Inktober 2018: Trail Adventures

For me, inktober is all about getting more experienced with my toolset. I'm a digital artist and I've embraced the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil bundled with the app Procreate. The combo of the three does everything I need for concepts. When I want more finished art or vector based, I'll start in Procreate and then go to Adobe Draw (while I'm testing out Affinity Designer, which I think might give me more of what I want in an iPad Vector app).

Already, I see this month is going to be tricky.  Putting in the time to do a piece everyday is going to be a challenge. It also means that I'm working into the late evening which makes a challenge to get to bed. Last night I don't think I slept much at all. It is hard to "shut down" after focusing intently for so long.

While I laid awake, and Monday morning quarterbacking the piece, I realized I'd learned a few things… You are working digitally, but thinking traditionally. If time is my issue and learning my toolset is my goal, I need to toss out my thoughts on using a single brush. There are texture brushes that would easily increase my productivity. I should use them. It also makes me think about upcoming work and needing to decrease some of the detail and focus down to the heart of what I'm trying to convey and show more while drawing less.

Got a good jump on this one during lunch and finished late after getting through some late night work. I certainly had some different vision in mind for this one, but time killed it. I will probably come back and revisit.

I started with blocking in big areas of shadow and then went back for the values of grey. I'm not sure this is working as well as I'd like yet. It's almost a speed painting approach to it. Blocking in the big shapes to get an idea of where a piece is. I like that approach, but I think I should have probably gone back and worked some texture back into those solid areas to add some depth to it.

As usual, I continue to find my weakness is people and form. So I will likely continue hammering it till I feel like I got it right. I do think I've gotten better over the years, but I think it's something I will likely never be totally happy with and constantly seeking to improve. I guess that’s part of wanting to be the best you can be… being satisfied but never settling.

I've liked keeping with the prompts this year, but trying to keep a same theme throughout. I appreciate that the prompts were vague enough that it allowed for many different interpretations. I expect I'll see many people cooking shots today. Which makes me happy that my plan is a bit different.

Today I utilized a little more reference from our Jim Thorpe hiking/biking adventure. I wanted to work a little more rough and almost speed painterly for two reasons… 1) I want to get more practice at the style. 2) Time!

I chose to explore a mid-tone background and then black and white ink to get a few more tones and it seemed to compliment the speed pain idea to go back in and work out the highlight tones too.

Now is where the month is getting difficult. Finding the time to concept and complete art is tricky with an already full plate. I know I have a few days coming up where I'll be away and this will be even more difficult. So this one ended up being completed the next day and then was away for two days and it was posted late.

I like the feel. I'm happy with the gesture of it. I think the camera angle could have been better and the render was a bit on the loose side. I totally need to spend time doing hand reference. It continues to be a point of practice!

On a plus note, I'm getting the hang of the foliage brushes I have and I think I'm able to quickly replicate brush reasonably well.

I'm noticing a common theme. I keep gravitating back to reference photos from Jim Thorpe. I shot many photos that I loved, I suppose it's only natural. In this one I took a waterfall photo and transformed it into a steep cliff of handholds. Totally something I could see a friend suggesting we tackle.

I like the idea, I'm less happy with this rendering. This is another issue of being squeezed for time to complete an idea that has a lot of texture.

I've learned a few lessons… I've skipped just advancing ahead even though I'm a few days behind due to my schedule. Finding a little me time to pull something out is still pretty rewarding though.  So today, I went a bit more simplistic! Probably a good idea when it comes to a daily drawing. I'll probably continue to work simplistic to see if I can get caught up and maybe get on pace. I do like that even though I'm drawing fewer lines, it's challenging me to find ways to make the image look "finished.  So that means thicker strokes, bigger blocks of color. Maybe even utilize more rake and hashing brushes to texture an area.

Journal Notes

Quick lunchtime sketch. Pretty simple concept and execution. I focused on efficiency today with limited time available. The goal was not falling further behind and still make something descent. I moved into inking quicker from a rough sketch. I didn't plan too heavily on the shoes, but just visualized and started inking. I've noticed that I'm starting to work in the items I'd normally go back and erase and draw in. For example, in the past I'd get the overall shape of the shoe bottom correct and then go back and erase out where the tread divots would be and then build the connecting lines. Instead, I drew it with the divots from the initial phase. I would sometimes do that with clothing… draw the body and then go back and draw the clothing over so it would "lay properly"…

So, this is where inktober started to fall apart for me. I was headed into a weekend with activities the entire time and I simply didn't have time to be do a drawing. And then getting caught up was just next to impossible. I also had a few work projects that were stacking up and overflowed into my personal time and I just didn’t have the time to dedicate to it.

Star was a tricky idea for me. I was inspired by some of the work I'd seen by @sketchytrails on instagram. Her bicycling artwork is great and I like the style. Vegetation is an area I've marked for improvement and study. In this time I was inspired by some works I'd see in a couple different spots so I was trying to work out a positive/negative scene. In retrospect, it was a bit more complex that I expected. Not only did I need to figure out the shape of the scene and the sketch, but then making sure it work in positive/negative needed further adjustment. There are things I'd totally do different with this piece, but I learned probably more from this than any other piece this month. As well, I think it might be my favorite even though it's not the best.

This was a quick work to attempt to catch up. I did get a chance to explore a little bit with recoloring line work and shading to deemphasize and texture to call attention to the shoes. Besides… who doesn't covet a really nice pair of great shoes.

Day 10 (ok day 15)
Adobemaxcontest "build" - alternate topic suggestion from Jake Parker's adobe partnership.

Bit of a time jump here. I was absorbed in the Adobe Max announcements and excited for Project Gemini (Hey Adobe, I'll take a beta please.)  I saw Jake Parker had some alternate suggestions from the adobe Max Partnership, so I decided I'd shift from the traditional prompts and give one of the contest prompts a shot. I didn't hear anything back, so I assume I didn't win.

This one was timely as the local mountain biking organization had opened a new trail network they worked hard on this year. So I did a sort of dedication to the hard work those guys put in for some great trails. I was finally happy with some of the vegetation brushes I was using and while it was a quick work to complete… I was happy with it.

I think my biggest regret with Inktober is that it points out the lack of practice that I have for illustration and I really need to dedicate more time for improving my skills.

The last drawing I made for the month. I completed this much later in the month but I had an idea that I didn't get a chance to tackle earlier in the month, so I simply went for it here.  I tried quite a few sketches and wasn't getting this right, so I reverted to my drawing mannequin for posing help. It was a dramatic improvement with the correct reference!

This ended up on the right idea, but not the original sketch in my head. I think spending more time sketching is what I need to focus my efforts on beyond this month. Hands, feet and faces are also a few areas of study I need to put some attention toward. Overall, I was pleased with this and the month in total.

And that's where it ended for me. I simply ran out of time.

I got about 1/3 of the month complete. Not too bad with schedule withstanding.

Some things I've learned.

There is no substitute for regular practice.

Identify areas of improvement and go tackle them!

Sketchy is a cool new app for finding inspiration and will use for future practice.

Enter inktober next time with a month long plan and sketches for each day ahead of time… maybe tackle the prompts as "sketchtember"… going into each day with a well thoughtout plan will have a much higher opportunity for success!