Get Painting on Your iPad!
Zoom Art Class for Pembroke Alumni

In this class, June 2nd, 2020, shown in the video recoding above, we started off drawing a Pembroke themed still life and then ended up with a short exercise working from a photo reference of a photo taken in the Chapel Quad recently. I work on an iPad using Procreate. Attendees work on various media, some on the iPad and some with crayon on paper. Here are a few examples of art by attendees created during the class.

by Mark

by Philip

The three main stages we followed in developing the artworks in this class were:

FOUNDATION
Quick, rough, bold marks that fill your paper and establish abstract underpainting and approximate main blocks of composition. If you’re using a linear mark-making tool like a pen or pencil on paper, then make quick, rough contours that suggest the major shapes of your composition. Keep your line moving, keep it loose and don’t worry about detail. If you’re working digitally don’t undo – keep moving forward. Work right up to the edge of your paper and include what you see around your subject. The environment is important to create a sense of space, place and context for your main subject matter.
FORM
Start sculpting three dimensional forms by depicting major light/dark shapes (positive and negative – inside and outside your subjects) and contrasts. If you’re using a pen or pencil utilize different shading techniques like cross-hatching. This is an iterative process and will gradually unfold.
FOCUS
Choose where your main focal paints of your composition are and spend time selectively developing detail in those areas. Add final accents. This can be just in a few places that you choose to develop more detail. You create you own focus. You are like a magical lens: you are in the driving seat…

Below is the recording of the first class in this series that took place on 22 April.

Two demo replays from the previous session:

Jeremy Demo 1: Still Life of Pembroke Memorabilia

Jeremy Demo 2: Self-Portrait

A good (short) book that addresses the artistic and creative process is:

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Another interesting (and in this case also amusing) book related to artistic approach and attitude is Sir Winston Churchill’s ‘Painting As a Pastime’.

The iPad app and stylus I used and demonstrated during the session were:

For full list of recommended iPad apps please see iPad Art Tools.

Below are a selection of the wonderful artworks created by participants during this class:

by Amy