'Appy New Year 2013.
Categories: artwork
Tags: brushes app, stylus sock, Nomad Brush, 2013, iphone artwork
Date: 30 December 2012 00:32:21
Some traditions last, others don't - or morph into new ones...
For various reasons this is the first year in the past 20 that I've not done a Fourth Wise Man or a Christmas Trees don't Christmas Card. May well come back to it if time allows but this year has been a doozy one way or another. Between sick parents and sick in laws, being sick myself, and a stressful restart to work in Sept 2012 is one I'll remember for good and bad reasons (the good would be things like drawing at BETT - something that I reprise in a couple of months again - and at the Barbican, and the Royal Academy and MCM Comics Expo. Some parts of the year have been amazing).
But last year I drew an 'Appy Christmas card and an 'Appy New Year card and both were good fun to do. Didn't do that again for Christmas but couldn't resist doing an 'Appy New Year card for 2013.
Brushes app again, V2 because v3 isn't... well... it isn't. Stylus Sock and Nomad Brush and iPhone 4S (which surprised me. I don't normally use styli on iPhone and could have done the e-card on iPad but this seemed to be the way I should do it so that's what I did). Started it around 5pm today (29/12/12), finished it around 11pm and that's with a break to eat dinner and watch Muppet Christmas Carol with the fam. Yes, we are that messed up time wise this year.
Hope you like (or fav or RT).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx9nXKWZYxI&feature=youtu.be
...and instead of a signature I wrote the name in app icons as well... Just for the fun of it. 4 icons seemed too small to stick to :) What are the app icons? Well, if you followed me on Twitter you might well now as I tweeted all of the icon inspirations and said 'Appy New Year (which was a smidge dispiriting as only two have come back to me so far and only one retweeted. That said - crazy busy time of year and my dreams of multi-thousand view generating retweets remain just nocturnal bouts of optimism). I'll post an edit with the names of the apps that inspired the look of the picture on Jan 1st.
...And this is the planning process, such as it was: inktense pencil on moleskine. Every Christmas (there's that tradition again) I get some moleskines - generally the limited edition ones (so far: Snoopy, Star Wars, Pac Man, Hobbit. No Petit Prince :( ) so generally I write lists and draw and doodle in them until it's the next ones turn :) This is the planning page for the ANY pic:
Why sketch pads at all? Surely I've gone all digital with the tablets and so on? Nope, not a bit of it. There's an immediacy and tactility to a sketchpad, you can make mistakes and clean them up, or mess them up more. And of course it's very good to take your eyes away from a screen every so often. I've always like water soluble media too, from inktense pencils to tombo pens to all sorts. My working practice is grey or purple pencil at the start to find the shapes, waterproof pen to clean up the outlines, water soluble media of some sort - nearly always inktense pencils now, love them :) and then Pentel replaceable cartridge brush pen at the end. Makes me happy.
I participated in a forum discussion on sketchbooks and tips for working on them and this is what I said (the conversation slotting in nicely within what I was doing - picture wise).
>>on sketchpads<<
I've got a couple of quirks that I've fallen into but they're more my oddities rather than anything else. I start pads from the end as I never know what I want them to be at the beginning. I also tend to draw a lot of coffee cups. Also I use the sketch pads for writing lists and notes as well as drawing and then, if time allows, turn the rarely completed lists into pictures, generally skyscrapers or just geometric shapes.
Lastly only thing I can think of is that sometimes its easier to start with a random scribble and turn that into something than start from scratch. Also takes away the fear of the white page a little.
Also: Drew this in a PC World Apple reseller store thing a couple of days ago on an iPad mini. Would love one but being careful with the pennies at the moment :(
