Category: Digital Art

Some updates and a new drawing

Thank you all who have been praying for my eye. It has been a really challenging time for me but I have been committed to reducing my stress to help my eye heal. I went back to the eye doctor six weeks after my first visit and the fluid was completely gone, but I have some permanent retina damage now. A few weeks later, I had another flare up after a stressful couple of days at work, but it has mostly returned back to baseline now.

Sunflower Amphora
©2024 Carolyn A Pappas, Sunflower Amphora. Digital illustration on Procreate.
I still have been drawing this whole time, but it has been slow going. I’ve been doing a lot on Procreate, partly because it is easy to zoom in and I was having an incredibly hard time focusing right after I came down with this condition. I had to buy 2.5 diopter readers just to read normal text in a book and I had to enlarge the text on my phone to the maximum size. Now, I am back to 20/20 vision with my glasses on, although there is still some distortion all the time now.

One of the new purchases I got which I love is the Sketchboard Pro 2. It is like a sort of drawing board/easel that you place your iPad into. It makes you feel like the drawing surface is so much bigger and you don’t have to rest your hand on the iPad itself as there is a wide border. There are feet so you can draw on an angle, or you can remove them and lay it flat if you want. Since I have gotten it, drawing on my iPad has been much more enjoyable. It was expensive, but I really love it and would recommend it to others looking to elevate their iPad drawing experience.

Since my eye has healed, I have been consistent with drawing most days after work in the evenings, although it has been slow going. I have been mainly working on small botanical digital watercolor pieces, but on a whim I made the illustration above inspired by a real Greek amphora. I changed things up, of course, by adding the sunflowers. It was a fun little project to work on that is different than my normal subject matter.

Again, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has messaged me with caring words and have been praying for my eye. Losing vision for an artist is a worst fear scenario and I am glad that it is mostly behind me, although I will have to keep my stress low on an ongoing basis to keep it from returning. I would like to make a Youtube video on the subject to share my experiences more in depth. I will post a link once I make it.

My Sketchboard Pro 2 with a work in progress.

A painting of a lake in winter, snow covered trees on the horizon line and a blue sky with some orange and yellow accents.

Upgrading and continuing to learn new skills

A painting of a lake in winter, snow covered trees on the horizon line and a blue sky with some orange and yellow accents.
©2024 Carolyn A Pappas, Morning Light after the Storm. Digital painting.

Last year I did more drawing on Procreate than I ever have before. For the first time, I started feeling comfortable in the app. I still have a lot to learn though. Learning to draw digitally is really like learning a new medium altogether.

This is my first finished artwork of the year and I did it on Procreate. I just upgraded my iPad to a newer and bigger type and of course, I wanted to make a picture on Procreate immediately after setting it up. This is based on a photo I took of the lake the morning after a big storm (the only one we have had so far this winter). I also got some new brushes and I was trying them out here. In this painting, I was using brushes meant to simulate fountain pens, alcohol markers and oil paint with a dry brush.

I am always looking for brushes that would most closely approximate my own drawing style with ink and watercolor. In this case, I deviated from my normal style, but I had a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to doing a lot more experimenting this year and building up my confidence and competence in Procreate.

A digital drawing of a monarch butterfly with open wings.

Mid year review

A digital pen and ink style drawing of a robin's nest in a brown color with a single egg in the nest, set against a brown kraft paper background.
©2023 Carolyn A Pappas, Robin’s Nest with Egg (with paper texture background). Digital painting on Procreate.

I feel a shift in energy now that half the year is over. In June, I took a nine day trip to Wisconsin for work for training and I am feeling so relieved that I have finished my project and passed my exam. (Check out my instagram for some reels I made from my trip.)

We also threw a big 4th of July party which took a lot of prep work and planning. I have also done a few other bigger chores around the house which were hanging over my head for some time. Now that I have cleared some mental space, I feel like I can start working on some more art projects again.

These are some drawings that I have done recently on Procreate. I do miss working traditionally in my sketchbook, but I also know that I need to continue to practice in order to learn all the features within Procreate and just get comfortable with it. I was gifted the robin’s nest and it was fun to draw it from life. I drew the monarch from a photo but did not trace it. I have a few ideas for some other things I want to draw on Procreate in the near future so keep your eyes peeled.

A digital drawing of a monarch butterfly with open wings.
©2023 Carolyn A Pappas, Monarch. Digital painting on Procreate.