Lively Digital
Article Transcript
Marion Van de Wiel shares how she manages to keep the spark alive in her digital drawings just as she does in her traditional caricatures.
For more than 10 years now I’ve been working as a live digital artist. I have been using a Wacom 17" monitor and Painter Classic, the oldest version which only runs under MacOs 9. I like a very natural “sketchy” style and Painter is the perfect software for this.
Studio work
When I make a caricature I start by drawing
the outlines with the “scratchboard tool” and
then I colour the drawing, using a watercolour
brush.
In Painter Classic there are no layers, but this “problem” can easily be solved by drawing the lines first and then adding the watercolour. This watercolour doesn’t erase the lines, it just leaves them as they are, AS IF there is a layer.
You might ask: why use this prehistoric software? Well, I have never found a program with the same pressure sensitivity and beautiful brushes as Painter Classic. I have bought an old MacMini just to be able to keep working with this software. I love it!
Diving into live digital
In October 2011 I started my career as an iPad
caricaturist, merely because a client asked for it.
I must say it was very challenging for me to start drawing on a new device.
First: an iPad is so much smaller than a Wacom Cintiq. I didn’t feel comfortable with this size. Second: the styluses are so clumsy with their broad tips. Third: there are so many different drawing apps. Which one would suit me best? I just bought them all to be able to make a comparison. Right now I have on my iPad: Sketji, SketchBook, ZenBrush, ArtStudio, Auryn Ink and Procreate.
For me it was very important to:
- be able to make a caricature that has a natural and sketchy style.
- work in layers.
- scale and zoom and
- work with colours.
After a few hours of doodling with all the different apps I found that SketchBook suited my needs best. The colours and brushes are very natural, like sketching on paper.
How do I work?
I use two layers in Sketchbook. I start making
a b&w line sketch in the top layer. Because I
also still work as a “traditional” artist (14 x 20
inch paper) I usually make this sketch too big.
So there’s always a point where I start scaling
a bit. I do the colouring on the bottom layer,
which usually goes fast and not very accurate.
This lack of accuracy, however, keeps the
liveliness in the caricature.
My speed for both methods is about 8 or 9 caricatures per hour.
When comparing these two methods, I must say I have developed a preference for working with the iPad, because the fingertip sensitivity makes it so easy to scale. As I said before, I don’t care much for making ‘clean’ caricatures. Of course I can only speak for myself and I think every person should find out for him or herself what he or she likes best.
Marion van de Wiel is a live caricature artist living in The Netherlands. She won a Bronze Nosey at the ISCA convention in 2007 in Reno. You can see more of her work at www.sneltekenaars.com (dutch) and marionvandewiel.blogspot.com (english).
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