Digital Abstract Stylized Landscape Painting in Procreate

There are more methods than ever to express ourselves with digital tools. It is simply mind-blowing how we can create truly stunning artwork, and we can do it increasingly efficiently, and with no mess! This class is for anyone wanting to try abstract art for the first time on the iPad. It is geared towards beginners, and up to intermediate painters, looking to design a collection, to increase their Print-On-Demand offerings, or for anyone interested in exploring abstract art purely for fun and personal use. Don’t have Procreate? Many of the techniques are totally do-able in Adobe Photoshop or Fresco! I talk you through the essentials to consider when planning your painting and you can watch me throughout the process of painting at least one, with a review of several different styles I have experimented with.

In this class, you will learn how to use nature as inspiration to create an abstract artwork. I take you through the steps to create the abstract landscape artwork using a reference photo as inspiration. I will discuss composition and design, color mixing, planning your artwork, and I’ll show my entire painting process from start to finish. I will explain my stylized, expressive techniques using a limited palette of colors. Limiting the palette is an ideal way to keep the palette harmonious, so we will stick to an analogous color scheme (which I will explain).

Learning how tonality contributes to better compositions is one of the goals here. This class is suitable for artists with some knowledge of painting in general, but it will also be good information for beginners. Once I have the painting, I will also model how you can “art direct”, as I do self-critiques throughout. I am actively troubleshooting as I go through the class, trying to resolve design challenges as I go. I talk about using other artists’ work as a starting point for design, and give you many strategies for personalizing the style to make it unique to you.

I explore many of the Procreate settings such as blending modes and settings. I will explain the brushes I used in the process, keeping it as simple as possible for your first go. If you are experienced, I hope you can learn a new style from me and perhaps a new approach.  The key concepts I will include:

•  review of my techniques in creating the initial layout
•  planning value and tone in my composition
•  discovery and adventure when developing a new style
•  approaches you can take in your creative work 

This is a great course for you to take no matter what your purpose for the art you create. Approach this course with a open mind and heart, and you will create something to love! Let’s not waste any more time yakking! Let’s get right to it!

Intro:

This short intro will give you an overview of the class.

Lesson 1 Overview and General Discussion

In this short video, I will show you the work of several artists whose work I admire. Exploring the different styles is a method to jumpstart your process. Throughout the class I will be referring to these and other artists and I have added links to relevant reference in the projects section on the course outline sheet for you to download.

Lesson 2: Reference, Sketching and Prep Work

In this lesson, I will show you how I use the photographic reference. I will take the photograph and use it to figure out the values I will use in the final painting. At this stage, I will finalize my sketch with tonal values for use in the following lessons.

Lesson 3: Creating the Tonal Palette

Creating a tonal color palette is the next step in the process. I will show you how to create and manage the palette and explain the steps I take. During this lesson I will talk about the value scale and how to use it when painting.

Lesson 4: Paint Blending, Detailing and Progression

You will watch my demonstration of the progression of my painting in this lesson. I will explain what steps I take, such as blending and color picking. I also talk about my underpainting and show you as I add details to give more depth and contour.

Lesson 5: lmproving and Finalizing the Composition

In this lesson, we start getting to the nitty gritty of the final artwork. I revamp the entire foreground and you see me starting to add detail with layering of different types of textural brush strokes. I touch on blending modes and give you several other ideas along the way.

Lesson 6: Textural Finishing Elements

At this stage of the game, we start to pull our layout together, and I will add tons of small detail to add textural interest. I explain cutting and pasting and give you workflow tips along the way. I impart as much wisdom as I can about developing a consistent style.

Lesson 7: The Final Layout and Mockups

This is the last step and in this class we will be finalizing our landscape and then looking at it on mockups

Outro

We will conclude everything in this lesson with a chat about next steps.

Concepts covered:

Concepts covered include but are not limited to the Procreate interface, planning a composition, using a photo as reference, what to look for in the reference, how to plan out lighting and shadows, brushes in Procreate, settings in Procreate, Procreate layers, the Procreate gallery, organizing brushes in Procreate, workflow best practices, underpainting, painting best practices, creating a value scale, techniques with paints and blending, and much more.

You will get the bonus of…

• an hour and a quarter of direction from an instructor who has been in the graphic design business and education for over 40 years
• knowledge of multiple ways to solve each design challenge
• handouts explaining key concepts
• a list of helpful online sites to further your education into surface pattern design.