A month or so ago, I played with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil for the first time. It was fun, but I think the art purist in me thought, "No. You do not need that digital stuff to make drawings." Then at a party a friend brought up the experience and I realized that I had not only been thinking about it for quite some time, but that the upcoming coloring book project, That Naughty Pipe, a collaboration with Rob E. Boley, would be the perfect test project for this new tool.
So after reviewing apps, I decided that Procreate would be the best option for this project. Good sized files for printing, great brush options with layers and it automatically makes time lapse videos while you work! I can’t express enough how exciting this has been for me. I worked on the coloring book last night and I am just blown away by how enjoyable these tools make a normally stressful endeavor! No longer do I need to worry about glitchy twitches or cat paws on clean paper. Make a mistake and a two-finger tap erases it.
I can create a digital page for each page in the book and keep them all in one folder.
With layers, I can photograph my original pencil sketch, bring it into the program, create a new layer and draw over top of it. Future sketches can be created on the iPad itself.
I can zoom and rotate, erase and draw with precision. Then I can turn off the pencil layer and see the pen layer alone.
I have a long way to go, but having everything in one location makes it easier and I can create more layers in case I want to add design elements, like a pattern on her head scarf, and remove it if I do not like it! Stay tuned!