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Not Pencilled Out Yet
Back in December I mentioned I’d started drawing, picking up the “Apple Pencil” I’d bought years before more with vague thoughts of “hand-printing recognition” only to use it for little more than “colouring book” applications. I’d also admitted the resolve to draw had gathered again after more years since that through having dabbled in the controversial terrain of “text-to-image” programs to the point of becoming annoyed with them, but not so much with the grand moral objections raised by others as just with how the fine details kept going wrong. My own drawing skills didn’t seem as if they could manage even the superficial gloss of “adequacy” that had led me along the image generation trail to begin with, much less what those who’d drawn the original pictures fed into its mathematical hoppers. Still, so I told myself, I could at least count fingers and keep them attached to hands.
One more thing I mentioned then was an impression of incremental improvement as I kept drawing, though. That carried me on to the long vacation I didn’t want to pack the Pencil into an overstuffed backpack for, and got me to pick it up again after coming back. Supposing I’m drawing a bit better now than when I started still hasn’t quite added up to feeling “good,” and yet the thought has tickled at me that if practice has done something for me, it might work for a good many more people.
In the midst of all of that I was contemplating the drawing program I was using. There’d been warnings not to seek out the “right” pen or paper or other tools long before the iPad, of course. In any case, before gathering the resolve to draw I had installed a few free applications, including one called Tayasui Sketches. Once using it regularly it hadn’t taken long before I’d decided to pay for its “Pro” version, which included layers; it is convenient to rough out guidelines and then just turn them off once I’ve “inked in” outlines. As I used that program I did notice another one that seems to have received a good bit of attention. After asking for an “Apple gift card” for my birthday, I used part of it to get Procreate (all in all, still not an expensive program). Feeling my way into it I came across some features that would have been handy in Tayasui Sketches, although I haven’t quite yet found a brush that lays down flat colours “inside the lines” without too much fuss. Part of that, perhaps, is also having sorted out a subtle problem that had got in the way of trying the “blur” tool of Tayasui Sketches to smear those flat colours into something that looks a bit more painted, something that could have added to that old sense of “adequacy.”
In the midst of all of that, though, one day I turned Bluetooth back on and plugged the Apple Pencil back into my iPad only to find it just wasn’t connecting. My mind jumped to thoughts of having broken some internal wiring after having turned Bluetooth off time after time for the sake of saving batteries and resorted to the plug every time afterwards. While I’d daydreamed about the very latest iPads and Pencils (and how they don’t require plugging in), having bought a new computer and gone on that vacation this year has left me a bit conscious it is possible to spend saved money too quickly. One thing I told myself was that I’d drawn before resorting to electronic equipment; I picked up my mechanical pencil and managed a drawing on a sheet of ordinary printer paper. Erasing my guidelines was the tricky part.
Along with thoughts of going to a craft store to look for sketchpads and pens, I did manage to schedule an Apple Store appointment for the sake of altering a variable or two. On the weekend morning of that appointment, I then decided to try things one more time myself. This time, the Pencil connected to my iPad. While it complained of being discharged, it did recharge while plugged in. I managed to cancel the appointment, and have been trying to leave Bluetooth on since then. That does seem to be draining the iPad’s battery faster, however.
With all of that said, I suppose the feeling to take my chances and prove I’ve actually been doing what I’ve written about by attaching a cropped copy of one of my recent sketches is present. It might not be a big surprise as to what I’ve been trying to draw most of the time, of course.
One more thing I mentioned then was an impression of incremental improvement as I kept drawing, though. That carried me on to the long vacation I didn’t want to pack the Pencil into an overstuffed backpack for, and got me to pick it up again after coming back. Supposing I’m drawing a bit better now than when I started still hasn’t quite added up to feeling “good,” and yet the thought has tickled at me that if practice has done something for me, it might work for a good many more people.
In the midst of all of that I was contemplating the drawing program I was using. There’d been warnings not to seek out the “right” pen or paper or other tools long before the iPad, of course. In any case, before gathering the resolve to draw I had installed a few free applications, including one called Tayasui Sketches. Once using it regularly it hadn’t taken long before I’d decided to pay for its “Pro” version, which included layers; it is convenient to rough out guidelines and then just turn them off once I’ve “inked in” outlines. As I used that program I did notice another one that seems to have received a good bit of attention. After asking for an “Apple gift card” for my birthday, I used part of it to get Procreate (all in all, still not an expensive program). Feeling my way into it I came across some features that would have been handy in Tayasui Sketches, although I haven’t quite yet found a brush that lays down flat colours “inside the lines” without too much fuss. Part of that, perhaps, is also having sorted out a subtle problem that had got in the way of trying the “blur” tool of Tayasui Sketches to smear those flat colours into something that looks a bit more painted, something that could have added to that old sense of “adequacy.”
In the midst of all of that, though, one day I turned Bluetooth back on and plugged the Apple Pencil back into my iPad only to find it just wasn’t connecting. My mind jumped to thoughts of having broken some internal wiring after having turned Bluetooth off time after time for the sake of saving batteries and resorted to the plug every time afterwards. While I’d daydreamed about the very latest iPads and Pencils (and how they don’t require plugging in), having bought a new computer and gone on that vacation this year has left me a bit conscious it is possible to spend saved money too quickly. One thing I told myself was that I’d drawn before resorting to electronic equipment; I picked up my mechanical pencil and managed a drawing on a sheet of ordinary printer paper. Erasing my guidelines was the tricky part.
Along with thoughts of going to a craft store to look for sketchpads and pens, I did manage to schedule an Apple Store appointment for the sake of altering a variable or two. On the weekend morning of that appointment, I then decided to try things one more time myself. This time, the Pencil connected to my iPad. While it complained of being discharged, it did recharge while plugged in. I managed to cancel the appointment, and have been trying to leave Bluetooth on since then. That does seem to be draining the iPad’s battery faster, however.
With all of that said, I suppose the feeling to take my chances and prove I’ve actually been doing what I’ve written about by attaching a cropped copy of one of my recent sketches is present. It might not be a big surprise as to what I’ve been trying to draw most of the time, of course.
