The summer stretched on. So did my anguish. Despite generating dozens of atrocious eyesores on my iPad, I was still no closer to getting the hang of things. So I made a desperate move: I started watching YouTube instructional videos. That the iPad is perfect for.
After a lot of painful grazing, I came upon a couple of useful resources. James Julier is the Bob Ross of Procreate — his paintings are mundane, his voice is soporific and his thumbs are strangely shaped — but he does go step-by-step through many features and techniques and this hour-long video was pretty helpful.
Brad Colbow has several great tutorials — I especially liked Drawing Comics in Procreate from Start to Finish. He’s funny, smart, and anticipated many of the pitfalls I encountered.
Under Brad’s influence, I decided to stop keeping a sketchbook journal and start making goofy cartoons instead. It was easy to simulate printing techniques like flat color panels and Ben-Day dot patterns so I plunged in and made a few comics:
I did not quit my day job.
Earlier in the Spring, I had grown quite obsessed with Felix Scheinberger’s book, Urban Watercolor Sketching. (I made this video about his work).
Felix’s drawings seems so simple and his watercolors so clean, and for months I had vowed that one day I’d sit down with the book and really work out how he does it. Then I realized that I could kill two birds with one auto-didactic stone if I tried to reproduce 1) his drawings using 2) the iPad.
I knew Felix uses soft, squishy pencils and procreate has a squishy 6B pencil that’s lovely to draw with. (If you hold the Pencil® at an angle, it gives you fash graphite smeary lines just like the real thing). He also uses a soft, pliable technical marker and, of course clean watercolors. I began by drawing the art on the cover.
Next, I just started working my way through the book, drawing by drawing. I found I could copy his drawings pretty well and it definitely loosened up my drawing style as I’d hoped. But simulating watercolors on the iPad was a whole other deal. There are tools that let you paint in the shape of watercolors and you can create layers of color that sort of simulate glazes but they are much harder to use than a brush and palette.
I drifted from Procreate to Adobe Sketch which at the time had a better way of blending wet on wet and even included a little fan that would dry the layers and stop them from bleeding. I ended up making watercolor layers and then exporting them to send back to Procreate. It was fiddly and inexact and the results lacked the luminosity and character of Felix’s analog paints. Nonetheless, the project kept me busy for much of the next month and my chops started developed further — thanks to two great teachers with Xs in their names: Felix and Experience.
Here are some of the images I made:
Someone left a comment on the last post in this series, saying they assumed that in the next post I would reveal the a-ha moment that turned my iPad drawings from crap to genius. Alas, there was no such moment on the road to Damascus. Instead, a long slog through various small breakthroughs. Stay tuned for the next ones.
(To be continued)
Danny Gregory 
wow, loving this series! Adventures with the iPad Pro! working your way to enlightenment…I completely appreciate your honesty and ability to communicate the pitfalls and successes. When I get one, I will know I need to spend time learning and not to give up. I have experimented a little with my iPad 4, Procreate, styluses and fingers… but they all just look like… experiments…
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I wanted to say bad Brad for influencing you to stop using your sketchbook. But actually it is your right to choose to stop using your sketchbook and there is only so much time in your day and there is so much to learn. So a “modern” person (in the spirit of Bridget Watson Payne’s new boo). uses technology….I thank you for adding new information which I will use to enable me to learn my IpadPro and Procreate. I have watched several youtube videos and some help a bit (but practice is required and that takes time and overcoming monkeys, doubts, and slowing down). So many ands and buts. I will check out these links and I am confident of the quality instruction they will provide. I can’t help myself on this, stop letting your monkey judge your work. I have followed just about every thing (If I missed one it is your fault) you have posted of your ipad work and boy do I think it is good and resent your demeaning of it. But Danny I understand how the monkey is just there and always a part of what we do. Appreciate this post a lot.
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I’d echo mrobert17p44, with the “bad Brad”, but I must admit that I’m taking a college class for Adobe Illustrator and it’s making me want to draw more! I make simple sketches in my sketchbook, then I use those as a foundation for some really fun digital art. Now, I’ll go back and color the sketch in my paper book! I’m considering buying a Wacom tablet before I start the intermediate Illustrator course.
We have internet access challenges, which has resulted in several unfinished Skool courses. But, last week, I even headed to the library and watched more of the course on drawing maps, then used what I learned in Illustrator. I’ll go back to finish the course as soon as I finish my final exams/assignments in a week.
I did buy the iPad, pencil, and Procreate a year ago and I’ve barely use them–I certainly don’t like drawing with them. My good friend makes beautiful art with hers though, and I know I haven’t made much effort. It seems that we all need to play and find what works for us–all these tools can complement each other. Danny, you master the iPad, and teach us, so we can skip some of the frustration you’re experiencing!
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[…] I didn’t feel like focusing on drawing sunbathers — I’ve done it before and it always makes me feel a little pervy. Instead, I wanted to draw the water and the sun-bleached houses, to continue the exploration I’d been doing with my urban sketches in Manhattan. […]
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