I’ve been playing around with creating art digitally on a computer. I created some digital art years ago, and felt the urge to do some more. I liked the immediacy of the mark making, and the worry-free and unlimited ‘erasures that working on a computer provides’. I use the computer as another tool when I create art in traditional media, for layout or experimenting with color. One of my most grueling hinderances is that I don’t like to waste materials. I don’t want to ruin a surface by not making “just the right mark”. With a computer, I don’t have to waste pencil or paper, or paint and canvas. I can just erase any mark I don’t like and am free to experiment.

This is a piece I’m working on that I’m in the process of developing in digital format using Adobe Photoshop and a Wacom tablet and pen. It is inspired by an image of actor in fantasy tv series that I saw online. I created a pencil drawing based on that image, then scanned it to upload it to a computer. I flipped the image horizontally, because I felt it looked better in that position.

I’ve suggested form by adding values of gray. I like it at this stage, and can be considered a finished piece, but will continue to work on it and finalize it in color. One of the benefits of doing this digitally, is that I can output the art at any stage if I choose to, and changes can be saved to be used later. I can also change the layout, size or position of the figure, or anything on the canvas. I’ll post later on when I get to a more finished phase.