and it bums me out. Anyway, I am leaning on you guys a ton and I appreciate it.

[kirsten-mcg]

@ArtistErin I struggle with making things "perfect" in digital art too. I worked 100% traditionally until about 6 months ago. I've gradually been using Procreate more and more, and the last few paintings I've done have been completely digital. I'm still working on getting more textures in and resisting the urge to over-render...which is a problem for me even in my traditional work! Yes, Procreate does cross well with photoshop. You can both save procreate files as PSD files, and also open PSD files in Procreate.

[kirsten-mcg]

@ArtistErin Did you see that you made it into the top 16 for Critique Arena this month?!!! 🥳

[ArtistErin]

@kirsten-mcg no way!!!! OMG I've been checking the website HOLY COW

[ArtistErin]

@kirsten-mcg Is there a link somewhere that I am not seeing? Duh DUR DUR