About Digital Figure Painting
I was a traditional media figure artist for many years. Over the years I have followed the digital drawing tablets and styli available but always felt that the ones available did not respond like traditional media. That changed with the iPad Pro and apple pencil. I am now a digital painting artist and use a 15-inch surface book with a surface pen for all my life drawing or digital painting art and really love it.
The transition from traditional media artist to digital painting artist took a while to get used to just like switching between different traditional media would. But after a few months I found myself very comfortable with a digital tablet for drawing or digital painting art and would never go back to traditional media. Digital painting with a digital drawing tablet’s portability has some great advantages and flexibility. Also with time, as new tablets, art software and operating systems become available, things can only get better.
The pressure and tilt sensitivity together make for a natural feeling pencil drawing experience. This combination lets the digital painting artist treat the stylus on the tip for a thin line and on the flat for a broad line just like traditional media. You can transition between thin and broad line during a stroke and it can look fairly gradual. There is some degree of discrete increments to the tilt sensitivity but with the right settings it can look fairly gradual and continuous. The pressure sensitivity has a wide range with many increments and so feels completely analog, gradual and continuous. The combination of tilt and pressure sensitivity gives a tradition media pencil drawing experience.
At the end of the day, really the compass is in the eye, and the media is only a tool for the digital painting artist. While working with a digital drawing tablet has some disadvantages the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, and over all it is a big plus. I created this website to show what a digital painting artist can do with a digital drawing tablet when figure drawing or painting. Below is a video of a drawing I made with the iPad Pro and apple pencil. I hope you enjoy it, decide to look at the rest of my site and give digital painting art a try. The rest of this site gives some how to, videos examples of digital life drawing and painting, and my portfolio and blog.