Illustration Friday - Warning - Digital Baby Steps

The sketch for this piece was called "The Report Was Not Good." But, I think it fit this prompt fairly well. The drawing is from the series that I call 'After Hours Drawing.' These are drawings that I do late at night, after I've left my work room. I go to the living room, put my feet up, watch/listen to TV and draw. The thing about these drawings is that I have no preconceived idea. I just start drawing and whatever happens happens. I had nothing specific in mind for this piece, but, obviously, the result was a character that looks sad and anxious. Only after the fact did I realize what might have been in the back of my mind. I was concerned about a friend. But, the way this type of drawing happens is that I start with a line. The line usually becomes a face, then one shape leads to another and, eventually, there it is. That's not to say I'm in some sort of trance. But, the closest I come to controlling the end result is when I think it needs a shape here or an object there, and try to come up with something that fits. But, I also try not to over think it. Just do it. These drawings seem to have their own internal logic. It's the most intuitive work that I do. And, I love doing it. You can see the original drawing here.

The finish was done digitally. Thanks to Will Terry's wonderful video series, I think I'm a convert!

I'm also doing 'one - to - one' sessions at my local Apple Store. I call it Apple School. I'm very lucky to have someone who will do photoshop with me. So, I'll share a few tips from Apple School whenever I post a new digital piece.

You know the expression 'tip of the iceberg?' Well, what I know about Photoshop isn't just the tip of the iceberg, it's like a tiny ice chip off the tip of that iceberg. But for me, every single little tip that I learn is helpful. So, small as they may be, I'll keep sharing these little tips.

This week, I thought I would mention folders, in layers. In the layer palette, there's a little icon down on the bottom. It's the third from the right.

When you click this icon, it creates a group. The group shows up in the layers palette. You can name the group by highlighting it, then going to Layers in the menu bar. Layer > Group Properties. A window appears with a space for you to type the name of the group. Then you can drag layers into the group. For example, in this piece, I created several groups of layers . One group was for the door. I did a separate layer for the door frame, the window in the door, and the door, itself. Then I dragged those layers into the folder for this group. Each layer was named the same way. Layer >Layer Properties, then type it's name. For example, door frame, window in door, etc.  Then each of these layers were dragged into the group. I find this very helpful! If you didn't know about this before, I hope you find it helpful too!