6 September 2023 - Self-portrait inspired by Steven J M.
At the end of last August, I bought myself an iPad Pro with the intention of teaching myself to draw, before showcasing a set of images at a pre-release exhibition 3 months later.
I'll talk more about the exhibition at a later date, but since I am still relatively new to the world of illustration, I thought I'd share some of the tools, practises and resources that helped me get started before I forget everything.
Tintin: The Art of Hergé a gorgeous book with lots of beautiful sketches and drawings by Hergé. For some reason, I find half finished work, or behind the scenes images to be really interesting and inspiring. I usually like the process images more than the polished ones and this book is full of them. Also I am a Tintin fangirl from wayback.
The Art of Turning Red Same with this one - I ABSOLUTELY LOVE concept art and I plan on collecting all the books in this series.
You'll progress faster if you pick one style to learn to begin with, and ignore everything else.
7 September 2023 - I didn't do a lot of these kinds of exercises, but this was from one of Robert Marzullo's tutorials on drawing comic style eyes on Skillshare. A lot of his tutorials are on youtube and he has courses on his website as well.
Approach When I got the iPad, I made a rule for myself that I had to draw every single day. A good amount of time for me was roughly 3 hours in one sitting. I could do up to 6 hours if I broke it up into two sessions but any longer than that and I would get tired and lose focus.
In the 3 months between getting the iPad and putting on the exhibition, I had to frequently change my strategy so that I could get all of the final images done in time. The longer I spent on tutorials, the less time I had to work on the final images, so I had to learn 'on the job' so to speak.
In the first week, I was trying to start and finish 1 drawing a day, and my focus was mostly on learning how to use the app and getting used to the Apple Pencil etc. I didn't put any pressure on myself to be 'good', it was just about putting the hours in and being consistent. I also spent time trying out all of the different brushes and features in Procreate. After that I had to get a bit more strategic with my time and what I was drawing because I only had 3 months until the exhibition.
After my exhibition I was pretty burnt out (I worked 130 days in a row), so I haven't really drawn anything for the last 6 weeks or so, but I am getting back into my daily practise this week, as my first Shape Up cycle starts.
I mainly draw in a classic comic book/cartoon kind of style, with bold solid colours, but I do sometimes venture into other styles just for fun, like this:
Concept art from a different project I will release later this year, or next. 8 October 2023
Procreate brushes I use the most
95% of the time:
Procreate pencil @ 34% (for sketching)
Syrup @ 5%, 10% and 18% (for linework/inking)
5% of the time:
Monoline @ 3%, 5% and 10% (For when I don't want any taper or variation in my line width)
Soft Brush @ 2% (for drop shadows on the eyes mainly)
Very occasionally: I also use Turpentine, Rectango and some of the charcoal brushes when I want more texture or depth.
Why I am learning to draw even though AI can now do it better, faster and cheaper than I ever will
Because it's fun
Because it's important to learn and grow
Because I found it hard to find illustrators to work with
Because I needed to for the projects I have planned over the next couple of years
Because I've always wanted to do this
1 September 2023 - my very first drawing on the ipad! Not great but also not a terrible first start!
What's next for me
Get back into daily drawing
Go back to the basics with some fundamentals I skipped over last year
Start storyboarding my next project
Really nail the style I want
Fix up a few of the final images from my exhibition
I'd like to expand my vocabulary of techniques, but again, I need to balance this with actually producing new work. Tutorials are time consuming! I need to find a balance between learning and creating.
Happy drawing!
- Linda ✌🏻
About Linda Radosinska
I am a Creative Director, exhibiting fine art photographer and illustrator and I help professionals get their creative projects off the ground with my structured and holistic 1:1 coaching program | Project Management | Professional & Creative Development | Self-care | Mindset & Blocks |
