I lost momentum with Brooke again. I started Drawing From Imagination, but I got bored with the bird-based exercises. A lot of what she says reinforces other things I’ve read or heard – building a visual library means references and paying attention to angles, ratios, foreshortening… Don’t just look, see. Also good to reinforce that not knowing how to draw something doesn’t equate to not being capable of drawing it. Learning is frustrating AF.
To that end, I used a modified version of her exercises for the Apothecaria illustrations and I found the results mixed. On the one hand, it demonstrates just how much shorthand memory employs. The reference sketches are much more realistic, but drawing from memory came out interestingly graphic. The lavender looks more like wheat, but color would help with that. Doubt the janky mushroom can be saved though.
She touches on intuitive drawing, but doesn’t spend much time on it. I think that’s one I’m going to have to doodle for myself. The last half of the lesson is perspective, which I am a huge fan of. I don’t think I’ve done any targeted perspective work since Kissler; feels like a good time to get back to it. I should probably also think more about taking my own reference photos.
Which reminds me. Alternatives to the Adobe matrix. Thinking I may test drive the Affinity suite but it’s only free for a week – can’t download on a lark on Sunday evening and then forget about it until Saturday morning and make any sort of informed decision. Designer does vector graphics but Publisher is what I’m most interested in right now. That could be incredibly useful for Apothecaria. Trying to work everything in Procreate is driving home how much I need a desktop suite that doesn’t drag ass on Mac (looking at you Inkscape).
The universal license isn’t bad for all three programs on my Mac and both iPads. I’ve been looking for a non-subscription option for ages, but will I really use it? Might be time to hit up YouTube again.
It feels irresponsible to consider a software package after the spring overhaul, but I’ve been considering packages for almost a year now. This is the first one that ticks all the boxes and then some… Gah. Step away from the keyboard AND the want monster.
Progress made. While single point is as technically precise and satisfying as I remember, it is also rather time consuming. I may have blocked that part out. I burned down my Apple pencil again. It doesn’t take too long to recharge, but it would be nice to have a software package that used a universally accessible iCloud save, instead of having to continually port my WIP from one iPad to the other. Inconvenient. It would also be nice to have a full monitor overview with an iPad for drawing. And vector brushes. I slept on it and I still want the damn software, which makes it a matter of time. May as well start the trial; either gonna seal the deal or sink it.
based on Brooke Glaser: Drawing from Imagination
